With Apple’s latest announcement of its ‘newest’ items it got me thinking about Apple products and how they are just so successful. With the passing of Steve Jobs, Tim Cook became the new CEO of Apple. Little was known about Tim Cook and many people even doubted the man before he even had a chance to introduce himself to the world. Unlike Steve Jobs, Tim Cook does not enjoy being in the spotlight, instead he likes to share it with the innovators themselves. Tim Cook is the face and the leader of Apple. He very much follows the situational leadership theory.
The situational leadership theory can be looked at how leaders lead in different situations. “The situational approach stresses that leadership is composed of both directive and a supportive dimension, and that each has to be applied appropriately in a given situation” (Northouse, 2016, p. 93). What this means is that the leader can leader his or her followers in many circumstances. Tim Cook is able to do just that. He is looked at sometimes as the coach to the Apple team members, leading them and giving them the skills they need to be successful but lets the team work together to achieve the goal that the coach has.
Many people doubted Tim Cook. However, he has proven his worth to the company and to the consumers of Apple products. Tim Cook’s idea was to focus on existing products and employee relations and that is what he has done (Lashinsky, 2015). In the recent release of Apple products they fixed an existing phone, launched the iPad pro, and perfected the watch even further. One of the newest items is that the health app on the apple watch will be able to predict seizures. This is huge for many people. However, Tim Cook didn’t come up with ideas and ways to implement them on his own. He needed his team to help.
Furthermore, Tim Cook is using his situational leadership skills when addressing the US government when “demanding that Apple take an unprecedented step which threatens the security of our customers” (Cook, 2016). Mr. Cook opposed and did not fulfill the requests of the FBI to create a new phone and bypass security measures that put users at risk. Mr. Cook addressed the issue and also provided legislation which supports his directive stance.
As you can see, Tim Cook, was able to take over as CEO and have a much different leadership style than his predecessor Steve Jobs. Being just as successful, it proves that leaders can be effect if they use an effective leadership style. Tim Cook uses a situational leadership approach which appears to be effective right now for the Apple Company.
References:
Cook, T. (2016). A Message to Our Customers. In Apple. Retrieved March 22, 2016, fromhttp://www.apple.com/customer-letter/.
Lashinsky, A. (2015). Apple’s Tim Cook leads different. In Fortune. Retrieved March 22, 2016,from http://fortune.com/2015/03/26/tim-cook/.
Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership, Theory and Practice, 7th ed. Los Angeles. Sage Publications