Al Gore praises Apple CEO Tim Cook as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the world.

[onehandle]

It is difficult to imagine a harder challenge than following the legendary Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Yet Tim Cook, a soft-spoken, genuinely humble and quietly intense son of an Alabama shipyard worker and a homemaker, hasn't missed a single beat.

Fiercely protective of Jobs' legacy and deeply immersed in Apple's culture, Cook, 51, has already led the world's most valuable and innovative company to new heights while implementing major policy changes smoothly and brilliantly.

He has indelibly imprinted his leadership on all areas of Apple — from managing its complex inner workings to identifying and shepherding new "insanely great" technology and design breakthroughs into the product pipeline.

Cook's personal discipline, physical regimen and work hours reflect a philosophy summarized in his 2010 Auburn University commencement speech, in which he quoted President Lincoln: "I will prepare, and someday my chance will come."

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2111975_2111976_2112101,00.html

[Pholus]

1. The buzz is that Cook is a better CEO than Jobs was.

So I guess hero worship is apropos of something here...

[RobertEarl]

2. Meh

The soldiers who gave their lives for our country are worth more to me than any apple dumpling. Foxconn made Cook what he is. All those people slaving their lives away making apple thingees are due their share of the apple pie. But they will probably starve.