When Steve Jobs resigned as Apple’s CEO
in August 2011, he handpicked Tim Cook as his successor. Cook had been with the company since 1998,
and earned the reputation of being an operations mastermind. Dramatically Apple’s reducing on-hand inventory
and delivering products to customers faster using a technique called just-in-time manufacturing. But his greatest work has been performed over
the past decade as CEO. When Apple’s popularity and growth exploded
in a way almost no one expected. This has led many people to wonder about the
man behind the machine: Tim Cook. And what he does on a daily basis to stay
at the top of his game. So in this video, we’re going to take a
peak behind Apple’s curtain, and find out what a day in the life of Tim Cook is really
like. This is Greg with Apple Explained, and this
was the last place topic of the previous voting poll, which means I shouldn’t even be making
this video. But I already started working on the script,
so I’m just putting this out as a short bonus video for you guys. Alright now let’s start with Cook’s morning
routine. He wakes up at 3:45am. And spends about an hour going through some
of the 700-800 emails he receives each day. In an interview with Axios, he explained why. Saying, “I like to… go through user comments
and things like that, and sort of focus on the external people that are so important
to us.” For breakfast, Cook typically enjoys two scrambled
egg whites, turkey bacon, and sugar-free cereal with unsweetened almond milk. Then, around 5am, he goes to an undisclosed
gym that’s located outside Apple’s headquarters, for maximum privacy, and works out for an
hour. In fact, Cook is a self-described “fitness
nut.” Claiming his regular exercise routine helps
keep stress at bay, which is probably important for someone in charge of running the most
valuable company in the world. Next, Cook visits a local Starbucks to read
through more emails before heading to Apple Park. Once he arrives at the office, his day is
typically filled with meetings. And despite his laid back demeanor, Cook is
known to have little patience for unprepared staffers. In fact, workers who are scheduled to meet
with Cook are first screened by their managers, to make sure they’re ready to answer all
of his questions. And Cook is known to ask quite a few. Steve Doil, who used to work on Cook’s operations
team, said, “He’ll ask you ten questions. If you answer them right, he’ll ask you
ten more. If you do this for a year, he’ll start asking
you nine questions. Get one wrong, and he’ll ask you 20 and
then 30.” One staffer who wasn’t fully prepared was
quickly dismissed by Cook. Who simply said, “next.” As he flipped the page of his meeting agenda. But I think the story that best illustrates
Cook’s expectation of excellence, is during a meeting about Apple’s poor performance
in China. Cook said, “This is really bad, someone
should be in China driving this.” Thirty minutes into the meeting, he looked
at Sabih Khan, an operations executive, and asked, with no emotion, “Why are you still
here?” Khan immediately stood up, drove to San Francisco
International Airport, and, without any luggage, booked a one-way ticket to China. For lunch, Cook is known to stop by the company
cafeteria and sit with random employees. This allows him to hear from people in the
company who might offer a unique perspective outside the bubble of Apple’s executive
team. Cook is also known to be the last person to
leave the office. Arriving home just in time to be in bed by
8:45. That means he works about 12 hours a day while
sleeping for 7. So while Tim Cook has been criticized for
being a much different CEO than Steve Jobs, the two have a surprising amount of characteristics
in common. Like working long hours, focusing on their
health, holding their employees to the highest standard, and always maintaining a balanced
perspective on Apple by staying in touch with their everyday customers. So that is the day in the life of Tim Cook,
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and I’ll see you in the next video.
