What qualities do you need to join Apple, the most valuable company in the world and one of the most popular brands on a global scale? The CEO of the Cupertino company, Tim Cook, addressed this subject during a speech given at the Federico II University of Naples in Italy in 2022.
4 important qualities according to the CEO
Our colleagues from Fortune returned to this speech which went relatively unnoticed, but which is nevertheless worth the detour. The leader has retained four major character traits which perfectly match the state of mind of Californian society.
The first of these is the ability to collaborate in a team. “ We think strong individual contributors are really essential, but two strong individuals working together can do incredible work, and small teams can do incredible things.”underlines the CEO.
Another quality highly prized by the Tech giant: creativity. It is therefore a question of never letting oneself be trapped by a dogma or by the dominant thought of the moment, but of finding original solutions to a given problem.
Tim Cook also values curiosity in his employees. He explains on this subject: “It’s a cliché, but there are no stupid questions. It’s amazing when someone starts asking questions like a child would, how much pressure it puts on the person to really think deeply about the answers. So we look for that innate curiosity in people. »
Finally, and this is perhaps what ordinary people lack, expertise is fundamental to working at Apple. And the CEO cited an example:
If we are doing something in the field of industrial design, we need someone who knows industrial design and has skills in this field, whether from their university or work years.
The lesson of Steve Jobs
As a reminder, Tim Cook revealed in 2022 the main professional lesson that Steve Jobs had taught him. He thus suggested to his close collaborators never to have ideas that are too preconceived or fixed and to be open to debate in order to move forward:
You could always change his mind if you had the best idea. We changed course. That’s why it worked so well. Often, Jobs would play devil’s advocate and take a position he didn’t believe in in order to spark lively discussion. He thought it was the best way to learn.
To find out more about these fruitful exchanges between the two leaders, do not hesitate to consult our previous article here.
