The Standard

22 The Standard September 21 to 27 2014
International News
Tim Cook’s philosophy at Apple
Tim Cook. Picture: 9to5mac.com
One week after Steve
Jobs announced plans
to go on his first medical
leave of absence
from Apple in 2009,
the man tasked with temporarily
leading the company — or so it
was assumed at the time — had to
answer to Wall Street.
Tim Cook joined two other Apple
executives for Apple’s quarterly
earnings call. The first question
asked by an analyst on the call
was, perhaps unsurprisingly, about
Jobs’ health and the likelihood that
Cook “would be the candidate” to
take over as CeO if Jobs were unable
to return. Another executive on
the call offered a quick boilerplate
response to the question. But then
Cook chimed in.
“There is extraordinary breadth
and depth and tenure among
the Apple executive team... And
the values of our company are extremely
well-entrenched,” Cook
said at the beginning of his response.
He then proceeded to lay
out those values in a brief monologue
that some later dubbed The
Cook Doctrine.
“We are constantly focusing on
innovating. We believe in the simple,
not the complex. We believe
that we need to own and control
the primary technologies behind
the products that we make, and
participate only in markets where
we can make a significant contribution.
“We believe in saying no to thousands
of projects, so that we can really
focus on the few that are truly
important and meaningful to
us. We believe in deep collaboration
and cross-pollination of our
groups, which allow us to innovate
in a way that others cannot.
“And frankly, we don’t settle for
anything less than excellence in
every group in the company, and
we have the self-honesty to admit
when we’re wrong and the courage
to change. And I think regardless
of who is in what job, those
values are so embedded in this
company that Apple will do extremely
well.”
That response proved to be an
introduction of sorts to investors.
Cook had joined Apple in 1998 and
emerged as a key executive in
charge of the company’s increasingly
complicated global operations,
but he remained relatively
unknown. After the earnings call,
however, analysts and journalists
began praising Cook for having
a clear understanding of Apple’s
DnA and how to run the company
with or without Jobs.
In the three years since Cook
took over as permanent CeO, a
different kind of doctrine has
emerged through his rare but
growing number of public statements
as well as his actions at the
company. If his response in 2009
laid out his understanding of Apple’s
DnA as it was, what we’ve
seen since is a doctrine of how
Cook is working to tweak that
DnA for the better.
When Apple announced the big
executive shakeup in 2012 that
pushed out then-iOS chief Scott
Forstall, the company framed the
move in a statement as an effort
to “encourage even more collaboration
between the company’s
world-class hardware, software
and services teams.”
The statement may have been
PR spin on a messy situation, but
the choice of the word “collaboration”
was more meaningful than
that. It’s one that Cook has reiterated
multiple times in the time
since, and it represents a key part
of his philosophy for running Apple.
“The lines between hardware,
software, and services are blurred
or are disappearing,” Cook said
in an interview with Business-
Week. “The only way you can pull
this off is when everyone is working
together well. And not just
working together well but almost
blending together so that you
can’t tell where people are working
anymore, because they are
so focused on a great experience
that they are not taking functional
views of things.”
In his office at Apple, Tim Cook
has pictures of Robert F. Kennedy
and Martin Luther King. The pictures,
as he explained in a recent
interview with Charlie Rose, tie
into deeply held notions he has of
civil rights.
When asked to describe his most
important values personally, he listed
off the following: “Treating people
with dignity. Treating people
the same. That everyone deserves
a basic level of human rights regardless
of their colour, regardless
of their religion, regardless of
their sexual orientation, regardless
of their gender. That everyone deserves
respect. I’ll fight for it until
my toes point up.”
While he framed those points as
his personal philosophy, it also extends
to the company. As he put
it in the interview, “Inclusion inspires
innovation.” He said the
same three words in June after
marching with thousands of Apple
employees in a gay pride parade.
In the interview with Rose,
Cook stressed that employees at
Apple are motivated to do good
work to help the world rather than
the company’s market cap. But
he was quick to couch that statement.
“To all the shareholders out
there: I’m not saying I’m not focusing
on you,” he said. “I’m very
focused on them.”
“Apple” and “transparency”
weren’t traditionally words people
put next to one another, but
Cook has made it a point to change
that — at least when it comes to issues
involving the company’s supply
chain, environmental efforts
and other corporate affairs.
“We decided being more transparent
about some things is great
— not that we were not transparent
at all before, but we’ve stepped
it up in places where we think
we can make a bigger difference,
where we want people to copy us,”
Cook told Bloomberg Business-
Week in an earlier interview in
2012.
That said, Cook has decided to
continue his predecessor’s emphasis
on keeping the company’s
product plans secret, noting in another
interview that Apple would
“double down on product secrecy.”
“I’ve never had the objective of
being like him,” Cook said at one
point in the interview with Rose,
alluding to Jobs. “The only person
I can be is the person I am, right?
... So that’s what I’ve done. I’ve
tried to be the best Tim Cook I can
be.” — Mashable
CITY OF HARARE
SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS: PRE-BUDGET CONSULTATIVE MEETINGS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING 31 ST DECEMBER 2015.
NAME OF COUNCILLOR WARD DATE TIME AREA VENUE
Breakfast Meeting with
12/09/14 0730Hrs Rainbow Towers Hotel
stakeholders
Mahachi A. 2 20/09/14 10.00Hrs Arcadia, Braeside, Arcadia Hall
Eastlea North,
South Cranborne,
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Martins
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District
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Bango C 41 20/09/14 10.00Hrs Malborough Malbrough District Office
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Road, Malbereign SCentre
Mukunguma L 25 20/09/14 14.00Hrs Highfields Zimbabwe Hall
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Chakeredza T/ Muzhinyi F 30/31 21/0914 14.00Hrs Glen View New Glen View Community Hall
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Chirombe O 33 21/09/14 14.00Hrs Budiriro Budiriro Community Hall
Mandere G 45 21/09/14 14.00Hrs Kuwadzana
Phase 3
Dzivarasekwa One Community
Centre
Hadebe GT 39 21/09/14 14.00Hrs Dzivarasekwa Dzivarasekwa Community Hall
Gomba L 36 21/09/14 13.00Hrs Mufakose Area E Community Hall
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Rose J /Mangawa L 20/46 27/09/14 10.00Hrs Tafara Tafara 2 Community Hall
NAME OF COUNCILLOR
Zibute C
WARD
23
DATE
27/09/14
TIME
10.00Hrs
ARE
Waterfalls
VENUE
Waterfalls Community Hall
Madzokere T 32 27/09/14 10.00Hrs Glen View Sophie Hall
Alisen M 34 27/09/14 10.00Hrs Mufakose Area J Community Hall
Kufahakutizwi M.F. 19 27/09/14 10.00Hrs Mabvuku Area D Community Hall
Moyo P 13 27/09/14 14:00Hrs Southerton Rugare Primary School
Ndira B 21 27/09/14 14.00Hrs Mabuvuku Mabvuku Community Hall
Nyemba M 12 27/09/14 14.00Hrs Mbare Stodart Hall
Chikombo W 28 27/09/14 14:00Hrs Glen Norah Chembira Hall
Mupamawonde E 35 27/09/14 14.00Hrs Mufakose Rutendo Hall
Mutizwa S 9 27/09/14 14.00Hrs Greendale Greendale Sports Club
Mangwiro U 37 28/09/14 14:00Hrs Kuwadzana Kuwadzana 2 Community Hall
Masunda R 44 28/09/14 14:00Hrs Kuwandzana Kuwadzana 8 Primary School
Extension
Garachani S 40 28/09/14 14.00Hrs Dzivarasekwa Dzivarasekwa
Centre 2 Community Hall
Janzazi W 38 28/09/14 14.00Hrs Kuwadzana Kuwadzana Full Day Centre
Charumbira P 43 28/09/14 1400Hrs Budiriro Budiriro Community Centre
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Shingadeya A 11 04/10/14 1000Hrs Mbare Netball Complex, Mbare
Markham A.N. 18 04/10/14 10.00Hrs Borrowdale Borrowdale District Offices
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Mbanga C 8 04/10/14 1000Hrs Highlands Highlands District Office
Gwenambira R 1 04/10/14 1000Hrs Harare South Hopley Clinic
Maseko I
3/4 04/10/14 1400Hrs Mbare Mai Musodzi Hall
Matinyanya SM
Budget Advisory Committee
Meeting
06/10/14 10.00hrs Town House, Flag Room