Today marks a historic turning point for Apple. After 15 years at the helm, Tim Cook is no longer the company’s CEO. Instead, John Ternus is stepping into the role—only the third person to do so this century.
The first, of course, was Steve Jobs, whose impact on the company and industry has not lessened in the years since his passing.
One his last day as CEO, Cook sent a final message yesterday to Apple employees. What is most interesting about the message is its striking similarity to the first message Cook sent to employees upon assuming the role in 2011.
Here’s how both messages compare, and how each touches on Jobs’s legacy.
Cook invokes Jobs’s legacy
On August 29, 2011, it was hard to overstate the anxiety that Apple’s own employees felt about the company’s future.
Steve Jobs had just stepped down as CEO of Apple, and that day Tim Cook assumed the role. Jobs brought the company back from the brink of failure upon his return in the late 1990s and subsequently changed the tech industry with the introduction of the iMac, iPod, and iPhone.
More importantly, Jobs reintroduced a culture of creativity and innovation at Apple.
That culture was not only largely responsible for Apple’s hit products, but it was deeply ingrained at the company by the time Jobs stepped down as CEO due to health issues. At the time, many employees worried about whether Apple’s culture would change under the new CEO.
That’s why Cook’s first message to those employees was so important. It needed to calm anxieties while also painting a hopeful picture for Apple’s future despite the absence of its founder.
Given Jobs’s outsized influence at Apple, it’s no wonder Cook spent a portion of his first communication with employees addressing Jobs’s legacy. We know this because CBS News published Cook’s first internal letter to employees as CEO on August 29, 2011.
“Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that – it is in our DNA,” Cook wrote. “We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.”
Fifteen years later, Cook again invoked Jobs’s legacy in his final outgoing message to employees, which was published by 9to5Mac.
“We have made it possible to leave our “dent in the universe,” as Steve once described it, because of who we are and what we believe, because of what we value and how we see the world,” Cook wrote. “How fortunate we are. How fortunate I am.”
Both letters highlight that the outgoing CEO isn’t really leaving
Chief executive transitions are understandably nerve-racking times for companies. One way to reduce uncertainty about the change is to make sure that investors and employees know that, while the person may no longer be CEO, they aren’t done working to advance the company’s aims.
In 2011, Cook’s August 29 letter to employees stressed that while Jobs was no longer CEO, he would still be involved with Apple.
“Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees,” Cook wrote. “We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.”
Unfortunately, Jobs was never able to continue offering guidance to the company. He passed away from his battle with pancreatic cancer just over five weeks after Cook wrote those words.
However, his legacy continues to inspire those at the company to this day.
In Cook’s August 31 goodbye letter to employees, the outgoing CEO also stressed that he would not be going far.
“As you know, I am not leaving Apple,” Cook wrote. “But I am stepping away from a role that I have loved deeply.”
Cook will stay on at Apple as executive chairman of the Board of Directors. One of his primary duties in that role will be to act as a liaison between Apple and governments, including those of America and China.
“I look forward to seeing you in my new role at Apple Park and around the world,” Cook told employees.
Both letters also express optimism for Apple’s future
Finally, Cook’s first and last messages to employees as Apple CEO both stressed his optimism about Apple’s future.
In 2011, Cook stated that he shares “Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future” and concluded the message by saying, “I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.”
Cook’s 2026 letter held true to that optimism.
“[I] take enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John,” Cook wrote. “Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does and I could not be more excited for his leadership.”