Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc, has explained his reasons for joining in the meeting between America’s president-elect and other tech CEOs.
Cook, 56, said he felt it was the right step to take when Donald Trump invited Apple and other tech companies for the ice-breaking summit held in New York last week.
Among those in attendance were — Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.
According to a report from TechCrunch, Mr Trump focused on issued relating to: jobs, immigration policy, China, cybersecurity and corporate tax rates.
“Personally, I’ve never found being on the sideline a successful place to be,” Cook told employees on its internal employee info service.
“The way that you influence these issues is to be in the arena. So whether it’s in this country, or the European Union, or in China or South America, we engage.
“And we engage when we agree and we engage when we disagree.
“I think it’s very important to do that because you don’t change things by just yelling. You change things by showing everyone why your way is the best. In many ways, it’s a debate of ideas.”
Cook, who served as Apple’s Chief Operating Officer under Steve Jobs, told his staff: “Some of our key areas of focus are on privacy and security, education.
“They’re on advocating for human rights for everyone, and expanding the definition of human rights.
“They’re on the environment and really combating climate change, something we do by running our business on 100 percent renewable energy,” he added.
Image shows Apple Inc CEO Time Cook.
Trump, who recently had issues with some of the tech companies’ bosses, told all tech execs at Trump Tower: “I want to add that I’m here to help you folks do well.”
The Republican urged Apple to improve on security and privacy matters; also reminding Amazon of their responsibility on corporate taxes.
His reasons for holding the meeting was misunderstood by many in Silicon Valley considering that most of the attendees were staunch Hillary Clinton supporters.
“We very much stand up for what we believe in,” Apple’s CEO summarized on behalf of other CEOs who attended the meeting despite their dislike for Mr President-elect.
“We think that’s a key part of what Apple is about. And we’ll continue to do so,” Cook added.
He continued: “We have other things that are more business-centric — like tax reform — and something we’ve long advocated for: a simple system. And we’d like intellectual property reform to try to stop the people suing when they don’t do anything as a company.”
As Apple Inc. CEO, Cook regularly begins sending emails at 4:30 a.m. and previously held Sunday-night staff meetings by telephone to prepare for the next week.
Cook shared in May 2013 that his leadership strategy focused on people, strategy, and execution; he explained, “If you get those three right, the world is a great place.”
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