“I would say: Be yourself, keep a firm North Star on the values of the company,” Cook continued. “Because if you get the values right, if you keep the North Star in clear view, you may be blown off course a little bit, but eventually you will come back to the right path. I have always found that to be true.”
Fortune reached out to Apple for comment.
“[Jobs] had watched Disney go through this paralysis of sitting around and talking about what Walt [Disney] would do,” Cook explained. “And he did not want that for Apple.”
Over the 15 years since, the outgoing CEO has never lived that lesson down, and Apple has catapulted to trillion-dollar success. Now, Ternus is tasked with embodying that same philosophy in charting the company’s next era.
“I’ll never forget that and it was such a gift for me, because he took off of my shoulder this question of, ‘What would Steve do?’” Cook continued. “I just put my head down and thought, ‘I’m going to be the best version of myself.’”
After months of speculation, Apple has plucked its successor from its own ranks.
By 2013, Ternus was promoted to vice president of hardware engineering, and later climbed to the senior level, joining Apple’s executive team in 2021.
Over his 25-year run, the mechanical engineer has led hardware engineering across Apple’s vast portfolio of current products—including AirPods, all generations of iPads, and the latest iPhone release. But Ternus’ technical chops were only part of the appeal; Cook said that he has the “mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and honor.”
In reaction to the announcement of his appointment as CEO, Ternus said that he is lucky to have worked under Jobs and had Cook as his mentor. Looking ahead, he is “filled with optimism” about what the company can accomplish, and will always stay true to the principles set forth by former Apple leaders.
