Tim Cook On Apple's Values, Mistakes, And Seeing Around Corners

"I’ve always thought that Apple’s primary role is to delight its customers."

Fast Company interview

"I think the smartphone itself as a window to the Internet, and as a window to people’s digital life, has a lot of legs and a lot of innovation left."

But we’re always thinking what’s behind the corner, as we always were and are. We just don’t talk about what those things are. I know some people struggle with that, but I still think it’s right. Not just right for Apple; people like things they can do now. They like to use products that do something now. Yes, we all like to think about the Jetsons. I’ve been thinking about the Jetsons since I was a kid. But occasionally you want the Jetsons to come to reality. That’s what Apple is so great at, productizing things and bringing it to you, so you can be a part of it.

You have to build a company that commands the ability to recruit the best and brightest. We are our people and that’s the sum of what we are able to do. We’re about people. People ultimately do everything here. Yes, we have IP. Yes, we have some real estate, but at the end of the day people can rip that off. People are the soul of the place. So how do you recruit the best people? That’s something we spend time on, to make sure we can do the best we can do. That’s the leadership and the management of the place.

More important than all that is the culture. Culture is the attraction of Apple. If you’re on the outside, why do you want to join Apple? You want to join Apple because you want to change the world. That was the attraction back in the garage, and that’s the attraction now. Now, the things 21-year-olds are looking for is different from back in 1978.