Duke on Demand

Apple CEO Tim Cook talk about the three things he focuses on each day. Cook spoke as part of his class reunion at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.(www.fuqua.duke.edu)

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APPLE CEO AND FUQUA ALUM TIM COOK TALKS LEADERSHIP AT DUKE

Tim Cook spoke to students and alums when he returned for his 25th reunion



"Explore everything. Push the corners of your mind. Just get on this kind of continual learning roller coaster and see what happens."

This was among the advice Apple CEO Tim Cook shared with students at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business on April 26th. Back on campus for his 25-year reunion, Cook took part in an hour-long dialogue with Fuqua Dean Bill Boulding and the students in a jam-packed Geneen Auditorium buzzing with excitement to hear from the leader of the world's most profitable company.

The Apple CEO has embarked on a career far different than he had envisioned after graduating from Fuqua's Evening Executive MBA program in 1988. "For me the journey was not predictable at all. You have to find your own north star and stay with your north star."

As 450 Daytime MBA students prepared to graduate, Cook advised the students to heed Abraham Lincoln's words of wisdom: "I will prepare and someday my chance will come."

Cook shared the three keys to his leadership at Apple: people, strategy, and execution. "If you get those three right the world is a great place."

Students were able to get a unique glimpse into Cook's motivation, inspiration and leadership role models. Raised in the south and a witness to racial injustice, Cook described his admiration for Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Junior's bravery in risking their lives to fight for what they believed in. He has just three photos in his office: two of Kennedy and one of King.

Cook was asked when to follow strict principles of business theory and when to break the rules. His response stressed the importance of risks and learning from failure. "You should rarely follow the rules. What Fuqua teaches you so well is how to learn and how to collaborate. Write your own rules."

This message resonated with first-year MBA student Shelby Hall. "I know this follows Steve Jobs' belief that Apple creates products which consumers didn't ever know existed," she said. "It was interesting to hear Tim Cook's perspective on how we should balance writing our own rules while applying the foundations of business taught here at Fuqua."

Cook also spoke about some of his recollections from Fuqua. "The people made it an incredible experience. It was great for me to see how bright people approached solutions in different ways."

First-year MBA student Juan Danzilo says Cook's willingness to share his experiences shows a deep commitment to Fuqua. "Tim Cook's presence reflects Fuqua's sense of community. His humility and eloquence is admirable. It certainly was a unique opportunity for MBA students to hear from such an inspirational leader."

filmed and edited by Wolfgang Hastert
"How to Build a Forest," an interactive performance-art installation created by Obie Award-winning duo PearlDamour and visual artist Shawn Hall, was presented October 19-21, 2012 at Duke University's Page Auditorium.

James R. Urbaniak, MD'62, HS'62-'69, was honored on Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 with the 2012 William G. Anlyan, MD, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Duke Medical Alumni Association. Dr. Urbaniak is the retired chair of the Duke Division of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Robert L. Goldenberg, MD'68,, was honored on Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 with a 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Duke Medical Alumni Association. Dr. Goldenberg is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University..

Mark F. Newman MD, HS'88-'89, was honored on Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 with a 2012 Distinguished Faculty Award from the Duke Medical Alumni Association. Dr. Newman is chair of the Duke Department of Anesthesiology.

Edward G. Buckley, E'72, MD'77, HS'77-'81, was honored on Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 with a 2012 Distinguished Faculty Award from the Duke Medical Alumni Association. Dr. Buckley is a professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics, and vice dean of medical education.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Robert J. Lefkowitz MD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who has spent his entire 39-year research career at the Duke University Medical Center, is sharing the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Brian K. Kobilka of Stanford University School of Medicine, who was a post-doctoral fellow in Lefkowitz's lab in the 1980s. They are being recognized for their work on a class of cell surface receptors that have become the target of prescription drugs, including antihistamines, ulcer drugs and beta blockers to relieve hypertension, angina and coronary disease. The receptors catch chemical signals from the outside and transmit their messages into the cell, providing the cell with information about changes occurring within the body. These particular receptors are called seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors, or just "G-coupled receptors" for short. Serpentine in appearance, G-coupled receptors weave through the surface of the cell seven times. The human genome contains code to make at least 1,000 different forms of these trans-membrane receptors, all of which are quite similar. The receptors also bear a strong resemblance to receptors that detect light in the eyes, smells in the nose and taste on the tongue. "Bob's seminal discoveries related to G-protein coupled receptors ultimately became the basis for a great many medications that are in use today across many disease areas," said Victor J. Dzau, MD, Chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO, Duke University Health System. "He is an outstanding example of a physician-scientist whose impact can be seen in the lives of the countless patients who have benefited from his scientific discoveries. We are very proud of his magnificent achievements and grateful for his many contributions to Duke Medicine." "We are thrilled that the Nobel Committee has recognized Bob's incredible body of work, and very proud that he has been on our faculty for his entire career," said Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, Dean, Duke University School of Medicine. "Bob is not just an extraordinary scientist but also a remarkable mentor; he has had a profound influence on the careers of more than 200 students and postdoctoral fellows." In addition to being one of the longest-serving Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators in history (36 years), Lefkowitz is famous on the Duke campus for the attention he gives to mentoring his students. His lab has produced more than 200 graduate students and post-docs, including R. Sanders "Sandy" Williams, who later became his dean at Duke, and several researchers who went on to become HHMI investigators themselves. Lefkowitz is a professor of biochemistry, immunology and medicine, and also a basic research cardiologist in the Duke Heart Center. Among his students was Brian Kobilka, with whom he is sharing the Nobel Prize. Kobilka was a post-doctoral fellow in cardiology at Duke from 1984 to 1989 and part of Lefkowitz's lab. He joined the faculty of medicine and molecular and cellular physiology at Stanford in 1990. They will receive the Nobel Prize in Stockholm at a Dec. 10 ceremony.

Faculty, staff and senior leadership all rolled up their sleaves on September 19th to take part in Duke Medicine's second flu vaccine blitz.

The ambitious effort to give flu shots to thousands of health workers in a single day expanded beyond Duke University Health System this year to include 10 hospitals, clinics and health departments across two N.C. counties.

The goal is to provide flu vaccines to as many as 10,000 health care workers in a 24-hour period.

The flu vaccine blitz will also serve as a drill to test the hospitals' and clinics' abilities to handle a mass vaccination effort in the face of a disease outbreak.

Duke launched the blitz last year, vaccinating more than 8,000 health system workers in one day throughout Duke University Hospital, Durham Regional and Duke Raleigh hospitals, plus affiliated community and primary care practices throughout the Triangle.

The effort was instrumental in the hospital system achieving a better than 80 percent vaccination rate among staff during last year's flu season. Duke also used the effort as an emergency exercise modeling a pandemic outbreak.

This year, the flu vaccine blitz has spread to other community partners and health centers. Health departments in Durham and Wake counties will be participating, along with other hospitals and community clinics.

The campaign organizers emphasize that health workers should be among the first to receive vaccines to keep patients from getting sick.

Flu is an avoidable and often dangerous illness, causing greatest risk to the very young and old, pregnant women, and people who have chronic illnesses such as asthma.

Duke doctors urge everyone in the community who is eligible should get a flu shot this season.