It is often said that high risk leads to high reward. This can drive the perception that stronger financial reward is much more likely if the executive at the helm of a company takes more risks with the business.
However, it is not high risk that brings great reward. Taking the right risks, not high risk, is what drives business success. The right risks build upon the strengths of the business and generally entail taking evolutionary, not revolutionary steps.
This has major implications for Apple, where current CEO Tim Cook is stepping down, though he will still serve as executive chairman, according to the April 22. 2026 Wall Street Journal article “After He Built a Giant, Cook Exits as Company Faces Biggest Hurdle: AI.” The article says that Cook “leaves the company in a potentially precarious position, trailing in artificial intelligence, which is revolutionizing the technology sector while Apple watches from the sidelines.”
In another article on the same date titled “Next Apple CEO Brings Expertise in Hardware, Collaborative Spirit” by Rolfe Winkler, the Wall Street Journal reports that Cook’s replacement as CEO will be John Ternus, who currently heads Apple’s hardware engineering. The article describes Ternus as diplomatic. However, the article also says, “What he isn’t known for is taking big, risky swings say people familiar with Ternus’s tenure, leaving open the question of whether he can provide the product vision that company critics said has been absent since Jobs died.” The article points out that Apple “must remake itself in the age of artificial intelligence.” The article also mentions that Apple redesigned the chips used in its computers so they can run faster, which can be beneficial for doing AI.
Nonetheless, still another article in that same issue of the Wall Street Journal takes a more optimistic view of Ternus’s newly announced top leadership role. As the article “What a New Apple CEO Means for You” by Nicole Nguyen explains, “The generative AI revolution has transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, yet Apple has been slower on the uptake.” The article goes on to say, “Ternus has an opportunity to take a lead where others haven’t: private on-device AI.” The article points out that Apple has made improvements in chip design, saying, “This architecture makes Macs an ideal host for running AI’s large language models locally.”
While it is beyond the scope of this blog post to predict how well Apple will do under Tenrus’s leadership, Apple does seem to be taking steps in the right direction. If Apple continues to move slowly forward, building on its strengths, its outlook can be quite favorable. But, Apple must be careful to avoid the trap of moving too fast too soon in an attempt to catch up in the AI arena. Instead, it should take evolutionary steps that build on its strengths. Since Apple has hardware strengths, this may be especially doable under its new leader who has a hardware background. Building on those hardware strengths may be exactly what Apple needs to do. However, this does not mean Apple should take big risks. It means Apple needs to build upon what it is good at doing.
