When Steve Jobs Stepped Down From Apple, He Advised Tim Cook to Never Ask Himself This One Question

As Apple nears its 50th anniversary on April 1, CEO Tim Cook is reflecting on what has stayed the same since the founding days of the company — and he says one aspect of Apple that has remained constant is “we argue and debate everything” at meetings. 

In an interview with CBS earlier this week, Cook noted that Apple’s contentious meetings allow for “better ideas, bigger ideas” to flow. 

“I think this dates back to the creation of the company,” Cook told CBS. “This idea that collaboration and bringing together people with different lenses and different viewpoints on things and putting them in a rock tumbler and turning it to see what comes out. I think that was the [case] from the founding days of the company, and it’s still the case today.”

Cook added in the interview that two things were “essential” to Apple: people and culture. He acknowledged that Apple had “a lot” of intellectual property, but that it depended on people to create it. He said that culture “creates the innovation with the intellectual property.”

“I think it’s very difficult to replicate culture,” Cook said. “It takes a long time, because you have to hire the right people. And then those people have to hire the right people, and you have to build a complete organization.”

Then, that culture has to be maintained as technology progresses, he said. Cook asserted that Apple was “unique” in its culture of encouraging debate and building innovative products. 

“It’s not possible to replicate it,” he said. “I know a lot of different companies, and I think Apple is just in a party of one.”

Apple is currently the second most valuable company in the world, worth $3.79 trillion, trailing after Nvidia. Cook has been CEO of the company since August 2011, following Steve Jobs, who resigned for health reasons. 

In the CBS interview, Cook recounted the moment that Jobs invited him to his house and said he wanted Cook to take over as CEO. Jobs’ advice was to “never ask what I would do — just do the right thing.”

“It was such a gift for me, because he took off my shoulder this question of ‘What would Steve do?’” Cook shared. “I just put my head down and thought, I’m going to be the best version of myself.”

Cook has led Apple to a new era of growth and innovation. Since taking over as CEO, he has successfully diversified the company with the launch of products like the Apple Watch and AirPods. Under his leadership, Apple has expanded its ecosystem, introducing services like Apple Pay, Apple Music and Apple TV+. 

Apple also recently debuted new products. Last week, the company released the $599 MacBook Neo, its cheapest laptop ever, targeting Chromebook and budget Windows markets. It also launched the budget $599 iPhone 17e and $599 iPad Air.