Quora has an interesting Q&A, “What it’s like to work for Tim Cook,” with answers from anonymous Apple employees, such as:
My experience with Tim was as a report of one of his direct reports. He interviewed me. I participated in weekly revenue reviews with him. This was the basis for my perspective.
1. No one knows the detail of their business better than Tim. And you’d better know the detail of your part of his business as well.
2. Your life is your work. Your work is your life. There is no such thing as work – life balance.
3. There is no time for small talk, only purposeful communication in small bite-sized pieces.
4. Charm is for bracelets.
5. Building your career through job changes makes you a job hopper (read: untrustworthy). Endurance rules.
Read more in the full Q&A here.
“Your life is your work. Your work is your life” That is a sucky way to live. There is life outside of work.
“To each his own”
It depends on whether you are doing what you love to do as your “work”. If so, it’s all work AND it’s all play at the same time.
But what if you like to have sex with other people, even if they are are the same sex. Can you do that at work too?
Tim and the team directly under him seem to spend a lot of their “off” time together, maybe even vacationing together, so it’s easy to see their work time overlapping their free. Of course, the fact that they’re running such an exciting, world influential company, doesn’t hurt either.
although I agree with you in a way, they are also situations and people like this:
some people love to act. they would do it for free.
then they get paid for it making movies etc.
think about it.
(maybe their life is not “broad based” but they are doing what they want. I guess that’s why multi millionaire actors in their 70s are still doing movies, isn’t really for the money anymore)
Key thing about work:
— find out what you are good at
— find out what you would do for free and enjoy it
if you aim your career at confluence of those two things you will ‘win’. You will be unstoppable because as your competitors are getting exhausted you are just having fun.
(of course if you kids and stuff you have responsibilities and those can’t be ignored)
Actors are satisfying their egos and avoiding real work when employed to perform. And while some may not care for extreme salt is, it’s foolish to think money is not part of their motivation. And of course their personal culture reflects on their choices, just like everyone else. When a top star taks a smaller upfront check, rest assured he has a large percentage of the backend of the gross.
Tim is no different: he was hired for a pittance but received millions of delayed shares of Apple stock worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Only the foolish diatize a human based on his net worth or facade.
you’re not following what I’m saying:
I’m not saying money is not a consideration,
I’m saying if you just do stuff just for money when you have no talent for the job and no love for it you will have a hard time.
imagine a person with (from my point 1) NO talent in acting and (pt 2) hates doing it.. do you think he’ll become a millionaire actor?
Acting is a hard business , it’s ‘real work’ as you put it IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT.
I’m saying to find out what you actually like doing ask yourself : “Will I do this for free”
some people like building stuff so being an architect , engineer is fun, some people like to cook, do maths (accounting), etc. It’s only “real work” if your fit is wrong. Not saying these people who do what they like always have smooth sailing or don’t work hard but it’s more ‘happy hard’ than frustrating hard. Unfortunately too many people get stuck early on in something they don’t like as they were ‘aiming just for the money’ . That’s an uphill fight.
(like me I’ll never be an actor, no talent and have no interest in the business. But I do stuff I really like and can’t say I’ve ‘worked’ as people describe it ever, I’m not ‘rich’ like Cook but I’ve made over a million $ in assets with no debt. Sometimes people say I’m ‘working’ way long hours through the weekends but I was just having fun. I do the same stuff as a hobby as I do for money )
Actually Steve Jobs said it over and over again: do what you love, do your best and the money will follow
(listen to his stamford commencement speech and his statements to shareholders )
Pushing yourself just for the money is a fools game, at the end you might have a big pile of money but if you spent all your life at something you HATE to get it, you will have regrets (probably stressed your body all kinds of ways too fighting uphill) . Read the statements made by old people about regrets and you will be educated.
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My take. He sounds like most CEO’s I know that are involved in their company. They have a tremendous responsibility and work tirelessly to ensure success of the company. A CEO that doesn’t do this doesn’t care/think about the employees they are responsible for.
That’s why Ballmer failed as a leader. No leadership or social skills. Can you imagine working for someone like him? How can you take such an incompetent fool seriously?
I’m sure the employees have opportunities to have fun and enjoy their hard earned pay. I haven’t read too many complaints coming from Apple employee’s. If it was that bad, you’d hear a lot more about it.
If I was young and healthy, I’d give my left nut to work for Apple. What could be better than working for the coolest company in the world?
You’d be working with the smartest, most creative people in the industry.
Ok, easy on using that “Endurance” word in light of recent events. Geez…
Endurance is a good thing. Ask your significant other.
Cook is a Southern Boy through and through.
You work for The Man, The Man owns your life.
I am all for dedication, but the minute I leave campus the job is the last thing on my mind. When I arrive on campus it is front and center on my mind.
I am not a Southern Man although I currently live in the South and have Southern roots.
Some of us define ourselves by what we do for a living and others work to provide a means to do what we choose the rest of the time. I work in a licensed profession and help care for sick and injured people and enjoy doing that, but it does not define who I am.
My life away from work is who I am. My life at work is what I do to pay the bills. All business on the clock, but out of sight out of mind off the clock.
I know people like Mr Cook is described and most burn out at some point unless they stress themselves to death- and stress can make you ill. It is healthy to have a capacity for that kind of focus when needed, but not healthy to live like that all the time.
I take it you have never owned a business. When you have the responsibility for feeding families work is always on your mind even when your body isn’t.
If you cannot take time off you need a deputy.
The concept is called delegation of authority and has been around for a very long time.
support homosexuals or be fired!
And what is wrong not discriminating against our friends in the gay community? Do you really care about what people do in the privacy of their homes? Do you really dwell on other people’s sex lives?
I can think of a thousand things other than people’s private lives to think about. Why would I waste thought on something that doesn’t concern me? Get a life dude..
Rick, that’s like saying “support chicks or be fired” or “support negros or be fired”. You’re an idiot or a bigot. Possibly both. “Homosexuals”? Really? What year is this?
Hijacking thread attempt here. Please, no more replies after this, just use the stars to vote.
Or better yet, don’t even vote for moronic, incendiary, or troll-bait comments. Don’t even bother.
I’m only sorry I can’t give this jerk ZERO stars.
I agree with Mr Cook as he is the CEO of the most valuable company in the world. Therefore he needs to make sure Apple is successful otherwise people will lose their jobs.
On another note, Tim needs to realise that other employees may have families and children to raise and they need to spent time with them.
By the way the original iPad Air was thin enough Mr Cook! No need to jump in this thin culture madness at the expense of bend ability and reduced battery life!!!
No family, no possibility of real offspring with a Mom and a Dad, what could be better to head a company than this type of individual? Einstein did his best work when he wasn’t burdened by domestic issues.
I say go for it.
Get that Apple Watch and Apple TV out the door.
Who says he has no family? And what, a kid raised by a single parent (or — gasp! –two men) isn’t a “real” offspring? Seriously?
Jobs had a wife and a family, and I’m pretty sure he would be the first to agree that “Your work is your life, and your life is your work.”
I love my new iPhone. I would love working for Tim Cook.
If you are working directly with the CEO, and making the salary to match that responsibility, then those rules should apply.
Sounds like a very boring guy!