Will Tim Cook Become the Next Steve Ballmer?
Like Microsoft, the reins of the company have been passed from the founder's hands and on to their successor. How will this work out for Apple?
Steve Jobs’ resignation has come as a shock to many. Amidst the speculation of whether Jobs resigned because of repeated health concerns and cancer treatment, it is rather interesting to listen to analysts trying to determine whether Jobs should have asked investors first before he stepped down. Another much more enticing discussion is the future of Tim Cook, Jobs’ replacement. One possible scenario is that he will share the same fate as Steve Ballmer.
Some time ago, when the concerns over Jobs’ health became more serious, there was a debate about whether Jobs – given his tight integration with the Apple brand – was still his own property or if he really belonged to Apple’s investors. In the end, Apple’s health was discussed as a risk factor for investors. Likewise, investors are evaluating Cook’s future and whether he will succeed in his new role. Can he succeed? If so, at what can he succeed?
Defining Tim Cook’s Job
I doubt that Cook will assume the same role that Jobs had as CEO. Jobs was an early Silicon Valley visionary, the celebrity in the industry and an icon who was often compared to a religious leader with millions of followers. How can anyone even start to believe that these shoes can be filled by any one human being?
Cook’s job cannot be defined as replacing Jobs and becoming a substitute for everything that Jobs was to Apple. There will be at least some time of uncertainty as to who could become the face of a company that has been identified with Jobs’ face, vocabulary and charisma. Cook may be able to treasure Jobs’ idea of what Apple is at its core together with what it can be, but he will have to evolve Apple from how it exists today as well as the way it is perceived on the outside. He can only achieve this goal by becoming the face of a new Apple – an Apple which will need a strong person to continue Jobs’ legacy. Cook will have to be that person, yet he must remain different from Jobs so he can avoid a permanent comparison to the Apple co-founder.
I have not been at an Apple executive meeting, nor have I chatted with Cook over a cup of coffee. However, I do believe that he will remain in close contact with Jobs, and both may agree on a strategy that there must be a new Apple that can be guided and represented by Cook without the need for Jobs to be present. As strange as it sounds, this may be the best way for Jobs to preserve his creation. A new Apple does not mean that it is changing its direction; it refers to an Apple that is creating new trends, taking advantage of prior trends and delivering stunning products. Cook’s introduction as CEO may seem surprising at this point in time, but it could be a planned event. Cook could be launched with the new iPhone 5 and a rumored completely new product by the end of the year. Jobs also hands over control during a recession, which gives Cook an opportunity to shine when the economy improves. However, Cook will need a killer product that he owns to have a successful start and create a foundation for his own legacy.
The Celebrity Trap
What Cook needs to avoid is making the same mistake that Ballmer made. Ballmer has an incredibly bright mind and is most certainly among the top five representatives who any company in this country could want. However, Ballmer has no legacy.
Ballmer has remained the eternal apprentice of Gates in public perception, but he has never managed to step out of Gates’ shadow since he took over Microsoft as CEO in 2000 and since Gates left Microsoft’s daily business in 2008. Microsoft is still defined by products that were created under Gates; and those that are emerging, such as the Xbox 360, are not perceived to be owned by Ballmer. While I have the utmost respect for Ballmer and his ability to earn two dollars when Microsoft’s competitors can earn only one, he is not the face of Microsoft as Gates was and is simply being seen as a business manager. He is not the corporate celebrity Gates was and not a celebrity that Microsoft could use so desperately today.
Ballmer’s dilemma is that he is vulnerable from an investor’s point of view and the only person standing between him and angry shareholders is Gates. I often wonder why Ballmer continues under the mounting attacks of analysts and does not step down. He has done more for Microsoft than any other Microsoft employee, possibly more than Gates himself, as he controlled the company’s business moves. There should be a time when you tell yourself that enough is enough, and there is no need to listen to that criticism anymore. The only reason why Ballmer remains CEO may be his passion for the company he built with Gates. No one has to feel sorry for Ballmer, but he has become the poster board example that hard work and limitless passion are not enough to replace an icon such as Bill Gates.
So, could Cook also fall into the celebrity trap as well? Of course he could. The trap is already set every inch of the way Cook will have to walk. A failed product will be blamed on him. He will be made responsible for slower growth in revenue and profit, and he will have to be prepared for potshots that will compare him to the great Steve Jobs when that happens. It will be difficult for Cook to create the perception that he is not Jobs’ apprentice and not just an accidental person who happens to have the task of continuing something that someone else created. When Apple’s growth stalls, and it most certainly will at some point, Cook could easily share the same fate with Ballmer.
If you look at the job from this perspective, Tim Cook's future is filled with opportunity just as much as it is a setup for failure.

Of course you would fail to understand what this article said, reading it from your white macbook.
-Jobs = GOD
-Cook = possibly Jesus
-Ballmer = Model of failure
-Gates = whatever, he's no Jobs.
Right there on the ballpark.
Of course you would fail to understand what this article said, reading it from your white macbook.
I think his most role to fill will be as a presenter, introducing products as something magical and new that so many people were willing to gobble up when Jobs said those words. That's the key to Apple's success.
@house70: YOU UNDERSTAND INCOMPETENT JOURNALISM LIKE THAT IN THIS ARTICLE....TOM'S how about hiring a few OBJECTIVE journalists and writers like "house70" here???
I have no love for Ballmer's personality, but they guy has made MS very profitable, and the company considering how large it is, seems to be managed better than most of its size.
It would be great if we could see another Gates emerge at Microsoft though. I and others miss the energetic and interesting spirits like these, surely they must still be out there somewhere.
You know why don't we ever get to hear from some of the senior designers and programmers at MS. I'd love to hear some of their thoughts. That is where the creative genius is at MS. Mr. Ballmer..let them speak to the public and put some "personality back into MS!
I lol'ed so hard at this.
I do have to ask one question of the author:
You state:
"I have not been at an Apple executive meeting, nor have I chatted with Cook over a cup of coffee. " in regards to Mr. Cook.
Does this mean, since you seem to know a lot about what drives Mr. Ballmer, that you've had coffee with him?
Personally, I think Mr. Ballmer is doing what anyone who follows sensible business practice (that you learn in college marketing and business courses) does as CEO: hype your product.
You'll not replace Jobs...or Gates. Apple and Microsoft were *their* babies. Ballmer is a businesshead. That's what Gates hired him to be...business manager. He isn't the model of tech innovation...he's a businessman...a pitch man.
That's why, to this day, he's more well-known publicly for hooping around and hopping on the stage at that conference...not being a technology innovator or leader.
Well if that is Ballmer's place at MS I'd LOVE to hear from the CREATIVE MINDS AT MS...they are there and I am sure they are more interesting to listen to, and probably more passionate (genuinely) than Ballmer is.
IMV this is what MS needs, some public expression of creative genius ! Let those people speak publicly there have got to be better people than Ballmer in this regard.
I guess next time I should end with
/sarcasm
for y'all to understand.
-Gruener = pretty much all 12 apostles.
/sarcasm (for the thick ones).
Now I like Apples products and beleive that Steve Jobs was a visionary and the top of his game but you myfriend are out of your mind. Bill Gates was right up there with Steve and lets face it, if it where not for Steve there would not be a Bill and if it where not for Bill there would not be Steve as we know him today because there would be no Apple.
It remains to be seen what Cook will do and everyone already knew that Ballmer a nut job.