Tim Cook has been named “CEO of the year” by CNN Money, beating other contenders including T-Mobile’s John Legere, BlackBerry’s John Chen, other singled out as leading executives for 2014.
CNN Money notes that Cook performed an “amazing job,” and points readers toward the fact that the AAPL stock price is up 40 percent, while Apple hit new all-time high valuation levels.
This is credited to the launch of the iPhone 6, the debut of Apple Pay, and excitement about the Apple Watch, which is set to be the first major new product line launched at Apple under Tim Cook’s stewardship.
But Cook’s success goes beyond just making money. While leading a profitable company should be the goal of any CEO, there are plenty of execs who have made short-term monetary gains for their company, while failing to innovate — or even causing long-term damage. Cook has innovated, made Apple into a more dynamic company capable of doing multiple things at the same time, and even pushed Cupertino to become a “force for good” in the world.
Furthermore, he had to match up to Steve Jobs: something CNN Money calls “the toughest CEO job in America.”
This isn’t the first “person of the year” award Cook has picked up as of late. He was recently selected by the Financial Times, and nominated by TIME magazine.
That’s without even mentioning the LGBT anti-discrimination bill named after Apple’s CEO — which knowing of his work in this area likely means just as much, or even more, to him.
