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Tim Cook Profiled in New Biography as 'The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level'

Analog Kid said:
You know this isn’t an autobiography, right?

It could easily be argued that Woz was the key founder. The early years were mostly Jobs selling Woz’ inventions.

Also, this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artistic_depictions_of_Steve_Jobs


Look, Jobs was a corporate executive, not a vengeful god. What other company, other than Scientology, do you see going on and on about a dead founder? I think Apple spends too much time trying honor Jobs. It’s not healthy...
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IBM. They have (or at least had) a shrine dedicated to the founder of IBM as well as Thomas Watson in the location where I was. From what I was told, their HQ has an even bigger shrine.

For decades, their employees even had songs and poems in their handbooks written about them. Company legend says that employees even sang them with pride ... dressed in their navy blue business suits.

Former co-worker showed me a copy of one of those handbooks from the 50’s. It was very cringe-worthy.

You might think I’m joking, but I’m not.

Also, don’t be surprised if Microsoft has similar dedications to their founders at their HQ.
 
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Analog Kid said:
You know this isn’t an autobiography, right?

It could easily be argued that Woz was the key founder. The early years were mostly Jobs selling Woz’ inventions.

Also, this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artistic_depictions_of_Steve_Jobs


Look, Jobs was a corporate executive, not a vengeful god. What other company, other than Scientology, do you see going on and on about a dead founder? I think Apple spends too much time trying honor Jobs. It’s not healthy...
Click to expand...

Good food for thought ... thank you.

and AGREED
 
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duervo said:
IBM. They have (or at least had) a shrine dedicated to the founder of IBM as well as Thomas Watson in the location where I was. From what I was told, their HQ has an even bigger shrine.

For decades, their employees even had songs and poems in their handbooks written about them. Company legend says that employees even sang them with pride ... dressed in their navy blue business suits.

Former co-worker showed me a copy of one of those handbooks from the 50’s. It was very cringe-worthy.

You might think I’m joking, but I’m not.

Also, don’t be surprised if Microsoft has similar dedications to their founders at their HQ.
Click to expand...
Creepy AF...

Cults of personality rot the mind... and Jobs would love to know Apple is following in the footsteps of IBM...
 
78Bandit said:
Microsoft did well under Steve Ballmer during his tenure as CEO too. However, I don't think you will find a lot of people who think Steve did anything to innovate at Microsoft and pretty much just fought as hard as he could to maintain the status quo of the closed system of Microsoft products on Windows devices. It took Satya Nadella to refocus Microsoft on providing services to all customers across all platforms because Ballmer was simply to entrenched in continuing the way Gates had done things.

I think Tim Cook will eventually be compared to Ballmer. Yes, he has driven the stock to new high prices and had incrementally improved the iPhone to be the most popular smartphone in the world. However, I think we are now at a peak for Apple and the way its products are structured. iPhone sales have been stagnant since Fiscal Year 2015. It was only through a massive increase in price on the iPhone X that allowed iPhone revenue to increase in 2018.

We'll see how the push into services works, but based on the keynote a couple of weeks ago it seems like Apple still isn't ready to hit the ground running. Tim has made Apple as efficient and profitable as possible with his experience in supply chain perfection; however, I just don't think Cook has the vision to take Apple to the next level.
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Funny you mention Satya Nadella. He'd be my pick to head Apple if we had the choice. Imagine what his spirit of innovation would lead to at Apple.
 
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While we are at it, where's ballmer's book? If you think about it, both took similar conservative strategies, the only difference is tim cook was sitting on a flourishing product line while ballmer had Microsoft's dull products to work with.
 
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78Bandit said:
Microsoft did well under Steve Ballmer during his tenure as CEO too.
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Balmer (blue) vs SP500 (green) from start of tenure as CEO to when he announced his retirement:

Screen Shot 2019-04-09 at 4.22.07 PM.png
 
keysofanxiety said:
That's a bit wordy for a title buddy, I'm not sure your publishers would be happy with that.
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Actually I think that was the entire text of the book. One word per page in large print so the average Tim Cook fan can sound out the words more easily.
 
Baymowe335 said:
Yes guys, despite what is said here, Tim Cook IS a genius and HAS taken Apple to the next level.

Some people will hate and ignore his contributions to Apple, but people who know, know.
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Which of Cook's contributions qualify as genius? Jobs' personal vision and standards are lengendary. He defined the Apple brand. Head-turning products were invented under his watch and with his input. Cook is a spreadsheet jockey. Original products and services introduced after Jobs' passing haven't matched the revenues of existing ones.
 
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duervo said:
I found some bits of what was in the handbook that I was shown. IBM has it posted on their website.

Enjoy ...

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/pdf/SB1.pdf
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Good god... why would they post that?

In I. B. M.— we have a man,
Has vision like a dream;
No matter where— be it here or there Heís held in high esteem;
Built this business and it’s here to stay T.J. Watson, he showed us the way
Said long ago “Think”; watch us grow, Now o’er the earth we’re spread.
His leading force—steers to a course That’s helped both you and me;
In U. S. A.—and in other lands,
Across the seven seas,
Where our I. B. M. is shining bright T.J. Watson is the guiding light,
For years ago he said we’d grow,
Now o’er the earth we’re spread.​
 
I7guy said:
It’s undeniable the contribution that Tim made to Apple. It doesn’t matter if you are the most ardent critic of him.
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Well, assuming he has okayed the direction Apple has taken with their products, then he has contributed to: the destruction of their once unassailably fantastic UIs; the absolute devastation of their once feature-rich and bullet-proof server OS; and the introduction of some of the worst hardware they have ever built. So, yeah, he's definitely contributed a lot. Kind of like the way Vogons contribute to poetry.
 
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After what Steve Job created, a monkey can run Apple as well as Tim Cook...what exactly has Tim Cook introduced? The Apple watch? after many years of android making money of it he decide apple needs one too. A stylus on the iPad? After Windows introduced the successful Surface. All Tim Cook is doing is maintaining what Steve Job did...under his control Apple will be like Kodak. With all the reserved cash and resources, they have nothing different from when Jobs was around.
 
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panjandrum said:
Well, assuming he has okayed the direction Apple has taken with their products, then he has contributed to: the destruction of their once unassailably fantastic UIs; the absolute devastation of their once feature-rich and bullet-proof server OS; and the introduction of some of the worst hardware they have ever built. So, yeah, he's definitely contributed a lot. Kind of like the way Vogons contribute to poetry.
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Sure and doing all of those “things”, Apple still managed to hit $1t. Sour grapes anyone? Seems like the critics are hitting their collective heads against the proverbial wall.
 
MisterK said:
That’s not how any of this works. You don’t maintain a lead on the most lucrative business in the world, faced with competition from the other largest and most innovative companies releasing product after product, helmed by other super smart people by doing nothing. In Cook’s tenure as CEO they’ve also decimated Android Wear watches and Android tablets. Their worlds most lucrative music store was disrupted by a new streaming model and now they’re winning that again. Companies don’t run themselves. Choices are made every day and Apple, for all its faults, tends to make more good ones than anyone else.
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Massive corporations the size of Apple essentially do run themselves. Name the CEO of Coca-Cola or McDonald’s. You probably can’t without a google search.

Putting a business on the map takes genius. Bringing a business back from the dead takes genius. Overseeing continued growth of an existing corporate mega-giant with unlimited resources, a priceless brand name and incredible momentum doesn’t take much.

The shift to services will be Cook’s legacy, for better or worse. That seems to be all him.
 
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EightyTwenty said:
Massive corporations the size of Apple essentially do run themselves. Name the CEO of Coca-Cola or McDonald’s. You probably can’t without a google search.

Putting a business on the map takes genius. Bringing a business back from the dead takes genius. Overseeing continued growth of an existing corporate mega-giant with unlimited resources, a priceless brand name and incredible momentum doesn’t take much.

The shift to services will be Cook’s legacy, for better or worse. That seems to be all him.
Click to expand...
Growing a business to $1t also takes genius. Nothing like overvaluing the last and devaluing the present.
 
As much as I like Tim Cook, and agree that he has taken Apple to a new level (in a good way), this title is truly overkill. It’s quite early in his career as CEO. He hasn’t even endured one single recession. This title and author’s track-record make it appear that the book is biased and skewed, even if it is not.
 
Tim Cook has taken Apple to new levels of profit and making shareholders happy. Great for Apple as a company sure, great for consumers, not so much. Too many people directly relate net profit to a company making the best possible products, the 2 are not directly related by any means. The true talent came from Jobs who built the company up from nothing and and gave tim all the momentum he needed to be successful.
 
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