Lecture by Tim Cook at Duke University. Part 1. About intuition

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

“Thoughts by Tim Cook” is a column in which we will talk about the worldview of the Apple leader. In a series of interviews for Duke University, Cook shared his thoughts on his career, what inspires him, and more. In the first article, we will talk about Cook's relationship to intuition.

In 1998, Apple was on the brink of collapse. Despite this, Cook agreed to return to the company and left COMPAQ, which was flourishing at the time.

Cook accepted the offer after talking to Jobs for only five minutes. Despite all the "cons", intuition told him that this was the right decision:

I don't think people are born with intuition. It seems to develop along with the person and their ability to observe and listen.

According to Cook, despite his analytical mind and engineering skills, he made all the most important decisions without relying on it. Cook remembers drawing a piece of paper and starting to fill it in with the pros and cons of working at Apple. He wanted to take on this work, but the list said the opposite - there were much more minuses.

Then he turned to close people for help in making a decision. They all advised him to turn down Jobs' offer:

You're crazy. You work for the world's best PC company (COMPAQ - ed.). How can you even think about it?

But a voice in Cook's head was telling him, "Go West, young man, go West." This phrase is attributed to Horace Greeley and is associated with the historical expansion of the United States to the west. Cook decided not to fight his intuition and trusted her.