Apple CEO Tim Cook shares his No. 1 strategy for clearing his head: ‘It’s better than any other thing you could possibly do’
By | Ashton Jackson | www.cnbc.com
If you’re looking for a way to clear your head, just take a step outside.
At least, that’s what Apple CEO Tim Cook does. The 62-year-old manages one of the world’s largest tech companies, with a rabid fanbase and $2.62 trillion market cap, creating a wide scope of pressures and responsibilities. Getting out into nature eases those tensions and helps Cook mentally reset, he told GQ on Monday.
It’s a “palate cleanser for the mind,” Cook said. “It’s better than any other thing you can possibly do.”
Cook, a native of Mobile, Alabama, has spent the past 20-plus years based in Silicon Valley — where activities like hiking and kayaking can feel overshadowed by glitzy tech startup campuses. But his previous stops in North Carolina and Colorado prompted his infatuation with the outdoors, he said.
“The outdoors were always accessible there, other than some infrequent snowstorm or something,” Cook said. “I always think about hiking and the things that really settle my mind when I’m here [at work].”
Getting outside the Bay Area’s tech bubble helps, he added: “You can hike so many different places [in California]. It’s almost a sin not to go out and enjoy it.”
