Tim Cook says Apple's next CEO John Ternus has one decision to make that's the most important of them all

Tech giant boss Tim Cook has revealed the one thing he believes matters most for Apple’s next CEO John Ternus, and it’s not designing the next iPhone or launching a futuristic gadget.

As Cook prepares to step down later this year after more than a decade leading Apple, he shared some surprisingly simple advice for the man taking over.

According to Cook, the biggest decision Ternus will make is actually about time.

And for a company worth trillions of dollars, the advice sounds very bare bones, but totally necessary.

Tim Cook’s advice for next Apple CEO John Ternus

Tim Cook made the comments during the tech giant’s most recent earnings call, where investors got their first proper introduction to Ternus as the company’s future CEO.

The longtime Apple executive will officially replace Tim Cook later this year after spending decades working at the tech giant.

When asked what advice he would give his successor, Cook didn’t mention artificial intelligence, foldable iPhones, or competition from rivals like Google and Meta.

Instead, he said the most important decision Ternus will make is ‘where he spends his time’.

Fortune reports Cook said: “My advice is that one of the most important decisions he’ll make is where to spend his time. And I would spend it where the greatest benefit to the company and the users are.

“And never forget the north star for the company: We’re about making the best products in the world that really enrich other people’s lives.

“If you keep focusing on that and make your decisions around that, it will produce a great business and we’ll be able to build more products and do it all over again.”

That mindset has helped Apple become one of the most valuable companies in the world during Cook’s leadership era.

Apple’s next CEO has already played a major role

Ternus might not yet be a household name, but he’s been deeply involved in some of Apple’s biggest hardware successes.

He played a major role in Apple’s shift away from Intel processors and toward Apple Silicon chips, which transformed the performance of Mac computers.

He has also overseen hardware engineering for products including the iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Apple Watch.

During the earnings call, Ternus praised Cook’s leadership style and hinted that Apple has a huge lineup of future products still to come.

The pressure on him will still be enormous though, because Apple is facing growing questions about its AI strategy as competitors continue pushing aggressively into AI-powered products and tools.

But if Cook’s advice is anything to go by, Ternus might not need to reinvent Apple overnight; he may just need to focus on spending his time in the right places.