Steve Blank compared Cook to Ballmer and analyzed the situation pretty well IMHO: https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-ballmer-and-why-he-st

Steve Blank compared Cook to Ballmer and analyzed the situation pretty well IMHO: https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-ballmer-and-why-he-still-has-his-job-at-apple/ https://steveblank.com/2016/10/24/why-tim-cook-is-steve-ball... TLDR: When the visionary CEO (Gates, Jobs) leaves, a guy from operations (Ballmer, Cook) gets promoted to CEO, and keeps doing what he does best, operate and keep profits climbing. When the next CEO (Nadella, ?) comes, there can be focus on innovation again.