Tim Cook's lesson

Apple's CEO may have set a new trend

Tim Cook, the chief executive officer of Apple, has an unenviable job in many ways. True, he heads the world's largest company - that is, in terms of market capitalisation, among those that are listed. But he has the hard task of following in the footsteps of perhaps the most legendary businessman of the past couple of decades, Steve Jobs. It is too soon to tell if Mr Cook will manage to steer Apple as well as did Steve Jobs. But it is already clear that Mr Cook is a fundamentally different sort of corporate leader from the one that Jobs was. This has been underlined now by the news that he will give away most of the $785-million fortune - at current values of Apple shares - that he controls. Famously, Jobs refused to join the "Giving Pledge", set up by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, which encouraged the super-rich to give away most of their fortunes. While Jobs did secretly give a few million here and there to hospitals and such organisations, it was widely remarked while he was alive that, especially in comparison to many of his peers, he had little time or enthusiasm for philanthropy - or for social leadership more broadly defined. Mr Cook is an equally, if not more, private person, but has made waves twice now: first by being the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company to openly identify himself as being gay; and now through pledging his fortune.

In some ways, Mr Cook's decision is unusual - his fortune is not the product of innovation, but the product of a career as an executive, and wealth earned thus is usually considered to be less of a candidate for giving away. But in other ways, it should be expected. Steve Jobs was something of an exception. In the information-technology industry, vast fortunes have been made, and are being given away. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has promised to give away his money. Even the mercurial Larry Ellison of Oracle signed the Giving Pledge. This is perhaps because the information technology industry has a unique understanding of the volatile underpinnings of modern wealth -- what commercial dynasty can be securely built in a sector that transforms itself every decade? This is how the new billionaires are fundamentally different from "old money" families with many of them perpetuating corporate power over time through control of scarce financial and natural resources, not through continual innovation. In addition, the information technology billionaires exhibit professional values and goals rather than those of most corporate empire-builders: they tend to stay within the boundaries of their sector, attempting to dominate the production of goods and services they know, rather than expanding their groups' footprint across places and sectors, like earlier corporate families, or like India's own oligarchs. Professional values include the push to "give back", and the belief that one's own children - or, in Mr Cook's case, his nephew - should be comfortably-off, but make their own meritocratic way in the world.

This attitude is yet to percolate into India - except, unsurprisingly, among its information technology billionaires, who seem to share their American counterparts' willingness to give away vast sums of money. Both N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani are supporting various philanthropic enterprises. Wipro's Azim Premji has a foundation that is as active. And, of course, there are always the Tatas. But among many other parts of Indian industry, there is a notable reluctance to send money out of the family. Perhaps, for those who have inherited and built on wealth, the funds are seen as being as much the property of the family, including future generations, as of those members controlling it at this moment. Perhaps it is because many of India's richest are in sectors and markets where big cash piles are an important business advantage. Perhaps it is the divide between professional and traditional business values. Those like Vedanta's Anil Agarwal, who has promised to give away three-fourths of his wealth, are rare. And rarer still are those like Mr Cook - professionals who rise to the top, make a great deal of money, and are willing to give that away.