Much has been made of the managerial differences between Tim Cook and predecessor Steve Jobs, and unsurprisingly that extends to their respective approaches to recruitment, too.
Jobs famously recruited Apple engineer Bob Belleville by telling him that, “Everything you’ve ever done in your life is shit, so why don’t you come work for me?”
Tim Cook, on the other hand, takes a slightly softer tack — as evidenced by a new Fortune article, revealing how Cook recruited Apple’s retail guru Angela Ahrendts to join the company from her previous prominent role as CEO at Burberry.
As the article explains, Ahrendts came to the meeting with Apple from a position of strength, and decided to speak with Tim Cook more out of interest than anything. However, Cook quickly made a strong impression.
“The first time I sat down with him, I walked away thinking wow, that’s a man of peace,” Ahrendts says. “I just absolutely loved his integrity, his values. Nothing anybody can write, say, or do is going to take him off of always doing the right thing. Not just for Apple, but for Apple’s people, for communities, for countries. The world needs more leaders like Tim.”
According to Ahrendts, her initial meetings with Cook focused on establishing whether she was a good cultural fit for Apple, rather than diving into her previous experience. “We talked about the future of retail, about where is retail going and what is Apple’s role in that,” she continues. “We talked much more about the future. We didn’t talk a lot about fashion.”
Cook, meanwhile, is full of praise for Angela Ahrendts, who some have even speculated could be his successor as CEO, making Ahrendts Apple’s first ever female CEO.
“She’s a perfect culture fit,” he told Fortune. “Within a week, it felt like she’d been there a year. And now it feels like she’s been there multiple years. When you start to finish each other’s sentences, this is a good thing.”
In 2014, Ahrendts was Apple’s highest paid executive, taking home a whopping $64 million+ more than Tim Cook.
Source: Fortune
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
8 responses to “How Tim Cook persuaded Angela Ahrendts to join Apple”
“Tim Cook, on the other hand, takes a slightly softer tact…”
Not sure if Luke originally wrote that, or if it was changed by someone from tack to tact.
I know, “language is constantly changing”. Me no agree that we can’t have no standards though.
From “The Grammarist”.
“Tact is sensitivity in social situations. A tack is a course or an approach (the word has nautical origins). When switching courses or taking a different approach, one changes tack, not tact.
Tact often appears in place of tack. Presumably some people think of it as short for tactic, which is synonymous with tack in some contexts. This is understandable given how rare tack is, but tact is not conventionally short for tactic, and, fairly or not, phrases like change tact are generally considered wrong by people who pay attention to these things.”
And here I thought a tack was what you used to hold a piece of paper to a cork board. :)
I will take responsibility for the error. Article changed accordingly and, yes indeed, I assumed it was a derivation of tactic. Thanks for the thoughtful correction.
Take a look at Angela’s right fist-thumb. It’s impossible! Her fingers are pointed the wrong way. Or am I nuts?
It’s actually the left hand of the woman next to her.
Thanks. Didn’t notice the short sleeve.
That is funny
I had to look twice, I saw the same thing as well. But that’s not her hand. The guy in the middle is wearing a white shirt as well. You’re actually seeing his hand…