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Tim Cook earns spot among Pope Francis & Dalai Lama on Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders list

Tim-Smiley-Cook-01

Fortune is out today with its inaugural list of the World’s Greatest Leaders and among Pope Francis, Bill Clinton, Dalai Lama, and other dignitaries sits a few of the tech industry’s biggest figures, including Apple CEO Tim Cook. Tim Cook sits at #33 on the list, ahead of other tech execs like YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, but trailing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Alibaba’s Jack Ma. Here’s Fortune’s blurb on why Cook made the list:

Following Steve Jobs has arguably been the toughest corporate leadership assignment in decades, yet Cook has carried it off with mostly quiet aplomb. In 2½ years he has kept the parade of winning new products marching (the Retina display, new operating systems, the iPhone 5), and he is bringing in Burberry’s savior, Angela Ahrendts, to run Apple’s retail stores. That’s thinking different.

The list doesn’t exactly use a mathematical formula to select its greatest world leaders. Fortune also included some notable celebrities that have made major charitable contributions like Angelina Jolie and Bono, as well as Derek Jeter for, well, not using steroids. Fortune explained a little bit about how it came up with the list:

We have drawn a distinction between leaders and people who are admirable and powerful but who are not transformative leaders. Simply running a large organization or serving in an influential role does not meet the threshold to be on this list. All candidates had to be currently active; thus no retirees or recently deceased great leaders, such as Nelson Mandela. We asked several noted leadership experts to suggest candidates, combined their ideas with others turned up by Fortune reporters, and vetted our nominees with experts in their respective fields. Then we made our final judgments based on the reality that while leadership can’t be measured, we all know it when we see it.

Has Cook earned his #33 spot among the world’s greatest leaders?

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Comments

  1. Zac Hall - 10 years ago

    Replace him on the list with Ballmer until this gets resolved: http://9to5mac.com/2014/03/20/itunes-connect-issue-halting-new-app-and-update-submissions-for-developers/

    • What about the flawed iPad mini Retina speaker, that you and others are silent about? Right now Apple should be doing a recall on all iPad mini Retinas, but thanks to sites like yours refusing to cover it, Apple gets away with it.

      • airmanchairman - 10 years ago

        Such tiny minds – all you can see are your own personal issues, so much so that the big picture which the article addresses is beyond your understanding…

    • Tallest Skil - 10 years ago

      Really ought to tag this sort of thing with /s.

      • Zac Hall - 10 years ago

        Probably right. :P

  2. Giorgos Amigdalos - 10 years ago

    Yeahh!!! Right. He ruined the best mobile os with iOS 7. We loved Apple for having glossy icons, skeuomorhpism, transparent dock etc. Now Tim leads Apple to flat design like MS. He is John Sculley No2

    • rogifan - 10 years ago

      Is there a mouse in your pocket?

    • Tallest Skil - 10 years ago

      Shut up and go away, you worthless, pathetic troll.

      • frankman91 - 10 years ago

        Breath man. Every time I see your aviator its attached to a anti-troll outburst.

        If Giorgos liked the old ios so be it; he is not wrong in saying ios7 got flat and sorta MS looking so I don’t really see how he is even being a troll.

        I got a similar comment when I said I liked an upcoming feature on the new galaxy. I was called a troll because I like a feature on what will be the number two best selling phone of all time. What the hell is wrong with this board full of what I would assume to be tech people.

        I feel like I am ‘poking the bear’ responding to your comment because you are on here often, but you sound like your giving yourself an ulcer over people cell phone preferences.

      • Tallest Skil - 10 years ago

        >>If Giorgos liked the old iOS so be it

        Where did I say anything was wrong with that? His presentation is loaded with lies and representative of blatant trolling. We don’t have to take that. We don’t even have be polite in rejecting it.

        Had he actually explained his reasons for believing the above (which he doesn’t, by the way), that’s one thing. This is just trolling. Learn the difference.

    • secdj - 10 years ago

      He ruined iOS? He brought it to life in my opinion…

  3. Setting aside whatever one may think of his politics, how someone like Bill Clinton–who completely abused his power as President to take advantage of an intern–can be deemed one of the ‘World’s Greatest Leaders’ escapes me.

    Tim Cook as #33? Sounds reasonable, though I think he needs more time to determine how the impact of his tenure at Apple will be judged.

    Peace be with you.

    • Pierre Calixte - 10 years ago

      “Bill Clinton–who completely abused his power as President to take advantage of an intern”

      I can’t help but to lol…and yes I’m laughing at you.

  4. Pierre Calixte - 10 years ago

    Derek Jeter number 11…wow!

  5. Gunter Lang - 10 years ago

    My sentiments exactly

  6. Lohith Kumar - 10 years ago

    i think that he is best person to be the CEO of Apple ! coz Steve Jobs isn’t dumb ! he knew that tim cook was the best person who will take Apple to the next level ! and tim did it ! Apple is the most valued company ! they are doing some great job on this planet ! i think that with out iOS 7 apple wouldn’t have had the glory it has right now ! every move apple has made is good enough ! but there are some things like iPhone 5C which ppl think isn’t the best move that apple has made … but at the mid range its out selling ! so i think that apple is doing great ! if u guys think what i said is wrong then please do reply to my comment ! :)

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.