Introduction
Effective leadership in any business organization guides followers to pursue their goals diligently, engage each other, and address most emerging challenges. Managers must establish a positive culture whereby workers can operate in teams and promote continuous innovation. Companies characterized by strong leadership practices find it easier to achieve their objectives while maintaining the functionality and sustainability of their respective business models. Apple Incorporation stands out as one of the organizations in the world today that exemplify desirable and superior leadership qualities. This paper identifies and describes in detail the unique attributes, cultural practices, and individual strengths that support proper leadership at Apple. The discussion presents a detailed plan for the future execution of desirable and sustainable leadership practices.
High Levels of Quality Leadership
At Apple, a culture of effective leadership has existed since the days of its co-founder, Steve Jobs. Although he applied an autocratic approach to ensure that the emerging company remained innovative and competitive, his successor, Tim Cook, promoted a new strategy that led to sustainable results. Currently, Tim Cook plays the role of a competent chief executive officer (CEO) who promotes and sustains democratic leadership (De Ruiter, Schaveling, Ciulla, & Nijhof, 2018). Consequently, he has become the major figure in demonstrating to others what leadership ought to be pursued and practiced at Apple. Some of the unique characteristics that set him apart from other managers are that he is always ready to be immersed in all aspects of the business, remains collaborative, and understands the details of his core objectives and functions (Chen, Liu, & Gong, 2021). Such an approach has encouraged Apple’s employees to focus on the best strategies that would help deliver results.
Some of the outstanding characteristics associated with Cook’s leadership model are worth emulating to support the realization of goals. For instance, Warrick (2017) indicates that the CEO is always humble, ready to listen attentively, encouraging, and capable of taking risks. He is a competent decision-maker, encourages others to consider his goals, and engages one another to promote teamwork. Consequently, he has helped his deputies and followers to remain involved and focus on the best approaches to deliver desirable results. Warrick (2017) goes further to describe Cook as a transparent leader who maintains a positive demeanor when dealing with others. Such characteristics are essential and have continued to help Apple remain innovative and capable of meeting the changing demands of more people across the globe.
Cook promotes unique traits and behaviors that other leaders and employees at the company tend to borrow. His leading attributes include perfectionism, efficient guidance, and a desire for continuous innovation. This leader believes in the power of teamwork and remains involved in delivering positive outcomes. These traits play a significant role in making Apple one of the most innovative and successful corporations in the world today. Relying on his democratic approach to leadership, various behaviors have emerged that encourage others to be involved in a wide range of processes. For instance, Warrick (2017) indicates that Cook allows others to remain involved and pursue their innovative goals. He is always ready to make timely decisions, remains open-minded, and encourages others to follow his decisions. He remains charismatic and knows when goals need to be realized. The combination of all these attributes has helped Apple achieve its objectives and competitiveness.
Organizational Culture: Tim Cook’s Short-Term and Long-Term Objectives and Actions
The success Apple has recorded within the past two decades could be attributed to the existence of an effective culture. Warrick (2017) acknowledges that Apple Incorporation has a positive organizational culture supported using specific artifacts, philosophies, and goals. Steve Jobs stands out as an artifact since employees and leaders consider his style and desire for innovation. This strategy allows them to have proper knowledge of how to complete tasks, engage one another, and focus on organizational goals. Some of the promoted aspects of culture include strong commitment, the presence of friendly working environments, managerial support, and the provision of required resources. Workers are encouraged to form teams that help deliver results. The human resources (HR) department has been on the frontline to strike a balance between creative innovation and worker experience.
With these cultural attributes in place, Tim Cook has remained involved and ready to introduce actions that have the potential to deliver both short-term and long-term goals. With proper teamwork approaches, all workers remain engaged and ready to complete tasks that add value to the wider organizational mission. The leader capitalizes on the existing culture to engage his followers directly and guide them to deliver for the company (Chen et al., 2021). Individuals receive relevant support from the HR department to pursue their innovations and deliver ideas that could help improve service delivery and superiority for their core products (De Ruiter et al., 2018). This aspect of innovation founded on an excellent culture has helped Apple achieve most of its short-term goals.
The existing culture allows individuals to remain futuristic and request resources that could help them deliver timely results. When specific ideas become appealing, the right departments become involved to take it further. Experts and professionals in different units or positions will rely on the existing culture to promote additional innovation and actions that are in tandem with the formulated business model (Warrick, 2017). These initiatives allow those in leadership positions to determine when such small achievements can be expanded to deliver the outlined long-term objectives. These efforts have resulted in a unique model that makes it possible for the established culture to deliver Tim Cook’s long-term and short-term actions and aims (De Ruiter et al., 2018). Consequently, these actions have made it possible for able to retain its dominant position as a leading competitor in its industry.
Tim Cook’s Exit
Organizational leaders need to appreciate the fact that they cannot offer their skills infinitely. At some point, they will leave their corporations and allow other professionals to take over. At Apple, all CEOs and topmost leaders have understood the practicality of this reality. Focusing on the efforts and gains of Steve Jobs, Tim Cook has helped establish a culture of posterity whereby all followers and subordinates understand the core foundations of the company and how they have helped deliver meaningful results. Specifically, he has continued to promote a culture of innovation that Jobs designed for the company (De Ruiter et al., 2018). Cook has applied a new form of leadership philosophy without disorienting the artifacts, attributes, and initiatives that have made the organization successful. His leadership model has gone further to strengthen teamwork, shared values, and effective communication.
Should Cook decide to leave Apple today, chances are high that the company’s growth would remain undisturbed. Most of his followers and deputies understand clearly how they can pursue their goals without disorienting the company’s foundations. The leader has encouraged all workers to be aware of evidence-based practices and approaches that resonate with the wider organizational model (De Ruiter et al., 2018). The employees remain involved in innovating, improving existing products, and considering new ones that can help Apple become more competitive. With such procedures in place, chances are high that the level of productivity will remain undisturbed (Chen et al., 2021). The example of Steve Jobs’s death and how the company continued to deliver high-quality iPads and iPhones support this argument.
Over the years, Apple has remained a loyal corporation that delivers exceptional products to its customers. To achieve this goal, its managers promote best practices that empower and meet the demands of vendors and employees. Cook has only been playing the role of a CEO to offer a sense of direction with destabilizing the original foundations (De Ruiter et al., 2018). The company has been implementing proper strategies for empowering workers and equipping them with appropriate resources and environments. The established culture meets their unique demands, thereby allowing them to remain innovative and productive (Warrick, 2017). These attributes show conclusively that more employees would not leave the company with Cook’s departure. The same case would be recorded for the vendors who have done transparent and acceptable business transactions with Apple.
Additional Steps
Currently, Apple is undertaking the right measures to ensure that quality practices are developed and maintained. However, some additional approaches would be recommendable if such attributes would continue to be executed in the future. De Ruiter et al. (2018) believe that the departure of a competent leader could give room for an ineffective person, thereby increasing the chances of organizational failure. At Apple, it would be appropriate for the governing board to come up with powerful guidelines detailing the unique attributes and traits all future leaders and CEOs should possess. This approach would ensure that Apple benefits from proper managerial practices.
The current leader should promote a new form of culture whereby all workers, and especially those in senior positions, receive additional competencies. Such skills can empower and guide them to solve departmental problems. They will be in a position to make timely decisions and focus on the best approaches to deliver results. All employees should also be part of such programs (Chen et al., 2021). These efforts would make quality leadership practices part of the company. Any departure of a revered leader would, therefore, never leave a hiatus at the company. This scenario will make it easier for Apple to continue innovating and delivering quality products to the targeted customers.
Conclusion
The success of Apple Incorporation is attributable to the effective leadership practices that have been passed across from one CEO to the other. Presently, Tim Cook offers proper leadership practices that help dictate the nature of operations, innovations, and commitments. The promotion of an effective culture is a powerful strategy for ensuring that most of the outlined objectives are achieved in a timely manner. The inclusion of additional programs for educating and guiding senior managers and workers about the best leadership practices for the company can help it achieve bigger goals in the future.
References
Chen, X., Liu, Y., & Gong, H. (2021). Apple Inc. strategic marketing and evaluation. Advances in Economics, Business Management and Research, 203(1), 3053-3061. doi:10.2991/assehr.k.211209.499
De Ruiter, M., Schaveling, J., Ciulla, J. B., & Nijhof, A. (2018). Leadership and the creation of corporate social responsibility: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(2), 871-874. doi:10.1007/s10551-018-3883-5
Warrick, D. D. (2017). What leaders need to know about organization culture. Business Horizons, 1370, 1-10.