A new Wall Street Journal profile of Apple CEO Tim Cook looks at how he’s finally putting his mark on the company following the long reign of the late Steve Jobs, and covers his search for new board members loyal to him to help guide the company.
Described as a “kinder, gentler” workplace, Apple under Tim Cook has a new focus on deep collaboration between employees. Cook is said to be less involved in product development and more willing to delegate tasks to employees, expanding the roles of several executives and giving design chief Jonathan Ive more control over product development. He’s also made major moves like acquiring Beats and hiring high-profile executives like Angela Ahrendts, and he’s also said to be working on adding new board members.
The profile discusses Cook’s search for new directors to add to Apple’s eight-person board. The current members of the board are known for their loyalty to the late Mr. Jobs. Six of the seven outside directors on the board are 63 years of age or older, and four have served for over a decade, two of which have been on the board since the late 1990s.
The profile contains much of the usual, “SIGH! I wish Steve was still here” type of filler, saying Cook is seen as more of a manager, and less the visionary that Jobs was known as. Current and former Apple employees are said to worry that without Jobs, Apple is losing its “frenetic pace and focus” on new products, while others worry that the company may be working on too many projects at once.
“It was Steve’s job to say no,” one of these people said. “Tim is not as comfortable doing that.”
The Wall Street Journal’s full profile of has more details, and can be found here.
