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More than an hour into Apple’s annual shareholder meeting in February, Tim Cook had patiently fielded questions ranging from its plans for the television market to what he thought of Google Glass. But when one audience member tried to push Apple’s chief executive on the profitability of Apple’s various environmental initiatives, such as its solar-powered data centre, Mr Cook snapped.
二月的一天，苹果(Apple)的年度股东大会进行了一个多小时，蒂姆•库克(Tim Cook)已经耐心地回答了苹果进军电视市场的计划和他如何看待谷歌眼镜(Google Glass)等各类问题。但当一位参会听众就苹果各环保项目（比如其太阳能数据中心）的盈利能力向这位首席执行官发难的时候，库克发怒了。
“We do things for other reasons than a profit motive, we do things because they are right and just,” Mr Cook growled. Whether in human rights, renewable energy or accessibility for people with special needs, “I don’t think about the bloody ROI,” Mr Cook said, in the same stern, uncompromising tone that Apple employees hope they never have to hear. “Just to be very straightforward with you, if that’s a hard line for you . . . then you should get out of the stock.”
“我们做事情不是为了追求利润，我们做事情，是因为这些事情是正确和公正的，”库克咆哮道。他说，不管是为了人权、可再生能源还是为有特殊需求的人们提供帮助，“我不考虑该死的投资回报率”。“直截了当地跟你说，如果这是你考虑的硬性因素……那你还是把苹果股票卖了吧。”库克的语气严厉，毫不妥协，那是苹果员工或许永远不希望面对的一个声音。
Many investors, it turns out, are siding with Mr Cook. After a tumultuous 2013, the share price has increased by around 50 per cent since that shareholder meeting, at one point taking its market capitalisation above $700bn.
事实证明，许多投资者站在了库克这一边。经历了动荡的2013年，苹果股价在这次股东大会后上涨了约50%，一度将苹果市值推至7000亿美元之上。
Changing minds
改变思想
In the three years after the death of Steve Jobs, Mr Cook, 54, has held his nerve through attacks from activist investors and a loss of faith among some that Apple could succeed without its late founder. This year has seen Apple’s chief step out of the shadows of his predecessor and imprint the company with his own set of values and priorities: bringing in fresh blood, changing how it manages its cash pile, opening Apple up to greater collaboration and focusing more on social issues.
史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)去世后的三年中，维权投资者对苹果发起了攻击，一些人对没有乔布斯的苹果是否还能成功也失去了信心，但现年54岁的库克一直沉着应对。今年，他走出了前任的影子，以自己的一套价值观和议程给苹果公司打上了印记：他引进了新鲜人才，改变了苹果管理巨额现金的方式，扩大了苹果与外部的合作，更加关注社会问题。
As the new iPhone continues to smash its own launch records, Mr Cook has unveiled products such as Apple Watch and Apple Pay that take the iPhone maker into the realms of fashion and finance, recapturing a spirit of innovation that many feared had died with Jobs. In the process, Apple’s valuation this year has grown by almost as much as Google’s entire market capitalisation.
随着新款iPhone不断刷新自己的发售纪录，库克推出了Apple Watch和Apple Pay等产品，引领苹果进入时尚界和金融界，让这家公司再度焕发出许多人担心已和乔布斯一同逝去的创新精神。苹果今年一年市值的增长，就接近谷歌(Google)的整体市值。
But the change in Wall Street’s — and Silicon Valley’s — appreciation of Mr Cook is down to more than just the 70m iPhones Apple is expected to sell this quarter or the $42bn in sales generated in the previous.
然而，华尔街和硅谷对库克的态度转为欣赏，不仅仅是因为苹果本季度有望卖出7000万部iPhone，或者上季度销售额达到了420亿美元。
Financial success and dazzling new technology alone might have been enough to earn Apple’s steely chief executive the FT’s vote as the 2014 Person of the Year, but Mr Cook’s brave exposition of his values also sets him apart.
傲人的财务业绩和令人炫目的新科技，或许已足以让这位钢铁般坚定的苹果首席执行官赢得英国《金融时报》2014年年度人物(Person of the Year)的称号。但库克阐述自己价值观的勇气，同样让他与众不同。
This was never more powerful than when he talked publicly for the first time about his sexuality.
这一点，在他首次公开自己的性取向时表现得再突出不过了。
“If hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy,” he wrote in Bloomberg Businessweek in October.
“如果听到苹果CEO是同性恋，能帮助一些人努力直面自我，或者给一些感到孤独的人带来慰藉，或者激励人们坚持自己的平等权利，那么这值得我用个人隐私来交换，”他在为《彭博商业周刊》(Bloomberg Businessweek)的10月号撰文时写道。
It was a rare glimpse into his closely guarded personal life that also put at risk Apple’s brand in less tolerant parts of the world. Mr Cook was driven to take a stand by his experiences growing up in Alabama, where he has talked of seeing discrimination that “literally would make me sick”.
库克公开性取向的举动，提供了一个罕有的机会，让人们得以一窥他保护严密的个人生活，但同时也让苹果品牌在一些不太宽容的地方面临风险。库克在阿拉巴马州长大的经历促使他作出此举，他曾说在阿拉巴马州看到的一些歧视现象“简直让我感到恶心”。
“From one son of the South and sports fanatic to another, my hat’s off to you,” tweeted Bill Clinton, the former US president, in response to the article.
“同为南方的儿子和疯狂的体育迷，我向你脱帽致敬，”前美国总统比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)发了一条推特(tweet)回应库克的文章。
His eloquent defence of equality came after a year of faltering progress on gay marriage in the US and as arguments rage about the lack of diversity among the people running the Silicon Valley companies, including Apple, who shape so much of our culture.
在库克雄辩地捍卫平等之际，美国同性恋婚姻运动遭遇了不顺的一年，也恰逢舆论正激烈批评包括苹果在内的硅谷公司的管理者缺乏多样性，而这些管理者对美国文化具有巨大的影响力。
Mr Cook has added three women to what was previously a white-male-dominated executive team and changed Apple’s board charter to commit to seeking out candidates from minorities when appointing directors.
库克已在先前以白人男性为主的苹果管理团队里增加了三位女性，还改变了苹果的董事会章程，承诺任命董事时会从少数群体中挑选候选对象。
“People claim he has a cool exterior but he’s a very passionate guy and he stands up for what he believes in,” says Bob Iger, Walt Disney chief executive and Apple board member since 2011. “That is in both his personal life and at Apple.”
华特迪士尼公司(Walt Disney)首席执行官、自2011年起成为苹果董事会成员的鲍勃•伊格尔(Bob Iger)说：“人们说他外表冷淡，但他是个非常有激情的男人，而且勇于站出来捍卫自己的信仰。无论对个人生活还是对苹果，他都是如此。”
As well as diversity, Mr Cook has championed sustainability and supply-chain transparency, including a commitment to reducing Apple’s use of conflict minerals. While hyper-efficient under Mr Cook’s management before he became chief executive, Apple’s supply chain has not always been something to boast about, with recurring complaints about working conditions.
除了支持多样性以外，库克还倡导可持续发展和供应链的透明化，包括承诺苹果会减少使用来自冲突地区的矿物。虽然在库克出任首席执行官以前，苹果的供应链在他的管理下已经表现出超高效率，但并不总是值得称道，其工作条件屡遭投诉。
But Anne Simpson, senior portfolio manager and director of global governance at the US pension fund Calpers, a prominent Apple shareholder, believes his ethical stance is more than just posturing. “He has a charming disregard for showmanship,” she says. “Tim Cook applies this Apple notion of elegance and excellence to these new arenas.”
但是美国加州公务员退休基金(Calpers)的高级投资组合经理兼全球治理主管安妮•辛普森(Anne Simpson)却相信，库克的道德立场不仅仅是种姿态。她说：“他对作秀技巧的漠视自有其魅力。蒂姆•库克将苹果这种优雅和卓越的理念应用到这些新的领域。”加州公务员退休基金是苹果的重要股东。
Show must go on
还是得作秀
Mr Cook’s lack of showmanship has not always been seen as an asset.
库克的缺乏表现欲，并不总被视为一种优点。
Critics have been eager to point out that he is not so closely involved in new product development as his predecessor, and fails to elicit the same excitement when he takes to the stage to introduce them. But Mr Cook is aware of his shortcomings and has drawn on the worlds of fitness and fashion to assemble a new team of talents, including Angela Ahrendts, formerly of Burberry, and industrial designer Marc Newson.
批评人士一直急于指出，库克对新产品开发的参与度不如他前任那样高，而且当他走上舞台介绍新品时，也无法引起同样的兴奋。但库克知道自己的短处，他从健身和时尚界招揽人才，组建了一支新团队，其中包括前博柏利(Burberry)首席执行官安杰拉•阿伦茨(Angela Ahrendts)，以及工业设计师马克•纽森(Marc Newson)。
“I thought it would be impossible to replace Steve, and to some extent that’s true,” says Professor Michael Cusumano of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. “But internally the spirit is still alive and the company is organising around a less confrontational culture. We have to give Tim credit for that.”
麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院(MIT Sloan School of Management)教授迈克尔•库苏马诺(Michael Cusumano)表示：“我曾经认为乔布斯是不可取代的，而且这在一定程度上是个事实。但乔布斯的精神依然留存在苹果内部，而且公司正围绕着一种不那么对抗性的文化组织在一起。我们应为此给予蒂姆赞扬。”
Bringing harmony to Apple’s internal fiefdoms has not been easy. There is still “huge tension” inside Apple, according to one person who has worked with the company for many years. “That tension is something he uses to run the company but it can be dangerous.”
让苹果公司内部“各路藩王”和谐相处不是件易事。用一位在苹果工作多年的员工的话来说，公司内部仍然存在“巨大的紧张感”。“这种紧张感是他管理公司的手段，但也可以很危险。”
When things do go wrong, Mr Cook takes swift and merciless action. In late 2012, after the premature launch of Apple’s flawed Maps app, he dismissed Scott Forstall, who led the creation of iOS and was a close ally of Jobs, and John Browett, the former Dixons chief who had led Apple retail for less than a year. The actions sent a message that Mr Cook will not tolerate underperformance or internal politics.
当发生问题时，库克会迅速而无情地采取行动。2012年底，苹果过早推出了有缺陷的苹果地图(Apple Maps)应用之后，库克解雇了乔布斯的亲密盟友、领导开发iOS的斯科特•福斯托(Scott Forstall)，以及前Dixons首席执行官、掌管苹果零售部门不到一年的约翰•布劳伊特(John Browett)。此举传递出一条信息：库克不会容忍业绩不佳或内部政治。
At that time, the chief executive was also under pressure, given Apple’s lack of clear product direction beyond milking the iPhone. Sensing blood, activist investors began to circle the company; first David Einhorn, then Carl Icahn, have lobbied for changes to how Apple is run and manages its finances. Mr Icahn has pushed for Apple to raise huge debt to return up to $150bn to shareholders and urged it to release more products, including a television set.
当时，身为首席执行官的库克也承受着压力，因为苹果除了从iPhone攫取利润之外，缺乏清晰的产品开发方向。维权投资者嗅到了血腥，开始围攻这家公司，打头的是大卫•艾因霍恩(David Einhorn)，接着是卡尔•伊坎(Carl Icahn)，他们游说改变苹果的经营和财务管理方式。伊坎施压要求苹果筹集巨额债务，向股东返还1500亿美元，并敦促苹果发布包括电视机在内的更多产品。
With a growing need for someone to block and tackle Apple’s raiders and (given its tax investigation in Europe) regulators, Mr Cook’s focus on people, strategy and execution — rather than products — finally started to look like an advantage.
苹果越来越需要有人去抵挡和应对攻击者以及监管者（苹果在欧洲遭到税务调查），而库克对人、策略和执行——而不是产品——的重视终于开始看起来像个优势。
“He is very, very good at not allowing that pressure to in any way disrupt what Apple is trying to achieve,” says Mr Iger. “Clearly there were issues that were on his mind but Tim made sure they were never on the minds of the people who do what Apple does best.”
伊格尔说：“他非常、非常善于不让这些压力以任何方式破坏苹果正在努力实现的目标。库克的脑海里无疑有要操心的问题，但他确保专门从事苹果最擅长工作的人才不必操心这些问题。”
Mr Cook’s decision to expand its cash return programme of dividends and share buybacks helped to defuse the situation with the activists, returning $94bn to date. In the end, he stared down the challenge just long enough for the next wave of iPhone growth to hit and new products to emerge from Sir Jonathan Ive’s workshop.
库克决定通过增加派息和回购股票扩大其现金返还计划，帮助缓和了与维权投资者的关系。目前它总共向股东返还现金940亿美元。最终，库克以足够的坚忍抵挡住挑战，迎来了iPhone又一波增长捷报，以及从乔纳森•艾夫爵士(Sir Jonathan Ive)的设计室诞生的新产品。
“I don’t think there are any companies that have survived big assaults from two of the biggest beasts in the hedge fund jungle,” says Ms Simpson of Calpers. “He is cool, calm and collected — the corporate exemplar of ‘Keep calm and carry on’.”
“我想不出还有哪家公司抵挡住了对冲基金丛林中两头最凶猛的猛兽的攻击，”加州公务员退休基金的辛普森说，“他很酷，很冷静，泰然自若，是‘保持冷静，继续前进(Keep calm and carry on)’这句话在企业界的模范体现。”
That calm can sometimes be taken for a lack of the urgency that is vital in the fast-moving tech industry. Many were disappointed that Apple Watch was not made available to buy this year. But analysts say Apple’s approach of waiting until it has perfected a product usually leads to stronger long-term performance. Samsung, whose smartphone sales have suffered this year, is on its sixth-generation smartwatch, but has still not found a real hit.
有时候，人们误以为这种冷静是缺乏紧迫感，而在瞬息万变的科技业，紧迫感至关重要。许多人对于Apple Watch今年还未上市感到失望。但分析师表示，苹果的风格就是一定要等到产品至臻完美，这常常会带来更强劲的长期业绩。三星(Samsung)的智能手表已推出第六代，但至今没有真正大火起来，其今年的智能手机销量也大幅下挫。
With the momentum now back behind the iPhone and anticipation growing for the Watch, Mr Cook seems to have won back the confidence of Apple employees, something that analysts say was obvious in his demeanour at this year’s product launches.
现在iPhone又夺回声势，对Apple Watch的期待也在升温，库克似乎重新赢得了苹果员工的信任。分析师表示，这一点从他在今年产品发布会上的表现就可以看出来。
“He’s had more of a sense of swagger and confidence” in recent months, says Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.
Jackdaw Research的简•道森(Jan Dawson)表示，最近几个月“他表现得更加意气风发和充满自信”。
At its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, Mr Cook was mobbed by app makers who asked him to pose for selfies. By October’s iPad launch, he was even cracking jokes at his own expense. Clad in his habitual but unglamorous uniform of black untucked shirt and jeans, he said that Apple Watch had been well received by “people who know a lot about fashion and style — even more than I do”, pointing a knowing finger at the chuckling audience.
在苹果今年6月举行的全球开发者大会(Worldwide Developer Conference)上，库克被应用开发者团团围住，要求与他自拍合影。到了10月的iPad发布会，他甚至自己讲起了笑话。他还是一贯的着装，简单朴实：黑衬衫，牛仔裤，衬衫下摆散着。他说，Apple Watch得到了“深谙时尚与风格——比我还懂的人”的热烈好评，一边说，一边心照不宣地指着轻声发笑的观众。
“He’s informal, candid and approachable,” says Ginni Rometty, chief executive of IBM, who praises him as “very authentic. It’s the hallmark of a modern CEO. What you see is what you get.”
“他随和、真诚、亲切，”IBM首席执行官罗睿兰(Ginni Rometty)说，并赞赏他“非常本真。这是现代CEO的特质。所见即所得。”
Opening up
继续开放
A partnership with IBM to sell iPads and iPhones to big corporate customers is just one example of how Apple is looking beyond its own walls more under Mr Cook, something Jobs had resisted.
与IBM合作，将iPad和iPhone销售给大企业客户，只是苹果在库克领导下打破自身藩篱的一个例子，而这是乔布斯一直不愿做的。
Among dozens of small, technology-focused acquisitions, the $3bn purchase of Beats Electronics, the celebrity-endorsed headphones and music streaming service, stands out as Apple’s largest ever deal. The acquisition still bemuses many Apple analysts, but in Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre, Beats’ founders, Mr Cook has instantly regained credibility with the music industry after years of neglecting the iTunes download store. If Mr Cook is guilty of missing the rapid growth of subscription services such as Spotify, he has moved swiftly to compensate for it — though for a high price.
在数十项小型、以科技为核心的收购中，对Beats Electronics的30亿美元收购成为苹果迄今最大的一笔收购。Beats Electronics是一家有著名音乐人背景的耳机制造商和音乐流媒体服务商。这笔收购仍然让许多苹果分析师感到困惑，但与Beats创始人吉米•艾欧文(Jimmy Iovine)和安德烈•罗米尔•扬(Dr. Dre)合作，让苹果忽略iTunes下载商店数年后，迅速在音乐界重建信誉。如果说库克对错过类似Spotify的音乐订阅服务的快速增长感到愧疚，那么他已迅速弥补了这一点——尽管付出了很高代价。
Prof Cusumano sees all this as evidence that the company is opening up more, including in allowing developers to customise more of its iOS software.
库苏马诺教授认为，这一切都表明，苹果正在加大开放度，包括允许开发者对其iOS软件进行更多定制。
Mr Cook must balance that with the secrecy that surrounds its product development. Already, there are whispers on Apple’s campus about another secret project, on the scale of the iPhone or Watch, which is pulling in talent from across Cupertino.
库克必须在开放与围绕其产品开发的神秘感间寻找平衡。在苹果内部已经有关于另一个秘密项目的传闻，它规模与iPhone或Apple Watch相当，正在整个库比提诺招兵买马。
But whether another hit product can emerge to fend off questions about Apple’s life after Jobs, Mr Cook learnt long ago to be patient and trust his instincts, just as he did when he ignored the doubters to join the then-struggling company in 1998.
但关于是否会诞生另一个火爆产品，来打破关于后乔布斯时代苹果前途的质疑，库克许久以前就学会了耐心和相信自己的直觉，正如他在1998年加入正处在困境中的苹果时对质疑者置之不理一样。
“Even though I’m an engineer and an analytical person at heart, the most important decisions I’ve ever made had nothing to do with any of that,” he told an interviewer at Duke University, where he studied for an MBA, last year. “They were always based on intuition.”
“尽管我本质上是一名工程师和分析人员，但迄今为止我所做过的最重要的决定都与此无关，它们永远是基于直觉，”他去年在曾就读MBA的杜克大学(Duke University)对一名采访者表示。
