Business Part 15: Apple CEO Tim Cook on Career Planning

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1. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]What industry do you work in and what is your role?[/responsivevoice]
2. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]What are your responsibilities in your role/position?[/responsivevoice]
3. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Can you describe to me the function of your workplace/company?[/responsivevoice]
4. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]How many departments, how many offices. National or International?[/responsivevoice]
5. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]What is the Minimum requirements for employment i.e Education or Experience?[/responsivevoice]
6. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]How many opportunities are there to ‘move up the ladder’?[/responsivevoice]
7. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]What is the process for changing job roles i.e Interview? Test?[/responsivevoice]

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[responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]General discussion about your workweek:[/responsivevoice]

1. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Current projects? Deadlines? Opportunities?[/responsivevoice]
2. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Anything of interest happening?[/responsivevoice]

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Listening

Key Words and Phrases

1. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]What’s interesting is that it is now 25 years since you got your MBA and as part of your MBA experience, you were asked to write a 25-year plan. How did that work out for you?[/responsivevoice]
2. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]There was a professor,  I think his name was Dr. Nailor. Does that sound right?  – Tom Nailor. And, he was a great professor and one of the things that he’d ask us to do was to write a 25-year plan.  Maybe some of you have had to do this.[/responsivevoice]
3. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]And, it was more of a personal plan.And, normally I would never remember this, but I was doing a commencement address a few years ago and I was scrambling for some old things, and I found, in a box, this plan.[/responsivevoice]
4. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]This plan had turned yellow because of age, but I looked at it and I would say it was reasonably accurate for all of 18 to 24 months after it was written. And, there was nothing, not a single thing on it that was accurate post that, not a single thing. Zero![/responsivevoice]
5. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]I think that the lesson there is, at least for me, maybe you guys will be different, maybe you have much more insight into what you may be doing, but for me the journey was not predictable at all.[/responsivevoice]
6. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]It goes sort of back to the Lincoln quote, is the only thing I believe you can do is prepare. And, the world is going to change many times. The environment is going to change many times, The companies that you work for are going to ebb and flow,[/responsivevoice]
7. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]you may wind up in the same company, you may not, You may wind up in the same career, you may not. You may wind up with the spouse you’re married to now, you may not. There are lots of things in your life. I hope that one doesn’t change. But, there’s lots of things that change[/responsivevoice]
8. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]I think that you sort of have to have a north star.  And, stay with the north star and let those things go on about you and sort of find your, find your journey.[/responsivevoice]
9. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]on tim cook:[/responsivevoice]
10. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]His first position was Senior Vice President for worldwide operations. In relation to the role, Cook was quoted as saying: “You kind of want to manage it like you’re in the dairy business. If it gets past its freshness date, you have a problem”.[/responsivevoice]
11. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Cook closed factories and warehouses, and replaced them with contract manufacturers; this resulted in a reduction of the company’s inventory from months to days. Predicting its importance, his group invested in long-term deals such as advance investment in flash memory from 2005 onward, guaranteeing stable supply of what became a key iPod Nano, then iPhone and iPad component.Cook’s actions were credited with keeping costs under control and, combined with the company’s design and marketing savvy, generated huge profits.[/responsivevoice]
12. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Jobs and Cook proceeded to forge a strong partnership, and rescued the company from its death spiral, which took it from $11 billion in revenue in 1995 down to less than $6 billion in 1998 … Under their leadership, the company went from its nadir to a remarkable $100 billion today[/responsivevoice]

Discussion

1. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Have you ever created a career plan?[/responsivevoice]
2. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Perhaps in university, upon graduation or during the formative years of your career? (5, 10, 20years )[/responsivevoice]
3. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]How closely do your current career match your plan?[/responsivevoice]
4. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]– What were some elements unpredictable[/responsivevoice]
5. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Where do you see your self in 10 years / 20 years?[/responsivevoice]
6. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]What advice would you offer to a past self?[/responsivevoice]
7. [responsivevoice voice=”US English Female” buttontext=””]Specifically relating to your career.[/responsivevoice]

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