Cook's naked donation: Apple embraces the world

Apple's current market value is $720 billion (RMB 4.46 trillion), equivalent to Saudi Arabia's annual GDP, making it the world's most valuable company. From 1995 to 2012, when Apple's stock price and sales soared, it still treated shareholders with a style of not giving them 100 yuan. After Cook took office, Apple changed its stingy style and paid dividends 11 times and gave stock once.

Not satisfied with distributing the profits to shareholders, Cook announced that after paying his nephew's college tuition, he would donate all his personal fortune to charity, with a total value of approximately US$785 million (RMB 4.87 billion), according to Fortune magazine.

The "post-Jobs era" is no longer suitable to describe Apple's status. A more accurate description is the "Cook era". Cook has followed Jobs' will and insisted on walking his own path. Not only in terms of charity, Apple has completely changed under Cook's leadership. Apple is now more open, sharing, transparent, and collaborative. At the same time, it will also take on more responsibilities in society and create rich and diverse value at a higher level.

Let the world participate in change

I am proud to be gay. --Cook

When he first took over, Cook was very low-key about his private life and public appearances, until he proudly came out and stepped into the spotlight. In that open letter, he said that his sexual orientation has always been open, and many colleagues in the company knew that he was gay, but it was not exposed to the public. With the explosive news of his public coming out, Cook exported his values ​​to the world. In the declaration, he talked about the unequal treatment of homosexuals and called for equal acceptance and tolerance of differences between people.

Cook's implication is that as a person who has always kept a low profile, this move is not for himself, but for other homosexuals and minority groups like him. He hopes to wash away the prejudice and humiliation of the label of "homosexual" by using the image of a giant CEO. He hopes to influence the world's attitude towards homosexuals by publicly announcing that he is a homosexual, which is of far-reaching significance.

As the ancients said: teach by words and by example. Under the open leadership of Cook, Apple has gradually put aside its aloof attitude and taken big steps towards openness and sharing.

At WWDC 2014, Apple opened up a large number of permissions and interfaces. According to Apple's official press release, iOS 8 opened up 4,000 new APIs, and also opened up the smart health platform Healthkit, the smart home platform Homekit, and the identity verification tool Touch ID to third-party applications. This big gift package undoubtedly gives developers a lot of room to play, and users will also receive more abundant functions and applications from this open feast.

[[130865]]

Shareholders have obviously benefited from this style change. Major shareholders can not only count their money on the trading software, but also visit Apple headquarters. It is said that the lounge area prepares three cookies and two cans of diet coke for each visiting shareholder, and core staff will spend a considerable amount of time communicating with investors. Cook will also enter the conference room from time to time to listen in if he happens to be there.

Believe in the power of teamwork

Collaboration is the source of innovation. You have to be an A+ collaborator so that our changes can bring the team to a higher level of collaboration and do wonderful things.

In the new practice of receiving shareholders at Apple headquarters mentioned above, Fortune reported a short story: During a shareholder visit, Apple CFO Oppenheimer was giving a presentation to investors, and Cook suddenly pushed the door open, sat in the back and listened quietly for 20 minutes - just listening, without interrupting or reading emails. Cook did something that Jobs could not do - quietly listening. Don't say Jobs would not do this, it is rare for a CEO of a large company to quietly listen to his subordinates. This move also shows that the internal atmosphere of Apple has become more equal and collaborative under Cook's leadership.

This change in the working atmosphere stems from the management philosophy of the leader. Cook will not be a general who charges into battle and asks about everything like Jobs did. Cook is more like a coach who carefully observes the positions of the players off the court, guides everyone to execute tactics, and then waits for the company's strategic goals to be achieved with trust.

Employees have also been quite receptive to this change in style. According to data provided by Glassdoor, since Cook took office, the company's employee satisfaction has remained above 90%. In the past 2014, Cook's employee satisfaction was 92%, ranking 17th in the world.

I'm naked for you to see.

Just as Apple products were being shipped to all parts of the world, more than a dozen young people jumped to their deaths from the factories of Foxconn, Apple's main supplier. Words such as excessive overtime and violent management frequently appeared in online debates, and the transparency of Apple's supply chain came into focus.

Logically speaking, as an independent company, Foxconn's internal management problems should not be linked to Apple. But when the other end of the supply chain is connected to Apple, the world's most valuable company, and Apple seems to have the ability to influence the treatment of workers and the environment, it seems that it is difficult to escape the connection.

As early as the Steve Jobs era, Apple had already discovered the impact of Foxconn's labor management on the Apple brand, and had reached an agreement with Foxconn to increase workers' wages and improve environmental safety. However, the level of attention and exposure was not the same as today. Now Apple has greatly increased the length and frequency of mentioning labor issues in its supplier responsibility report, and Cook himself has also responded more positively to questions about these issues in the media. He also visited Foxconn factories in person and had a cordial conversation with female workers in the production workshop.

[[130866]]

In an email to employees, Cook said:

"We care about every worker in our global supply chain. Any accident bothers us and any working environment issues worry us. Any words that say we don't care are not true and are an offense to us... (Regarding improving labor conditions) No other company in our industry will do as much as we do, in so many places, and touch so many people."

——Cook, reported from CBSNEWS

The labor environment will be a long-term public relations problem for Apple. Even a company as influential as Apple may not be able to make Foxconn obey its orders. Now Cook is stripping himself naked to let everyone see what Foxconn has done and what he has done, and guiding public opinion in a healthy direction.

I give all I have to the world

Cook's philanthropic actions have already begun, from participating in the Double the Donation project (the company donates as much as employees donate) to participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS patients. In this gentle way, he is quietly changing Apple's corporate culture.

Before the pledge of naked donation is fulfilled, he is participating in charity activities in a low-key manner, and is also looking for a more systematic way to donate his remaining property. In layman's terms, he is donating while thinking about how to donate well.

"Become a stone dropped into the water, stirring up ripples of change." Cook does not have the wealth to benefit the world, nor does he intend to be a good person quietly. He hopes that the naked donation action can make his philanthropic views like waves to influence more people and make people more involved in charity.

After the donation, Apple will embrace the world and continue to move forward under the leadership of the humanistic Cook.