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Introduction
The culture and policies of an organization are heavily influenced by the ideals and principles of its leadership. A leaders ability to inspire and motivate their team members to work together toward common goals is crucial to the success of their organization as a whole. Tim Cooks responsibilities as Apples chief executive officer and leader include serving as the companys central point of contact between the governing board and day-to-day functions, as well as making key organizational decisions, overseeing the companys overarching asset and operation management, and finding and enlisting the best talent to help the company reach its goals. Given Cooks position as the CEO of one of the most powerful and lucrative global high-tech companies, it is important to understand his leadership style. Overall, Cook can be described as a transformative leader because he inspires his team to adapt to a new system with a clear strategic direction.
Background of Tim Cook
Apple does not have a particular management style. When Cook became CEO, the companys management style changed dramatically. Before joining Apple, Cook had spent 12 years with IBM, rising to the position of North American director due to his stellar work (Kim, 2020). He then worked as the chief operating officer of Intelligent Electronics and then the VP of corporate materials at Compaq Computer (Kim, 2020). Jobs noticed Cooks abilities and lured him from Compaq barely half a year after he had settled into his new role. His roles as director, chief operating officer, and vice president established the groundwork for many qualities he possesses as Apples chief executive officer.
Tim Cooks Leadership Style
As previously stated, a leaders beliefs and conventions significantly affect the culture and policies of an organization. Many leadership philosophies and modalities have been associated with Cooks career. Cook is a transformative leader because he inspires his team to adopt a new working method. Transformational leadership is effective because it values all stakeholders and treats staff members as people with distinct abilities and motivations. Tim Cook pays attention to the advice of other Apple executives and employees and then uses that insight to inform his decisions (Mickle, 2020). How Cook interacts with the companys many stakeholders is also crucial to his position as CEO and leader in his field. Cook acknowledges that his interactions with the firms key decision-makers will significantly impact Apples performance (Mickle, 2020). Apple has a wide variety of interested parties, such as its workers, consumers, communities, vendors, and governments. Cook has a considerable interest in and understanding the needs of Apples stakeholders. He focuses on achieving Apples near- and long-term targets per those stakeholders values. To ensure that all relevant parties are on board with any proposed company activities changes, Cook draws out a stakeholder map in advance. As part of his duties, he also listens to criticisms against the corporations key initiatives and considers how to best respond to them (Mickle, 2020). Cook often communicates to stakeholders (including workers and customers) that they are integral to the firms management and achievements.
In some instances, Cook has demonstrated situational leadership. The term situational leadership refers to a style of management that is flexible enough to change with the needs of the organization and its workers (Thompson & Glasø, 2018). This style encourages subordinates to approach the superior for help when confronted with a challenging issue, which may considerably lessen the danger involved. In 2016, the United States government and the FBI requested Apples assistance in unlocking a terrorists iPhone by creating a backdoor to the apple device (Feiner, 2020). This would allow Federal agents to connect directly to the phone and review its contents and conduct to investigate the terrorists network, operations, and motivations for the attack (Feiner, 2020). This was totally against Apples privacy policy because of the potential for unauthorized access to consumers private information. Since a backdoor may pose a danger to data security, Cook opted against creating one to safeguard the privacy of their clients information. Cook adopted a situational leadership approach to deal with the social problem, believing that it was essential to address the issue because of the potential effect it may have.
Cooks ability to plan strategically and tactically was displayed when he led Apple through the Covid-19 epidemic. To better handle the Covid-19 outbreak and motivate more individuals to use Google and Apple services, Cook coordinated Apples partnership with Google on a contact tracking program (Sharon, 2021). Cooks caring nature is on full display in this selfless act. Cooks compassionate personality is the driving force behind his democratic approach to leadership. Leaders in business that adopt a more democratic approach are more likely to achieve lasting success and influence because they are better able to hear the concerns of their staff and consumers (Mansaray, 2019). This management style places a premium on building strong relationships with staff, leaving them feeling valued and encouraged. Cook also has implemented measures to guarantee the well-being of its staff. Due to this, many Apple workers feel compelled to help others by resolving their challenges. As Apples leader, Cook cares deeply about people with modest incomes and has overseen the companys shift toward more reasonably priced goods. Products like the iPod and iPhone SE series fall under this category.
Cook also values ethical leadership and has ensured that Apples operations are acceptable. Transparency is one of his essential characteristics based on this leadership style. Company executives must keep their employees informed on the status and plans of the business. A good example of this is Apples consumer privacy policy. Miller (2021) claims that Apple publishes a transparency report twice yearly to inform users about the governments demands for user data and the companys responses.
Emotional Intelligence
One of the major parts of Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize and accept responsibility for mistakes. An expanding store of emotions permeates individuals daily lives, and humility taps into some of them. According to Gilar-Corbi et al. (2019), being able to recognize and control ones own emotions and those of other people is a hallmark of emotional intelligence. As Cook has been for Apple, the capacity to draw on ones own EI may be a game-changer. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with Inc., So many people, particularly, I think, CEOs and top executives, they get so planted in their old ideas, and they refuse or do not have the courage to admit that they are now wrong (Rutland, 2018). This quote demonstrates Cooks self-awareness that he is fallible. He is the kind of leader who will visit an Apple shop, walk about inside, chat with customers and staff and generally acquire a feel for what is happening on the ground. He is not passively waiting for the upcoming profits report to land on his desk while wearing an executive title tag.
In June 2020, Apple made a monumental revelation in response to the pandemics exposure to customers privacy concerns in the expanding digital environment. It was said that when iOS 14 is released, applications need to get user consent before collecting data on their behaviors. While this was a win for privacy activists, it was a loss for the app developers and owners. Meta placed advertisements totaling 2,000 words in the three most widely read newspapers in the United States, in which it made claims that Apple was an anti-small enterprise and posed a risk to the free internet (Wuerthele, 2020). Cook fired back with a tweet rather than issuing a formal statement or launching a counter-ad campaign (https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/1339720611313065984?s=20&t=VlBZT8bWL6vSa0biZ5HknQ). Cook is a skilled communicator, yet many people find his tweets uninteresting because they typically include mundane information like corporate updates and Apples planned releases. This tweet is consistent with his personality, but its effectiveness is vicious and demonstrates Cooks emotional intelligence.
Conclusion
Cook is an outstanding business leader and chief executive officer. He is a trailblazer, having perfected the skill of directing Apple to become a gigantic multinational corporation. With Cook at the helm, Apples expansion and innovation have quadrupled since 2011. His accomplishment stems from his keen insight, empathy, trustworthiness, understanding of diversity, capacity to foster collaboration among workers, appropriate involvement with stakeholders, proactive adaptation to changing conditions, and dependability in delivering results. There is no question that Cook is the most prominent and respected CEO in Apples history, thanks to his track record as the companys head. Undoubtedly, he will maintain his status in the IT sector as he guides Apple to even higher heights of technical innovation.
References
Feiner, L. (2020). Apple refuses governments request to unlock Pensacola shooting suspects iPhones. CNBC. Web.
Gilar-Corbi, R., Pozo-Rico, T., Sánchez, B., & Castejón, J. L. (2019). Can emotional intelligence be improved? A randomized experimental study of a business-oriented EI training program for senior managers. PloS one, 14(10), e0224254. Web.
Kim, H. (2020). Comparison of Strategic Leadership: Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Business and Management Studies, 6(3), 17-25. Web.
Mansaray, H. E. (2019). The role of leadership style in organisational change management: a literature review. Journal of Human Resource Management, 7(1), 18-31. Web.
Mickle, T. (2020). How Tim Cook Made Apple His Own. The Wall Street Journal. Web.
Miller, C. (2021). Apple publishes new Transparency Report detailing govt requests for data and App Store removals. 9to5Mac. Web.
Rutland, J. (2018). Emotional Intelligence: Use It Like Tim Cook Every Single Day And Watch Your Successes Grow. Medium. Web.
Sharon, T. (2021). Blind-sided by privacy? Digital contact tracing, the Apple/Google API and big techs newfound role as global health policy makers. Ethics and Information Technology, 23(1), 45-57. Web.
Thompson, G., & Glasø, L. (2018). Situational leadership theory: a test from a leader-follower congruence approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal. Web.
Wuerthele, M. (2020). Facebook attacks Apple over iOS 14 ad privacy program in full-page newspaper ads. AppleInsider. Web.
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