He is widely regarded as one of the greatest innovators and business leaders of all time.
But after his early death at the age of just 56, the key to Steve Jobs’ brilliance may have been lost with him.
Luckily, Tim Cook, current Apple CEO and Steve Jobs’ protege, has now shared the secrets passed on to him, which helped lead Apple to success.
Speaking in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Cook says the biggest lesson he learnt from his long-time mentor was how to keep an open mind.
Cook says Jobs taught him ‘not to be married to my past views, not to be so proud that you can’t change your mind when you’re presented with new evidence.’
Jobs wasn’t alone in his belief about the power of openness, as scientists say that this trait could help you to improve your own life.
Research has found that those who show more openness are more intellectually capable, experience more original thought, and even have better cardiovascular health.
Steve Jobs (right) is regarded as one of the greatest innovators and business leaders of his generation. Now, his protege and current Apple CEO Tim Cook (left) has revealed the secrets he was taught which have helped Apple to succeed
Speaking in the interview, Cook said that Steve Jobs was ‘the teacher of a lifetime’ who stressed the importance of being around people who challenged him.
‘Initially I was sort of taken aback by that and then I became so enamoured with it,’ he said.
‘Very few people have that skill because they get married to their past views and I thought it was a brilliant skill.’
Even though Jobs is often remembered as an innovator who relentlessly pursued his own unique ideas, Cook says that his biggest strength was his ability to listen to other views.
‘He changed my mind about a lot of things, and he changed his mind about a lot of things,’ says Cook.
‘He loved to debate and he loved someone to debate him, and you could always change his mind if you had the best idea.’
Cook adds that part of the reason their relationship at Apple worked so well was that he and Jobs would change each other’s minds so often.
But it wasn’t just in his dealings with his former mentor that this skill has proved useful.
Tim Cook says that the most important thing he learned from Steve Jobs was the ability to be open to new ideas and not be married to his past views
In the interview, Cook describes his morning routine, saying: ‘I get up very early and I quickly go through the emails that have come in for the last several hours.’
Those emails include both positive and ‘not-so-positive’ feedback from Apple’s customers.
However, Cook says that he doesn’t get put off by the criticism but rather thinks it is key to ‘keep his hand on the pulse of the company’.
He says: ‘I have relatively thick skin, so I try to internalise it and ask myself: “Is that accurate or not?”
‘And not just quickly put up a defensive shield and say why what we’ve done right.’
Cook even says the ability to be flexible and open is something he thinks is important for living your life as a whole.
He concludes: ‘Life has a way of happening and throwing you off some well-crafted plan and I think the most important thing is to roll with it and make sure you recognise when doors are opening and choose the one to walk through.’
While he might not have put it in these terms, the skill that Cook describes learning from Jobs may actually be the psychological trait of openness.
Tim Cook says that Steve Jobs (pictured) would change his mind when presented with new ideas and that the pair would often debate and challenge each other
Openness is one of the ‘Big 5’ personality traits which psychologists use to understand our personalities and approaches to the world.
As one 2023 research paper describes it: ‘Openness is characterized by a person’s tendency to seek out new experiences and to be willing to explore ideas, values, emotions, and sensations that differ from their previous experience or established preferences.’
Research has found that high levels of openness are linked to an improved ability to think creatively and come up with ‘out of the box’ solutions.
Likewise, people with higher degrees of openness have been found to display a greater ability to adapt, allowing them to navigate uncertain situations with ease.
This could go a long way to explain Jobs’ ability to take on new information, ideas, and experiences rather than getting stuck in his ways.
However, scientists say that this trait is important for more than just business success.
Research published in 2018 found that people with greater openness adapt to stress faster at the physiological level.
Compared to less open-minded individuals, more open people initially reacted to stress more strongly but showed a less dramatic response over time.
This attitude of openness which Mr Cook says was so important has been linked by research to attributes like creativity and flexibility as well as improved stress responses and cardiovascular health. Pictured: Tim Cook speaks during a tribute to Steve Jobs after his death in 2011
The researchers wrote: ‘In other words, persons highest in openness appear to possess a flexibility to responds [sic] to the presented stressful experience.’
The 2018 study notes that those with less open personalities could be at risk of developing higher blood pressure which could lead to negative health outcomes.
This effect is so pronounced that openness is even considered by some scientists to be a good predictor of cardiovascular risk.
That means that Jobs’ advice of staying open to new experiences could help you live a more creative and healthier life.