How Tim Cook Came Out

I’ve been thinking about the way Tim Cook came out earlier this morning, whereby he announced that he is “proudly gay”.

Since Tim Cook took helm at Apple, the media — far and wide — from the New York Times, CNBC to Gawker have all tried to force him out of his closet.

But never once did he (even try) to respond to those allegations.

Instead, he took his time to come out. And when he did, he did it on his own accord, taking control of the entire situation — and never once addressed the allegations.

The whole essay — published in a fairly popular publication (Bloomberg BusinessWeek), and not Apple’s website (which would mean that he’s making a statement for Apple, instead of just himself) — just screams of leadership.

This isn’t the type of leadership that would make the stocks jump. But it’s the type of leadership that would instill faith in Cook’s followers and deputies. It’s the type of leadership that says: regardless of how much hate I’m going to receive, I believe what I’m doing is right — and so I’m doing to do it.

In the business world, money is (basically) everything. The old adage that goes, “don’t invest in the product, invest in the man” is widely-panned as pure bullshit among today’s biggest venture capitalists when deciding on which companies to invest in.

When the leader of a company establishes his/her values in the face of potential backlash, those are the values that will be deeply rooted into the corporate culture.

To be fearless, resolute and honest.

When people who have these values get to work and produce products, those are the products that change the world.

More often than not, for the better.