If you've ever wondered what it's like to be the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook recently sat down for an interview with Table Manners podcast

Plus, his early experience with hard work clearly paid off: After climbing the ranks at IBM for 12 years, Steve Jobs invited him to join Apple in 1998—and the rest is history. Now, he’s one of the highest-paid CEOs in America. Last year, Cook took home $74.6 million.

Among the key management skills he learned from Jobs was the importance of not being married to past beliefs, a competency that Cook says few leaders possess. Jobs welcomed debates, relished being challenged, and valued those who were willing to admit they were wrong when new evidence emerged.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took home $74.6 million last year. But he started out in the world of work with a paper route and then a humble $1.10-an-hour job. It’s hard to recall a time before Tim Cook worked at Apple—after all he joined the company in 1998,