If you've ever wondered what it's like to be the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook recently sat down for an interview with Table Manners podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware when he visited London in December. Cook shared insight into his daily routine, his focus on work, and his retirement plans. He also provided some fun details about Apple and some of his favorite things.
Cook revealed that Apple collects the fruit from the trees that are around the Apple Park campus, using it to make jam. He shared spiced apple jam created from Apple Park trees with the podcast hosts. Apple primarily has apple trees because the land where the Apple Park campus is located used to be an orchard, but there are also cherry trees.
While Cook does intend to retire at some point, it won't be the "traditional definition" of retirement. He doesn't see himself "being at home doing nothing" and "not intellectually stimulated." He says he'll "always be wired in that kind of way and want to work."
Cook said that his upbringing was "centered on work." He had a newspaper route at age 11, and at age 14, he "flipped burgers" at a fast food place called Tastee-Freez. His parents "instilled hard work," and the value of it has stayed with him "for a lifetime."
As Cook has said several times before, he wakes up before 5:00 a.m. to start work. He begins his day answering emails while it's still quiet. When asked why he starts with emails, he said it's the part of the day that has no surprises. "Well, as it turns out, it's the part of the day that I can control the most," he said. "As the day starts to unfold, it becomes less predictable."
The early morning is his favorite time of the day because he can "kind of block out the world and focus on a few critical things, and just be silent for a while."
Cook said that he works from Apple Park four days a week, but on Fridays, he tends to work from home. He said he works at home because "nobody's in the office and it's depressing when there's nobody there." Apple has a hybrid working schedule where employees are allowed to work from home up to two days a week.
There were no real hints of new products, but Cook said that there are "so many things" in the pipeline, as he often does. "We have so many things coming up," he said.
Some other tidbits:
- Cook loves white wine, specifically Chardonnay. His favorite is Kistler.
- For breakfast, he eats a protein rich cashew cereal from Whole Foods with unsweetened almond milk.
- Cook doesn't cook, and eats most of his meals during the week at Caffé Macs. He takes dinner home.
- Ethel's Fancy in Palo Alto is one of his preferred restaurants, where he likes to get the octopus.
- He eats a lot of fish.
- Cook loves chocolate, especially dark chocolate.
- Table Manners has a tradition of asking guests about their last meal. Cook said his would be an appetizer of hamachi crudo with jalapeno, a branzino for a main dish, broccolini as a side, and anything chocolate for dessert.
- When not working, Cook likes to hike, and he likes to go to national parks for vacation.
- Cook recently went caving in Slovenia.
The full Table Manners podcast with Tim Cook can be listened to through Apple Podcasts on the web, iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
