Recently, while I was at home in London ahead of the release of my new single Houdini, I had the honour of interviewing Tim Cook – CEO of the world’s biggest company, Apple – for a special surprise bonus podcast episode of Dua Lipa: At Your Service. I must admit, before he arrived, I was pretty nervous. But he instantly put me at ease; his Southern charm (he grew up in Alabama) shining through as he greeted every person in the room. What followed was one of the most interesting conversations I’ve had on the podcast – from the profound effect the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy had on him in the 1960s, to what it’s like to be one of only four openly gay CEOs of a Fortune 500 company – a stat I can’t quite believe is true in 2023.
It struck me how these personal experiences have influenced Tim Cook’s approach to work; he spoke of his colleagues with love, and how everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, it’s not the usual language we’re used to hearing from the CEOs of huge corporations. It got me thinking about how different the world would be if more people in power operated from a place of love and respect. Tim also shared some inspiring lists (listen to the episode to hear about his favourite hiking spots), revealed his childhood dreams of being in a jazz band (yes, really) and we discovered a shared favourite book in To Kill A Mockingbird. Read more about our fascinating chat on what’s next in AI here, and listen to the episode in full tomorrow, Friday 17 November, wherever you get your podcasts.
Dua x
