This Surprising Trait Can Get You Fired at Apple

2 minute read

There’s one thing that will make or break you at Apple: cultural fit.

In an exclusive interview with Fortune published Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook says that it took him some time to learn the importance of cultural fit after he fired John Browett in 2013 just one month after the European electronics exec had been appointed Apple’s head of retail.

Browett, according to Apple execs, didn’t fit in at Apple, and frequently angered store employees by changing their schedules. After being fired from Apple, Browett said in a speech that he was shocked that he was let go due to not fitting in with company culture, even though he was qualified for the position.

As Cook explained to Fortune, it’s all about people skills:

That was a reminder to me of the critical importance of cultural fit, and that it takes some time to learn that. [As CEO], you’re engaged in so many things that each particular thing gets a little less attention. You need to be able to operate on shorter cycles, less data points, less knowledge, less facts. When you’re an engineer, you want to analyze things a lot. But if you believe that the most important data points are people, then you have to make conclusions in relatively short order. Because you want to push the people who are doing great. And you want to either develop the people who are not or, in a worst case, they need to be somewhere else.

Of course, that isn’t the only way to get fired at Apple. Tim Cook hasn’t been afraid to toss even high-ranking employees if they make mistakes. When Apple Maps flopped, for example, Cook fired Scott Forstall, the head of mobile software.

See The 7 Most Important Tech CEOs You Wouldn't Recognize

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Executives Attend IPO Ceremony At The NYSE
Jack Ma, founder of Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, stepped down as that firm's CEO in 2013. But he's still the company's most public face, and after Alibaba's September IPO, China's single richest man.Scott Eells—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Keyspeakers At New Economy Summit 2014
Larry Ellison stunned the tech world in September by announcing he's stepping down as CEO of Oracle, the enterprise software company he co-founded in 1977. Since Oracle doesn't sell products to the public like Apple or Microsoft, Ellison's a little less-known outside Silicon Valley: But he's a hugely important figure, having heavily influenced Steve Jobs and a host of other tech leaders.Tomohiro Ohsumi—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Internet Retailer Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh Interview
Tony Hsieh, CEO of shoe-tailer Zappos.com, is a controversial figure in the world of tech chief officers. He's pouring money into Zappos' corporate home of Las Vegas, Nevada, which is welcome by some locals but spurned by others. Still, Zappos is known for being a very fun and very different place to work, thanks in part to Hsieh setting those qualities up as priorities for the company.Noah Berger—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella just took over the reins at Microsoft earlier this year from now-Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, but he's already making his presence known through sizable layoffs and simultaneous acquisitions. Nadella's Microsoft has let go of nearly 15,000 employees this year — a chunk of whom were made redundant when Microsoft closed an approximately $7.2 billion deal for Nokia's device wing. Also on Microsoft's tab? $2.5 billion for the Swedish gaming company behind top-hit Minecraft.Microsoft/Corbis
Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner speaks during Reuters Technology Summit in San Francisco
Linkedin CEO Jeff Weiner, formerly a longtime Yahoo employee, has grown the "Facebook For Professionals'" user base and revenue exponentially since coming becoming CEO in 2009. He's got quite the fan base, too: His workers, 100% of whom support him as CEO, according to Glassdoor.Robert Galbrath—Reuters/Corbis
EBay President John Donahoe & PayPal President David Marcus Interviews
John Donahoe has been president and CEO of eBay since 2008. He's now guiding the company in a time of deep uncertainty: In early 2014, eBay settled a nasty public feud with activist investor Carl Icahn, who wants eBay to spin off payment service PayPal as an independent business — and Icahn isn't the only one who thinks that's a good idea.Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Microsoft Holds Press Briefing On New XBox 360 Ahead Of E3 Expo
Don Mattrick became CEO of Zynga, the social gaming company that brought us FarmVille, in 2013, coming over from Microsoft. He's been tasked with leading Zynga through a tumultuous period — the now publicly-traded company hasn't been able to replicate its FarmVille success, leaving many to wonder about the company's future.Michal Czerwonka—Getty Images

Read the rest of Fortune’s profile of Tim Cook here.

Read next: Apple CEO Tim Cook Lashed Out Against Google and Facebook

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com