In this 15‑minute interview compiled by Evan Carmichael, Apple CEO Tim Cook shares his personal "top 10 rules for success" drawn from his experience leading one of the world’s most valuable companies. He begins by emphasizing that everything stems from three pillars – people, strategy, and execution – and explains how a product‑centric strategy, combined with relentless execution, drives Apple’s growth (e.g., $180 billion in revenue). Cook stresses the importance of being authentic rather than trying to emulate Steve Jobs, and he advocates striving for perfection in every product. He argues that true success comes from writing your own rules instead of following formulaic playbooks, and he underscores the need for laser focus on a limited set of products. Cook highlights intuition as a decisive factor, recounting his own career‑changing decision to join Apple despite analytical doubts. He acknowledges that failure and hardship are inevitable, urging resilience and the belief that "this too shall pass." Drawing on lessons from Steve Jobs, a professor’s 25‑year plan, and personal reflection, he advises maintaining a North Star while staying adaptable to life’s unpredictable changes. The interview closes with Cook’s invitation to viewers to reflect on which of his rules resonates most.
He's an American business executive and CEO of Apple. He serves on the board of directors of Nike and the National Football Foundation. In 2012, Time magazine included him in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He's Tim Cook, and here are his top 10 rules for success.
I spend almost all my time on people, strategy, and execution. And I think that most everything else falls from those. If you have the most brilliant people, wicked smart people that collaborate well together, if you set the, in our case, we're all about products. So our strategy is very product-oriented. If that strategy is right and if you're executing like crazy, There's some things that still arise, but if you get those 3 right, then the world is a great place. Steve was an original, and I don't think there's another one of those being made. And so I've never really viewed or felt the weight of trying to be Steve. It's just, it's not who I am, and It's not my goal in life, you know. I am who I am, and I'm focused on that and being a great CEO of Apple. There's still things that we very much believe. The strive for perfection, for being the best, for only doing the best products, for staying focused. The fact that despite this table being so small that you and I are sitting at, You could put every Apple product on it, every single one that we ship today, and yet this year our revenues will be, you know, approximately $180 billion. There's probably no other company on the face of the earth that could say that. I think you should rarely follow the rules. I think you should write the rules. I think if you do follow things in a formulaic manner, you will wind up at best being the same as everybody else. Maybe you missed something in your little wars. And if you want to excel, you can't do that. I've watched a lot of companies do that, and I think that's a rotten strategy. Maybe they'll be good for a few months or something, but And so I think you need to write your own rules. We're very simple people at Apple. We focus on making the world's best product and enriching people's lives. I think some companies, maybe even the one that you mentioned, maybe they decided that they could do everything. We have to make sure at Apple that we stay true to focus, laser focus. We can only do great things a few times, only on a few products. And it's incredible every day to work with what I consider to be the smartest and most innovative people on Earth. And so I spend my day working with those people on many different things, some things we didn't talk about that you wanted to talk about maybe, and many things that, that go with running a, a company of, of Apple size and, and, and in all the geographies that we're in and so forth. And I love every minute of it. It's an incredible place to be. It gives me— it is my oxygen. So that's how strongly I feel about it. I don't think that, that you're born with a gut. I think you're The gut matures and gets better and better over time, and what the struggle that most people have, I think, is learning to listen to it and figuring out how to access it in some way. For me though, what I found was that even though I'm an engineer, and an analytical person at heart, the most important decisions I've made had nothing to do with any of that. They were always based on intuition. And the Apple one is a prime example of that. I remember actually forming my list of pluses and minuses, and I could not get the chart to work out the way I wanted it to. 'Cause I wanted something to say, you know, this says I should go to Apple. But it would not. Nothing financially would do that. I talked to people I trusted that knew me and they said, this is not what you should do. It wasn't so easy. And people said, you know, you're just crazy. You're working for the top PC company in the world, how could you even think of doing this? You've lost your mind. And yet that voice said, go west, young man, go west. And sometimes you just have to go for it. I think it is misleading to talk about success without also referencing failure. I know of no one who has achieved something significant without also in their own lives experiencing their share of hardship, frustration, and regret. So don't believe that something in your past prevents you from doing great work in the future. To all of you who doubt yourselves, I have been there too. And although today I've spent time talking about a great decision, I've made some that are far from it. And like many of you, I've had my share of life's personal challenges and failures. But after many miles on my journey, I recognize that each of these difficult periods of life passes, and with each we exit stronger and wiser. The old saying, "This too shall pass," has certainly proven true for me, and I'm sure it will apply to anyone who believes it. So paint in your mind the most grand vision where you want to go in life, Prepare, trust in, and execute on your intuition, and don't get distracted by life's potholes. I learned a lot from Steve, you know, and it was the— it was absolutely the saddest days of my life when he passed away. And maybe as much as you should see or predict that, I really didn't. And so, but at some point late last year, I sort of, somebody kind of shook me and said, it's time to get on. And so that sadness was replaced by this intense determination to continue the journey. And that's where it is today. So what did I learn from him? I learned we could be here all night, probably all week, and maybe a month. I learned that focus is key. Apple has a culture of excellence that is, I think, so unique. And so special, you know, I will— I'm not going to witness or permit the change of it. He also taught me that the joy is in the journey, and which is a revelation for me. And I think he taught all of us that life is fragile. There was a professor, I think his name was Dr. Naylor. Does that sound right? Tom Naylor. Yeah, Tom Naylor. And he was a great professor, and one of the things that he asked us to do was to write a 25-year plan. Maybe some of you have had to do this. And it was more of a, you know, more of a personal plan. And normally I would never remember this, but I was doing a commencement address a few years ago, and I was scrambling for some old things, and I found in a box this plan. And this plan had turned yellow because of age, but I looked at it and I would say it was, it was reasonably accurate for all of '18 to '24 WADS after it was written. And it was nothing— there was nothing, not a single thing on it that was accurate post that. Not a single thing. Zero. And I think that the lesson there is, at least for me, maybe you guys will be different, maybe you have much more insight into what you may be doing, but for me, the journey was not predictable at all. And it goes sort of back to the Lincoln quote, is the only thing I believe you can do is prepare. And the world is going to change many times, the environment's going to change many times, the companies you work for are going to ebb and flow. You may wind up in the same company, you may not. You may wind up in the same career, you may not. You may wind up with the spouse you're married to now, you may not. There are lots of things in your life— I hope that one doesn't change— but there's lots of things that change, and I think that You sort of have to have a North Star and, and stay with the North Star and let those things go on about you and, and sort of find your, find your journey.
Thank you so much for watching. I made this video because Jason Barone asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know what you think Tim Cook's top 10 rules had the biggest impact on you? Leave it in the comments and I will join in the discussion. Thank you so much for watching. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.
I work out to keep stress away. I'm in the gym by 5 AM every morning. If I have some free time, I go to a national park. I love getting in nature. And so this— these are the things that calm my mind and allow me to think clearly. And so that's what I do. You look for people that are not political, people that are not bureaucrats, people that really don't care who gets credit, people that are— can privately celebrate the achievement but not care if their name is the one in the lights. You know, that there are other— there are greater reasons to do things. You look for wicked smart people. You look for people who appreciate different points of view. You look for people that care enough that they have an idea at 11 at night and they wanna call and talk to you about it because they're so excited about it and they wanna push the idea further and that they believe that somebody can help them push the idea another step instead of them doing everything themselves. I've never met anyone, at least in my life, maybe they exist, that could do something so incredible by themselves. You know, in companies with global footprints and in our world, in Apple's world, the reason Apple is special is that we focus on hardware, software, and services, and the magic happens where those three come together. And so it's unlikely that somebody that's focused on one of those in and of themselves can come up with magic. And so you want people collaborating in such a way that you can produce these things that can't be produced otherwise. And you want people to believe in that. I receive hundreds of emails from customers every day. I read them all. Often they are written like one might talk to you at the dining room table at night. Last week, I received one from a single mom with a 3-year-old autistic son who was completely nonverbal. The child had recently been given an iPad, and as a result, his mother told me that for the first time in his life, he had found his voice. I receive scores of these incredible stories around the world, and I never tire of reading them. We design our products so they surprise and delight everyone who uses them, and we never, never ever analyze the return on investment. We do it because it is just and right, and that is what respect for human dignity requires, and it is a part of Apple that I am especially proud of.
