Three Key Challenges Facing Apple CEO Tim Cook

The new Apple CEO remains an enigma to Apple followers, but how long can that last?

On the desk of new Apple (AAPL) CEO Timothy D. Cook sits a picture of Robert F. Kennedy. “He was one of the people who got close enough to the presidency who really loved people,” Cook once told friends, according to CNN. He added, “He was comfortable standing in his brother's shadow and doing what he thought was right.”

How apt that Cook should choose as a mentor a man also defined by being second. As a young country struggling with economic decline, we champion Apple as the golden symbol of what American innovation can accomplish. It is as easy to romanticize the brainchild of a brilliant billionaire as it was to romanticize a handsome president with an easy smile. And just as it happened in 1963, we have once again felt the loss of our visionary too soon. “There'll be great presidents again," Jacqueline Kennedy told Life magazine upon the death of her husband, "but there'll never be another Camelot again … it will never be that way again."

Was she right? And is that bad?

Not necessarily, says former Apple chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki in the documentary Welcome to Macintosh. “Post Steve, if you bring in some dickhead who thinks that he's mini Steve, and he, too, is a visionary, and he, too, understands what people need but cannot express, so this dickhead is gonna say ‘alright so this is what I've decreed people will want and I'm the new Steve Jobs.' [Laughs] The company will implode.”

A quick glance at Cook and it would seem that Jobs agreed with Kawasaki when he chose his successor. But upon closer inspection, Cook is an enigma. He was a behind-the-scenes man of an already secretive company. We may never know who Cook really is, but whether or not he can take command will soon be evident when he faces the following challenges.

1. Preserving the Apple Persona

Will Cook's lack of creative experience erode the Apple identity? We may not know for some time. First, the company will be coasting on Jobs' work for years to come, so whether or not Jobs was the sole inspiration of the innovation will only be apparent once Cook is firmly established within the company. Second, Jobs worked hard to inject himself into Apple's infrastructure, which remains opaque to outsiders. If and when his influence begins to crumble, it will not be immediately evident. That being said, there have been some clues as to what steps Jobs and Cook have taken to insure that the Apple identity remains constant, at least to outsiders.

Jony Ive: “He likes to make perfect stuff," says predecessor Robert Brunner of the current Industrial Design Director Sir Jonathan Paul “Jony” Ive. The fact that he remains at Apple is a key sign that design will remain at the forefront of the Apple creative process. Ive is a company star, responsible for such innovations as the iMac, titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, PowerMac G4, PowerMac G5, G4 Cube, iBook, Mac Pro, MacBook, unibody MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. The challenge for Cook will be channeling Ive's talent in a cohesive way to the full extent of its possibility.

Apple University: Upon return from his second medical leave in 2008, Jobs brought in Joel Podolny, the dean of Yale University's business school, to head a big project of which Jobs disclosed little detail. What a surprise. Apple University would be modeled on Pixar University to offer courses to employees in arts, management, leadership, and Apple culture. The timing of Apple U's creation is telling — it began when Jobs began to consider his own death seriously. According to Apple analyst Tim Bajarin of PC World Magazine, "It became pretty clear that Apple needed a set of educational materials so that Apple employees could learn to think and make decisions as if they were Steve Jobs." If the genius behind Apple couldn't locate the perfect replacement, it would seem he's posthumously trying to create one. It will be up to Cook to spearhead the university and develop an environment from which a new Jobs might emerge.

Rhetoric: At the iPad 2 event, Jobs said: "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. That it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing." In a letter to the Apple team after the death of Jobs, Cook wrote, “I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple's unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that — it is in our DNA. ”

Notice something? It's Jobs' final gift to his company; a comprehensive metaphor to express that Jobs has been distilled into the company, and stockholder and consumers needn't lose faith. Take that, “Halftime in America.”

2. Managing Growth

Apple is getting bigger, and fast. Whereas Microsoft (MSFT) reports a revenue growth of 4.67% and IBM (IBM) 1.61%, Apple is approaching 75%. And this year the company has big plans for $8 billion of that revenue (a 100% increase in capital expenditure), according to its annual filings. Approximately $900 million will fund expansion of Apple stores across the globe, especially in China, which Cook refers to as the “key” to Apple's future, as reported by Mobiledia.com. ICloud technology will also be a top priority for which a majority of the funds have been allocated. And Apple Campus 2 promises to be an enormous investment in the company's manufacturing process and infrastructure.

Does Cook have what it takes to lead the team through this enormous expansion?

We've witnessed his strong organizational skills. When Cook joined Apple in 1998, the company was considered to be in the final stages; infrastructure was a mess, and Apple simply wasn't competing with Microsoft. Many thought Cook insane for leaving IBM to jump aboard a sinking ship. But the self-proclaimed “Attila the Hun of Inventory” had only just begun. He closed down extraneous factories and warehouses, and Apple inventory went from spending months on the balance sheet to days. He seamlessly managed the transition to Intel (INTC) products, and his operational team manages cost so well that the multibillion-dollar company has no debt.

What we have yet to see is whether Cook has leadership skills. Cook is known for emails at 4 a.m., Sunday night conference calls, and midnight meetings, according to former co-workers. “...He can be withering in his own way, embarrassing underlings in meetings by asking questions they can't answer, or presenting toilet plungers to underperformers at sales meetings,” reports Maclean's magazine. He can certainly drive his staff, but only time will tell if he can inspire them.

3. Capturing the Public's Imagination

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life,” Jobs told Stanford graduates at their commencement in 2005. “Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.” Considering Jobs thought he had just beaten cancer, it's heavy stuff.

But that was Jobs; he wasn't a socially awkward genius tinkering away at computer parts in a lab. For all of his secrecy, Jobs communicated quite a lot, and quite well. He struck a rare balance with his audience; he achieved intimacy without becoming vulnerable to them.

This is not a talent Cook possesses.

In Cook's commencement speech at Auburn University, he spent a good two minutes talking about failure and perseverance, without one personal reference. In the entire speech, the only intimate details he reveals are that he owns a lot of Auburn memorabelia and that he graduated in 1982. And while being a success at a graduation isn't a critical skill for a CEO, communication with shareholders and consumers is.

Another comparison: When Cook spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference this February, he opened with the China scandal. He expressed his disappointment in the terrible working conditions, noted the self-imposed audit that Apple would submit to, and promised to do better. Apple's stocks remain high despite the loss of Jobs and despite the economy. Cook is now the CEO of the largest corporation in the world, and he opened with an apology?

For the sake of comparison, consider Jobs at the Apple iPad 2 Keynote Special Event on March 2, 2011, a mere seven months before he would succumb to cancer. He strolled on stage and told the audience the great news about iBooks breaking records with 100 million downloads. Members of the audience later noted how pale and gaunt Jobs seemed, but he never mentioned his illness. Even as he faced death, and the company faced the lost of its leader, its mascot, and its visionary, Jobs still managed to inspire confidence and excitement about the Apple future.

Mastering his own relationship with the public is going to be critical for Cook. Apple counts on keeping the inner workings of the company away from the public; the company's air of mystery adds that sense of “magic” and keeps competitors guessing. Jobs was able to guard that secrecy with his rhetoric, and in his own very original way, his charm. If Cook intends to stay the course, he's got to find his own way of keeping Apple followers captivated.

More from Minyanville

• With Apple iPad 3 Coming, Android Tablet Market Should Be Shaking in Its Boots
• Random Thoughts: Will LTRO2 Save the Tape?
• Stars Aligning for a Democrat Sweep in November