One of the greatest arts of leadership is knowing when to quit. Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook has chosen wisely. After 15 years in charge of the world’s most successful consumer technology company, Cook will hand over power to his successor John Ternus in September. There are two contrasting reasons why this is smart.
First, even the most curmudgeonly critic would find it hard to quibble with Apple’s financial performance under Cook. Succeeding the wizard-like Steve Jobs was never going to be easy. But in terms of money-generating magic, Cook has far surpassed Apple’s visionary co-founder.
While in charge, Cook has helped to increase Apple’s market value by an astonishing $3.6tn (about the same as the total capitalisation of the UK’s entire FTSE 100). And while the company is still defined by its super-sleek, omnipresent hardware, Cook has also conjured up a services business bringing in $100bn a year. What better time to leave than when you are being hailed as probably the “greatest non-founder CEO of all time”?