Fortune ranks Tim Cook 33rd in list of world’s top 50 greatest leaders

Tim Cook holds iPad (with Katie Cotton, Jacqui Cheng)

Although a number of pundits pushing the popular ‘Apple is doomed‘ narrative these days might disagree with me, I think Tim Cook has done a solid job at Apple thus far. Sure, its stock is currently way down from its peak, but the company is still turning a large profit.

And if you don’t believe me, checkout Fortune’s new list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders. Ranked at #33, Cook is one of only two leaders from Silicon Valley to make the list, which includes the likes of Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama. The other is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos…

Here’s Fortune’s blurb on why Tim Cook came in at #33:

“Following Steve Jobs has arguably been the toughest corporate leadership assignment in decades, yet Cook has carried it off with mostly quiet aplomb. In 2½ years he has kept the parade of winning new products marching (the Retina display, new operating systems, the iPhone 5), and he is bringing in Burberry’s savior, Angela Ahrendts, to run Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) retail stores. That’s thinking different.”

Cook has been described by Apple employees as ‘a machine,’ waking up at 5:00 am every morning and going to the gym before taking on a long day’s work. He’s also been called ‘riveting’—able to strike terror in the hearts of his subordinates with a brief glance or pause.

You can see Fortune’s entire Top 50 list here. Unsurprisingly, Pope Francis took first place, with Germany chancellor Angela Merkel, Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Berkshire Hathaway’sWarren Buffet and Bill Clinton (for his humanitarian efforts) rounding out the top 5.