John Ternus has big shoes to fill at Apple. Luckily, Tim Cook has a playbook for that.

How will John Ternus ever succeed Tim Cook’s legacy at Apple?

- Chip Cutter

John Ternus, the incoming CEO, with Tim Cook, the incumbent.

No one knows that daunting challenge quite like Cook himself.

In his first months in 2011 as Apple’s chief executive, Cook faced endless doubts. How, after all, could Apple keep the hit products coming without its visionary founder, Steve Jobs? Jobs loomed so large over Apple that one staffer owned a car with the vanity plate “WWSJD”: What Would Steve Jobs Do?

Cook found a way to step out of Jobs’ shadow by leaning in to his strengths as an operations guru and collaborator. He also made a series of moves early on that set the company on a new, even higher-performing course.

Some key strategies from the Cook playbook for following a business icon:

Make a distinct, crowd-pleasing imprint

One of the first signs Cook planned to operate differently came in 2012: Apple announced it would use some of its significant cash reserves—then $100 billion—to issue a dividend and buy back stock. It was an enormous break from Jobs's philosophy.

Jobs had resisted calls to return cash to shareholders, preferring to use the stockpile to fund research, retail stores and growth. The last time Apple had paid a dividend was 1995, a year before the prodigal founder’s return to the company.

Cook telegraphed the dividend plans at a conference, telling investors that Apple’s board was discussing what to do with the cash. Many interpreted the move as a step toward more transparency with Wall Street.