At Apple, as at Google, a boss’s ability to achieve results had a lot more to do with listening and seeking to understand than it did with telling people what to do; more to do with debating than directing; more to do with pushing people to decide than with being the decider; more to do with persuading than with giving orders; more to do with... See more

The group had hit a snag.

It was a familiar sticking point. One they’d run into before. Same disagreement, different day. Competing priorities, different theories about how their business actually runs. It felt like there was a fracture in the room. Subtle but familiar.

There were heads shaking; mutterings to their neighbour; talking past each... See more

Cook is the common variable across all of these analogies:

• Cook has led the company as it has continually closed down iOS, controlling developers through the stick of market size instead of the carrot of platform opportunity.


• Cook has similarly been at the forefront of Apple absolutist approach to privacy, which has only increased in intensity and

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