6 takeaways from part 2 of Tim Cook’s interview with Charlie Rose

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timmyandcharlie

Part two of Tim Cook’s interview with Charlie Rose recently aired on PBS. While not quite as long or revealing as the first part, it’s still definitely worth watching.

Here are six takeaways we got from part two of Cook’s interview:

“You are not our product”

We Don't Want It

On the topic of government surveillance, Cook doesn’t “think that the country or the government found the right balance” in spying on citizens in light of the NSA leaks surrounding Edward Snowden. “I think they aired too much on the collect-everything side.”

“When we design a new service, we try not to collect data,” Cook said. “You are not our product.” For example, Apple chooses to not know anything about the kinds of transactions used with Apple Pay.

“Everyone has to ask, how do companies make their money? Follow the money. And if they’re making money mainly by collecting gobs of personal data, I think you have a right to worry.”

He’s big on human equality

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One of the more public things about Tim Cook is his strong stance on human equality. When asked about his personal values, he said, “Treating people with dignity. Treating people the same. Everyone deserves a basic level of human rights.”

He sees the value of “inclusion inspiring innovation” at Apple, but “we have a lot further to go” as a country.

Loves the environment

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As someone who likes to explore national parks in his free time, Cook loves the environment. It’s something Apple cares about deeply too. The company has removed all toxins from its products, and it recently built a data center in North Caroline that’s 100% powered by renewable energy. The new Apple headquarters in Cupertino will be powered completely by renewable energy too.

Cares deeply about education

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“To me, it’s the great equalizer among people,” said Cook on the topic of education. Apple holds university-style classes on the campuses of its manufacturing partners in Asia. Cook said that one of the things that gets him out of bed in the morning is giving teachers better tools to teach and students better tools to learn.

Apple’s values won’t change when he’s gone

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If Cook were to die tomorrow, he firmly believes that Apple’s commitment to building products that change peoples’ lives won’t go away. The values in the company were instilled by Steve Jobs, and they run deep.

“We’ll always contribute the most to humanity through our products. Because these products will change peoples’ lives and enable them to do things they couldn’t do before.”

He thinks U2’s new album is “killer”

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Cook is huge U2 fan. Like huge.

“Some may not love it,” he said, referencing the band’s latest album that was loaded on every iTunes account for free. “I hope they all do.”

Yeah…

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