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Tim Cook didn\u2019t get to be a part of a \u201cthoughtful, long-term succession plan<\/a>\u201d in 2011. After stepping in for Steve Jobs multiple times during the Apple co-founder\u2019s fight with cancer, Cook became CEO, and Jobs became executive chairman just 43 days before Jobs died. Apple didn\u2019t dictate the executive transition. Jobs\u2019s cancer did.<\/p>\n I get the sense that Cook wanted to give his own successor the thoughtful, long-term plan that Jobs couldn\u2019t give to him. Nearly two years ago, Bloomberg\u2019s Mark Gurman suggested that Ternus could be Cook\u2019s planned successor<\/a>. By the time the Financial Times reported that Ternus was likely to succeed Cook<\/a> last November, it was clear things were already headed in that direction. I doubt there was a single person at the March unveiling of the MacBook Neo<\/a> who didn\u2019t know that John Ternus, who spoke to the crowd, was likely to be Apple\u2019s next CEO.<\/p>\n Tim Cook knows he can\u2019t stay at Apple forever. The longer he lengthened his tenure as CEO, the shorter he risked making the transitional period. I\u2019d actually be surprised if Cook isn\u2019t in the executive chairmanship for a lot longer than people expect. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s ready to put Apple in the rearview\u2014but I do think he\u2019s trying to get the timing on this exactly right.<\/p>\n And here it is: Cook will give Ternus the CEO job in a little over four months. (Wall Street has ten days to digest that news before Apple reports its latest financial results.) Then Cook will become Apple\u2019s executive chairman, able to provide advice and support to his successor while presumably allowing him to forge his own path. Ternus gets a runway, mentorship, and a trusted adviser at a particularly stressful moment. I\u2019m sure Cook wishes he\u2019d been able to talk to Steve Jobs during his first year as CEO.<\/p>\n Oh, and Cook will apparently be taking one very specific job with him to the boardroom, according to the press release:<\/p>\n \n Cook will continue in his role as CEO through the summer as he works closely with Ternus on a smooth transition. As executive chairman, Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world.\n<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t take a magnifying glass to read between those lines. Cook is keeping one of the stickiest jobs he\u2019s had to do the last decade for himself, for now: connecting with the representatives of various governments in ways that advantage Apple, whether that\u2019s easing China\u2019s worries about Apple\u2019s focus on diversifying its supply chain, or convincing the Trump administration that Apple is investing in the U.S. while also needing tariff relief. Not only does Cook have the personal connections there, but it\u2019s a messy business that perhaps Ternus is best insulated from\u2014for now.<\/p>\n Tim Cook\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n There\u2019s going to be ample time to ponder the highs and lows of the Tim Cook era at Apple. The company is impossibly larger than the one Cook took over from Jobs. The explosive growth of the iPhone, especially from 2014 on, has changed the fundamentals of the company. When iPhone growth finally slowed, Cook swapped in a growing wearables business (led by what I assume is the product Cook is most proud of, the Apple Watch) and a dramatically growing set of subscription services. Those growth lines keep Wall Street happy.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re the CEO, you\u2019re the CEO of the whole company\u2014but I do believe that CEOs come to the job with their own strengths, which reflect on their priorities as CEO. Cook\u2019s focus on efficiency, owing to his background in operations, also served Apple well during this period. Realizing that product margins increase over time, he allowed Apple to sell iPhones at lower prices by keeping older models on sale for much longer.<\/p>\n Cook\u2019s priorities helped make Apple a manufacturing powerhouse, capable of building products nobody else could\u2014at least, until Apple showed the way. But as Patrick McGee so capably showed in his book Apple in China<\/a>, Apple was also training up China on being a tech manufacturing powerhouse. Between that and Cook\u2019s policy of engaging with the Chinese in order to gain access to the lucrative and growing Chinese market, Cook reaped benefits with the side effect of empowering a global competitor and not engaging with a government whose core principles do not fit with Apple\u2019s.<\/p>\n The same goes for the United States, where Cook has managed to reduce the impact of tariffs by playing nice with the administration , making some made-in-the-USA servers<\/a> and boasting about its investments in American manufacturing<\/a> while downplaying its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n John Ternus\u2019s opportunity<\/p>\n For John Ternus, who\u2019s been working at Apple for half his life, to say that this is a huge opportunity is an understatement. Congratulations, dude, here\u2019s the keys to one of the world\u2019s most important and valuable corporations. Don\u2019t break it.<\/p>\n But Ternus\u2019s arrival in the CEO\u2019s office isn\u2019t just an opportunity for him. It\u2019s an opportunity for Apple. Every time a new person takes over, whether it\u2019s in the role of CEO or even just a middle manager, there\u2019s an opportunity for change. Even if you worked for the old boss, once you\u2019re the new boss, you have the opportunity to turn the page. It\u2019s a lot harder for someone to reverse themselves on a decision they made than it is for someone new to come in and see the opportunity to move forward. (Cook re-instituted an employee donation-matching program when he took over from Jobs, just as one small example.)<\/p>\n In spite of its success, or perhaps because of it, Apple has been a company in stasis for 15 or 20 years. When everything\u2019s going great, and all the executives just stick around no matter how rich they get on stock options, it\u2019s really hard to make changes. The arrival of any new person in charge, not just John Ternus in particular, is an opportunity to shake things up. New leaders have the freedom to make their mark. That could be good for Apple.<\/p>\n I\u2019m also struck by the fact that John Ternus comes from a product-focused background. All in all, it was probably for the best that Tim Cook was as different in skill set from Steve Jobs as possible, because that was an impossibly hard act to follow. Cook, as an operations guy, got to put his faith in the product teams that were executing and guided them at a very high level. I think it would\u2019ve been a disaster if Apple\u2019s first post-Jobs CEO had been trying to cosplay as Steve. Cook couldn\u2019t pull off wearing that turtleneck.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s been 15 years, and maybe it\u2019s a good thing for Apple to get a CEO who\u2019s closer to the metal? Ternus knows the ins and outs of product development at a different level than Cook ever could. Given that Apple is, at its heart, a company that makes physical products and sells them, having someone who has spent decades at Apple working on those products feels like an opportunity for a positive change.<\/p>\n The importance of keeping Johny Srouji<\/p>\n As a part of Monday\u2019s moves, Johny Srouji has been named Chief Hardware Officer<\/a>, reporting to Ternus. This is a new C-suite position for Srouji, previously the senior VP of hardware technologies.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to see this move and not consider Bloomberg\u2019s report back in December<\/a> that Srouji \u201crecently told Cook that he is seriously considering leaving in the near future,\u201d a report defused by Srouji two days later<\/a>.<\/p>\n Srouji is the father of Apple silicon, and Apple\u2019s chip efforts are one of the company\u2019s greatest assets. When word of Srouji\u2019s potential exit broke, it only underscored to me just how vital Srouji and his team are to Apple. It also struck me that perhaps this was evidence that Apple was negotiating with Srouji in order to retain him, during a period when one of his peers\u2014Ternus\u2014was about to be made his boss.<\/p>\n The moment your boss of more than a decade decides to hang it up seems like a pretty good time to take stock and consider what your own next move might be. If you\u2019re Srouji, you undoubtedly have all sorts of different opportunities out there. Having a fellow SVP like Ternus be promoted over you also has to sting a little bit, even if you didn\u2019t especially want the top job.<\/p>\n You need to retain key employees, and there aren\u2019t many people more key at Apple than Johny Srouji. No matter how it went down, here\u2019s the result: Srouji gets a C-suite title, and he takes over Ternus\u2019s hardware role<\/a>. Ternus\u2019s lieutenant Tom Marieb is reportedly taking his slot and reporting to Srouji. This is textbook retention, and Apple has to be relieved that Srouji is staying on.<\/p>\n Still, these won\u2019t be the last changes. With Cook on his way upstairs to the boardroom, I would expect many other long-tenured Apple executives to redefine their positions or even depart entirely. Keep in mind, most of these people have been working intensely for decades and have made enough money to retire in style. I have no doubt they do it because they love it, but once the boss changes and some of your old colleagues step away, it\u2019s not the same, is it? It\u2019s a cascading wave of change that is probably going to continue at Apple for some time.<\/p>\n Managing that change, and making it for the better, will be one of John Ternus\u2019s first jobs. At least he\u2019ll have Tim Cook to lean on for advice.<\/p>\n