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Apple CEO Tim Cook.
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Since Tim Cook became the CEO of Apple in August of 2011, shares have soared 1,022% amid surging iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch sales.

The extraordinary gains come after investors were initially skeptical of Cook's leadership role as chief executive of Apple. Shares initially sold off about 5% immediately after Cook was announced to replace Steve Jobs as CEO. But the stock recovered, from $13.34 when Cook took over, to $149.71 as of Monday's close.

Expectations were incredibly high for Cook, but he has more than surpassed them as Apple added more than $2 trillion in market value. Apple was worth $349 billion when Cook took over, and is today worth $2.45 trillion.

Under the leadership of Cook, Apple introduced new product categories like the Apple Watch and its services offering, which now covers TV, fitness and mobile video game subscriptions. Cook also oversaw countless iterations of new iPhone, iPad, and Mac models.

Those products helped Apple's revenue nearly triple to $274 billion in its fiscal-year 2020, from $108 billion in 2011. Apple is on pace to see more than $300 billion in revenue in its fiscal year 2021, which ends in September.

There could be more new products up Cook's sleeve, as reports have suggested that the company is developing an electric vehicle. And at 60 years young, Cook has signaled that he won't be leaving Apple anytime soon.

Ultimately, investors should be happy with Cook's performance. When reinvesting dividends, Apple generated an annualized return of 32% since Cook took the top job, double the S&P 500's annualized return of 16%.

Tim Cook's leadership at the world's largest company also gave him a platform to effect change on an even larger scale.

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