Author: Dan Pallotta

Tim Cook performed brilliantly in front of Congress today. He was authoritative, in breathtaking command of his facts, as he always is, and brought a unique perspective to each response. Senator Levin was out for blood, but “No one laid a glove on him,” as Phillip Emer DeWitt wrote for Fortune. He put his questioners to shame. His response to the question of whether Apple was violating basic rules of fairness was brilliant: “I am a fair person. Apple is a fair company. I would not administer [something that was unfair.]” This is no dime-a-dozen MBA or supply-chain guy. This is a man of unique character and exceptional intelligence with an opportunity to make his own mark, not just on Apple, but on history.

There are a few important things that he could do a this point in his tenure that I believe would advance his movement toward that destiny in a big way.

Make a Self-Deprecating Joke
Tim Cook is the stiffest scripted presenter since Neil Armstrong. But most people aren’t bothered by that. What bores them is his unconsciousness about it. If Tim simply let people know that he knows he’s a lousy presenter he’d instantly be a better presenter. He should start out WWDC with a killer self-deprecating routine acknowledging how stiff he is. Mock himself. People would love it. They would love him.

Run a Great Ad Series
Apple needs to get brave and bold and fun with its advertising again. Maybe it revives the Mac vs. PC campaign, but make it iOS vs. Android, and destroy Android over the inability to get the latest software updates, the malware problems, the privacy issues, the lack of ability to easily synch all of your content to all of your devices, the freeze-ups, the cheesy product lanches, etc. Alternatively, get inspirational and move people with the difference Apple products make in the lives of the blind, poor children in rural schools, entrepreneurs in the developing world. The medium is the message, and a bold company cannot stay cautious with its creative. Tim has to lead this charge.

Stop Delegating Big Announcements to Others
Tim has taken the delegating thing too far. Product announcements are the setting for the leader of the organization to demonstrate their excitement about the product and to make the argument for the product. When Tim delegates every element of the keynotes to his Senior VPs, and just bookends the keynote with opening and closing remarks, he can come across as dispassionate about the products, and illiterate on how they integrate with the overall Apple story and how they integrate with his vision.

Steve Jobs was like a litigator at a keynote — he made arguments — he made irrefutable cases for how the current class of products sucks, why they suck, what the fundamental problem is, and then he showed how Apple was going to fix it. He didn’t just say he was going to delight customers, he deconstructed how Apple would do it by taking them on an argumentative odyssey in which Apple was always the hero there to slay the dragons of mediocrity. It showed that he cared about delighting customers because he understood what frustrated them. That made him human to his customers, and for all his aloofness, Apple fans could relate to Steve Jobs because he showed them that he empathized with their problems.

Tim Cook has to do the same thing. He has to show that he uses the products. That’s his job. This delegation of major product announcements — wholesale — to others is either lazy or it’s based on a misguided sense of how you motivate your reports.

Make the Distinction Between Product Design and the Design of the Future
Product design and future design are two different things. Jony Ive can design the products of the future, but he can’t design the future of the company. Imagine President Kennedy hiring a “Chief of Vision,” instead of providing the vision himself. Tim Cook has to contemplate what his vision is for the future of Apple and he should stage a major event to articulate it.

Don’t Worry About Being Liked
Steve Jobs’ vision wasn’t his only strong suit. His willingness to fight for that vision and to be disliked if that’s what it took to make that vision real was as valuable as the vision itself. The sense of possibility that he emanated didn’t just show up in a new product. It showed up in his ability to get the product out the door six months earlier than anyone said it could be done. And he didn’t make that happen by worrying about being liked. At every level he showed people that human beings were capable of something more. He didn’t do that by appealing to their lazier angels. Delighting customers also means showing people that real things can get done, and get done much faster than they get done by all of the other companies that frustrate them in their lives — you know, the companies that are forever showing concept products that people love but that never make it to market. And to get things done like that, you have to mess with that inherent human tendency to slow things down. People don’t like it, until you show them what they’re really capable of. They might dislike you today. But they’ll love you in the long run.

There is zero reason — zero reason — that Tim Cook cannot earn a place in the pantheon of great American business leaders. But to do it, he’s going to have to stretch outside of his comfort zone.

You won’t believe this. There’s a technological marvel that, instead of forcing you to communicate with others in writing, actually allows you to hear other people’s voices and words — you can even hear the tone and volume of their voices! And wonder of wonders, they can hear you! Across any distance! It’s incredible! Not many people use the device today, but it’s truly in a class by itself for productive communication.

Please pardon the sarcasm, but the way people shun the telephone these days is getting ridiculous.

You used to be able to just call people. You didn’t have to be on someone’s calendar to have a phone conversation. The telephone was an important and valuable domain of communication, both for casual, friendly chats and for professional exchanges of ideas and information. But no more. It’s considered annoying — lame, even — to pick up the phone and call someone without a prior appointment. It’s too friendly. Too intrusive. If you did, you’d be considered a professional misfit. So instead, you send an e-mail to set up an appointment for the phone call. About six or seven e-mails, actually. More words pass back and forth in the setting up of the call than are required for the communication for which the call itself is intended. And if each of you has an assistant, all this multiplies.

Much worse than the inefficiency of using e-mail to set up phone calls are the missed opportunities and unnecessary misunderstandings that come when we use e-mail instead of phone calls. That happens far more often than is prudent. We use e-mail to avoid conflict. We use it to avoid feeling uncomfortable. To overcome shyness, inferiority complexes, doubts, apprehensions, and all manner of other psychological and emotional problems. In business, we use it to overcome our fear of selling. To make sure we’re never caught off guard or put on the spot. Because it’s just too much trouble to get up and walk two cubes over to ask a question in person. And we have convinced ourselves that this is all more advanced, more expedient, more productive.

But to the degree to which e-mail allows us to avoid authentic communication or persuasive communication — and robs us of the ability to get better at either or both — there’s nothing efficient or productive about it. I won’t go on about how e-mail messages can be misinterpreted — we’ve all read way too many blog posts about that. But even those posts assume a context in which the telephone doesn’t exist. They preach about being more sensitive to the way we write the e-mails, using emoticons to make tone plain, or rereading messages before we send them to scan for anything that could be taken amiss. Those posts never advise us to just pick up the phone and call the person. Doing so would eliminate the possibility of misconstrued text for sure, but it’s never in the e-mail tips lists.

And as we strive relentlessly for efficiency, we leave no room for life — for the little things that balance out our day and put our business into a larger perspective of existence. There’s no room for other human beings who have color in their voices and nuanced thoughts that typography cannot convey.

It has been said that love is a function of communication. I believe that to be true. I believe, by extension, that human understanding is a function of communication. And the better human beings understand one another, the higher the level of functioning. The overuse of e-mail as an alternative to a call creates emotional distance. In advertising, it is said that the medium is the message. In this case, the medium is e-mail and the message is “I don’t actually want to talk to you.” There is an unintended lack of civility, humanity, and friendliness to it all.

A powerful side effect of this reduction in phone conversation is the near total elimination of the impromptu personal meeting. When I was a kid my grandfather would stop by our house unannounced for a cup of coffee. We’d have great conversations. That rarely happens in life anymore. It never happens in business. We’ve sucked all the spontaneity out of the workday, so we’re forced to buy foosball tables and study “play” to get people into a mood where they can have a spontaneous creative thought.

If you want to be innovative today, if you want to take a risk, if you want to exercise your courage, try calling someone with whom you have an issue to discuss. Do it without an appointment. Just call them up and have a conversation. And when your phone rings, pick it up. Open yourself up to the possibility a phone call offers. Discover this remarkable device called the telephone. It will give you a serious competitive advantage.