After tiptoeing out of the long shadow of Steve Jobs this past year, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook took a giant leap into the spotlight earlier this month.

In a kind of transparency rarely practiced by his enigmatic predecessor, Cook granted a pair of candid interviews that underscored the difference in both style and substance between the two men.

They also served as the latest sign of how Cook has embraced the Apple motto to “Think Different” as he methodically and quietly reshapes the culture and business of the company he inherited.