What Tim Cook taught us about succeeding a legend

• Tim Cook upended expectations when he succeeded Steve Jobs as Apple CEO.
• The departing Apple CEO beat the odds by combining his strengths and judgment with Jobs' values.
• Cook has said he'll step down in September, making way for John Ternus.

Tim Cook took on the daunting task of succeeding Steve Jobs as Apple CEO — and led the tech giant to even greater heights.

Vanishingly few people would have dared follow Jobs, Apple's iconic cofounder who reshaped how the world works with revolutionary devices such as the iPod and iPhone.

Yet Cook pulled off what few thought possible: taking Apple to the next level. During his nearly 15 years in charge, Apple has roughly quadrupled its annual net sales and net income to over $400 billion and $100 billion respectively, propelling its market capitalization from around $350 billion to $4 trillion.

As Cook prepares to make way for his own successor — Apple's hardware chief John Ternus — in September, there are clear lessons to be learned from his success in following a legendary CEO.

1. Keep what works

Cook has safeguarded the core values that Jobs instilled at Apple.

He recently told "CBS Sunday Morning" that he's protected principles such as focus, collaboration, obsession with the user experience, "insanely great" execution, and creating "magic" by owning the intersection of hardware, software, and services.

Cook said he still sees Apple as Jobs' baby. "His DNA is deep in this company," he said. "We revere him."

The outgoing CEO also said of Jobs that his "greatest invention wasn't a product — it was Apple itself."

2. Blaze your own trail

Cook hasn't been cowed by Jobs' remarkable legacy, but has instead run Apple as he sees fit.

He told "CBS Sunday Morning" that when Jobs informed him that he would be Apple's next CEO, his advice was: "Never ask what I would do. Just do the right thing."

Jobs told Cook that he'd witnessed Disney become frozen by indecision after founder Walt Disney died, and he didn't want Apple to suffer the same "paralysis."

"I'll never forget that," Cook said. "It was such a gift for me because he took off of my shoulder this question of 'What would Steve do?'"

"I just put my head down and thought, 'I'm going to be the best version of myself,'" he added.

While Jobs was in charge, he "made every major decision" at Apple, Tripp Mickle, the author of "After Steve," a book about the decade at Apple after Jobs' death, told Business Insider.

Cook restructured Apple to be "more democratic," with Apple executives making collective decisions and team leaders developing products instead of individuals reporting to Jobs, Mickle said.

He also placed greater emphasis on operations and financials. Cook's Apple expanded into China to scale up manufacturing and cater to the country's rapidly growing middle class. The strategy allowed him to "make the iPhone ubiquitous," Mickle said.

Cook has grown services into a $100 billion business, and created a wearables category with products such as AirPods and Apple Watch. He also introduced Apple-designed silicon, which "breathed new life into its Mac business," Mickle said.

His approach has been "method over magic," Mickle said. "Where Jobs became regarded as a great innovator, who introduced products that upended industries, Cook became known for steering Apple's business success, as it became the world's largest company for a decade."

On the other hand, Apple's reputation for innovation has taken a hit under Cook, Mickle said. He pointed to disappointing product launches such as the HomePod and the Vision Pro headset, and the canceled plan to build a self-driving car.

3. Play to your strengths

Instead of trying to be Jobs, Cook has applied his different skillset at Apple with great effect.

"Cook's genius wasn't in designing the next iPhone; it was in building the most efficient supply chain on the planet and turning a hardware company into a recurring-service juggernaut," Chris Ballard, the managing director of Check Capital Management, told Business Insider.

"There is a very small club of people who are able to successfully take over for a business legend without the company missing a beat," Kevin Carpenter, the author of an investing Substack named Kingswell, told Business Insider.

"Cook certainly did so for Apple — in large part because he embraced his own strengths rather than trying to be a poor imitation of Steve Jobs."