Apple's Tim Cook leads Silicon Valley delegation in new leadership rankings

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2014
Apple CEO Tim Cook checked in at number 33 on a new list of the world's 50 greatest leaders, one of only two Silicon Valley executives included in the rankings alongside luminaries like Pope Francis, Bill Clinton, and Derek Jeter.

Tim Cook


Cook came in nine slots ahead of new YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki, though both lagged behind Seattle-based Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who was 10th. The rankings were compiled by Fortune editor Geoff Colvin, who praised the "quiet aplomb" with which Cook has gone about succeeding Steve Jobs.

"Following Steve Jobs has arguably been the toughest corporate leadership assignment in decades, yet Cook has carried it off with mostly quiet aplomb," Colvin wrote. "In two-and-a-half years he has kept the parade of winning new products marching (the Retina display, new operating systems, the iPhone 5), and he is bringing in Burberry's savior, Angela Ahrendts, to run Apple's retail stores. That's thinking different."

Since taking the top job in 2011 following Jobs's resignation, Cook has led Apple with what some have called a "methodical, no-nonsense style." Apple is reportedly less "crazy" and "draconian" than it was under Jobs, but Cook has shown a willingness to wield the ax when necessary -- longtime Jobs confidant and former iOS chief Scott Forstall was famously fired after refusing to apologize for the calamitous introduction of Apple Maps.

Many armchair analysts have called for Cook's head amid a plummeting stock price and perceived lack of innovation, but a change is highly unlikely. Cook was hand-picked by Jobs and -- despite the stock trouble -- has presided over the most prosperous period in Apple's history.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    gqbgqb Posts: 1,934member
    Even AI is parroting the 'plummeting' line?

    Gruber:
    "Jobs died on 5 October 2011. Apple%u2019s stock closed at $378.25 that day. On Friday 14 March 2014 (last day of trading before the interview was published), Apple%u2019s stock closed at $524.69. (Even if The Sunday Times Magazine has a two-week lead time, Apple%u2019s price has been hovering around $525 for several weeks.) Apple%u2019s stock was, therefore, as of publication of this interview, up 39 percent since Steve Jobs died.1 I repeat: up 39 percent."
  • Reply 2 of 23
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    I remember when a 39% increase in stock price is considered a success.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,153member
    ...[B]and Bono is in at #8 [/B]ahead, rating him as a better leader than anyone in tech. :err:

    EDIT: and Derek Jeter is #11??
  • Reply 4 of 23

    A bunch of weird, random, seemingly politically-correct choices.

     

    Add: One would have thought that Musk would have made the list. I could name a dozen others.

  • Reply 5 of 23

    The world does not have much expectation from Cook. Good. Good.

     

    It only makes their ass kicking hurt even more down the road.

  • Reply 6 of 23
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    gqb wrote: »
    Even AI is parroting the 'plummeting' line?

    Gruber:
    "Jobs died on 5 October 2011. Apple%u2019s stock closed at $378.25 that day. On Friday 14 March 2014 (last day of trading before the interview was published), Apple%u2019s stock closed at $524.69. (Even if The Sunday Times Magazine has a two-week lead time, Apple%u2019s price has been hovering around $525 for several weeks.) Apple%u2019s stock was, therefore, as of publication of this interview, up 39 percent since Steve Jobs died.1 I repeat: up 39 percent."

    You're right to call it parroting. Disgraceful journalistic laziness.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Bwuh? Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO of Samsung Electronics, isn’t on this list? Kwon is eating Cook’s lunch and every nerd knows it. Or so it is said.

  • Reply 8 of 23
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member

    Doomed.  Doomed, I tell ya!

  • Reply 9 of 23
    gqb wrote: »
    Even AI is parroting the 'plummeting' line?

    And this surprises you? Where there's plummeting, there's doom.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    lkrupp wrote: »
    Bwuh? Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO of Samsung Electronics, isn’t on this list? Kwon is eating Cook’s lunch and every nerd knows it. Or so it is said.

    In the Korean copy of Fortune, he's #1.
  • Reply 11 of 23
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GQB View Post



    Even AI is parroting the 'plummeting' line?



    Gruber:

    "Jobs died on 5 October 2011. Apple%u2019s stock closed at $378.25 that day. On Friday 14 March 2014 (last day of trading before the interview was published), Apple%u2019s stock closed at $524.69. (Even if The Sunday Times Magazine has a two-week lead time, Apple%u2019s price has been hovering around $525 for several weeks.) Apple%u2019s stock was, therefore, as of publication of this interview, up 39 percent since Steve Jobs died.1 I repeat: up 39 percent."

    Compared to Google and Amazon, Apple's share price gains are rather pathetic.  Apple had the smartphone market in the palm of their hands until Samsung and Google's Android simply stole it away.  Amazon's profits don't even come close to Apple's and Bezos still worked his magic to boost Amazon's share price.

     

    Considering Apple has close to $160 billion in reserve cash just sitting idle, I'd say a 39% rise since 2011 is rather pathetic.  Over that same period of time, Google is up around 140% and Amazon is up around 70%.  You might say that Tim Cook took a long vacation while those other companies' CEOs were working overtime to put shareholder value in their respective stocks.  Even as he was dying, Steve Jobs set Apple's share rise in motion and Tim Cook slammed on the brakes.  Apple should be untouchable in value on Wall Street but has completely lost investors confidence and respect.  39% share rise in three years is a joke for a company of Apple's wealth.

  • Reply 12 of 23
    jaaycojaayco Posts: 46member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post

     

    Compared to Google and Amazon, Apple's share price gains are rather pathetic.  Apple had the smartphone market in the palm of their hands until Samsung and Google's Android simply stole it away.  Amazon's profits don't even come close to Apple's and Bezos still worked his magic to boost Amazon's share price.

     

    Considering Apple has close to $160 billion in reserve cash just sitting idle, I'd say a 39% rise since 2011 is rather pathetic.  Over that same period of time, Google is up around 140% and Amazon is up around 70%.  You might say that Tim Cook took a long vacation while those other companies' CEOs were working overtime to put shareholder value in their respective stocks.  Even as he was dying, Steve Jobs set Apple's share rise in motion and Tim Cook slammed on the brakes.  Apple should be untouchable in value on Wall Street but has completely lost investors confidence and respect.  39% share rise in three years is a joke for a company of Apple's wealth.


    This obsession with share price as the only measure of success is fine as long as the disconnect between reality and price continues indefinitely for these other companies. Not sure how that is possible - at some point what they are "gunna" do which makes them so apparently valuable actually has to happen (particularly in Amazon's case). Apple surely is at the other end of the spectrum with regards to results versus share price, but it's not as if Steve Jobs didn't have exactly the same problem.

  • Reply 13 of 23
    Who else is better than Cook? The clown at Amazon, who keep on losing money while idiots beat up the stock for the eventual fall...
  • Reply 14 of 23
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Who else is better than Cook? The clown at Amazon, who keep on losing money while idiots beat up the stock for the eventual fall...

    There's losing money, and then there's reinvesting the money you make to grow the business. Amazon does the latter, and that's one of the reasons investors like them.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post

    There's losing money, and then there's reinvesting the money you make to grow the business. Amazon does the latter, and that's one of the reasons investors like them.

     

    They’re investing more than they make, then. That’s something to like?

  • Reply 16 of 23
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    ...and Bono is in at #8 ahead, rating him as a better leader than anyone in tech.

    "I really like you too, just not the band"
    ... but Cook has shown a willingness to wield the ax when necessary -- longtime Jobs confidant and former iOS chief Scott Forstall was <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/30/forstalls-firing-reportedly-met-with-quiet-jubilation-at-apple">famously fired</a> after refusing to apologize for the calamitous introduction of Apple Maps.

    calamitous? Really? English is not my native language, so I hit 'define'

    700

    I wouldn't describe it as such.

    Thank you.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member

    Derek Jeter? On a list of the world's 50 greatest leaders?

     

    Americans are so funy...

  • Reply 18 of 23
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    They’re investing more than they make, then. That’s something to like?

    I didn't say it made sense, but for now the investors are eating it up.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,301moderator
    gatorguy wrote: »
    ...and Bono is in at #8 ahead, rating him as a better leader than anyone in tech. :err:

    EDIT: and Derek Jeter is #11??
    A bunch of weird, random, seemingly politically-correct choices.

    Add: One would have thought that Musk would have made the list. I could name a dozen others.

    "The rankings were compiled by Fortune editor Geoff Colvin". The guy seems a bit full of himself:

    http://www.geoffcolvin.com/bio/

    Who puts the following statement on their own website and refers to themself in the 3rd person: "Geoff is an award-winning thinker, author, broadcaster, and speaker on today's most significant trends in business."

    Do they give out awards for thinking, how would anyone know? He even put some random basketball coaches ahead of Cook:

    http://money.cnn.com/gallery/leadership/2014/03/20/worlds-best-leaders.fortune/20.html

    If a list is to have any relevance, there should be a collaboration, not just the opinion of 1 person, especially not a baldy egotist. Might as well use my list:

    1. Tim Cook
    2. Batman and Superman
    98. Everybody else
    99. Geoff Colvin
  • Reply 20 of 23
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    To me a leader is someone who inspires people to follow them. 

     

    I believe in technology and it's power to make people's lives better, to lift us out of the caves and the muck. I also like originality. That is the kind of person who inspires me, and I think Steve Jobs believed that about technology too, and was also highly original. But I wouldn't say the same about the current CEO of Apple. But the author of that piece obviously holds differing values.

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