Emma McIntyre/WireImage
- Tim Cook told GQ that he starts every day by reading emails from customers at 5 a.m.
- He said it's inspiring to understand how Apple's technology is impacting lives – both good and bad.
- Open emails are a way to show that the company is motivated by customer feedback.
Apple CEO Tim Cook starts every day at 5 a.m. by reading emails and notes from customers about the impact of its technology, he told GQ.
"If you're in the business, like we are, of creating technology that really enriches people's lives – you want to know what it's doing," he said. "You want to know how people are feeling about it."
"Of course, I get some complaints as well," he added. "Those are cool too, because I want to stay grounded in terms of what our users are thinking, what they're feeling." According to GQ's profile of Cook, he often forwards these emails to other Apple employees.
Cook is one of the few CEOs of big tech companies to have his email address open to the public. Jeff Bezos, former CEO and founder of Amazon, did the same.
By keeping his email open, Cook is likely showing that the company is motivated by customer feedback. Apple has been known for its effective customer service in the past, especially in its stores where its customers could access the Genius Bar for support.
However, the Apple store experience appears to have worsened in recent years. In 2019, Insider's Ben Gilbert described the shopping experience as "chaotic" in one of its Manhattan stores due to changes such as ditching the Genius Bar and checkout counters, in favor of roaming employees with iPads. Currently, you can book Genius Bar appointments on Apple's site.
Cook described one particularly "heart-warming" letter he received the morning of his interview with GQ.
The sender had gone into a seizure while driving their car, crashing it, but the iPhone 14's crash detection system meant the device called the emergency services when they were unable to.
Tech leaders are known for their intense or eccentric morning routines, full of the ways they try to boost productivity. Elon Musk, for example, recently tweeted about his own morning routine too. "I eat a donut every morning. Still alive," he said.
Jeff Bezos says he likes to spend his morning "puttering" – waking up early, reading the newspaper, and having breakfast with his children, before his first meeting at 10 a.m. While Mark Zuckerberg says the first thing he does is to go on Facebook.
Insider previously reported that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates starts his day with an hour on the treadmill while his wife says he doesn't eat breakfast. With Cook's recent words, it seems that CEOs' morning routines can not only be key to productivity, but also to the way their companies are perceived.