[lapcat]

> Apple's CEO, COO and "head of services" all have degrees from Duke University

Why do you mention this? Duke awards thousands of degrees every year. It's a highly ranked university, but the number of people in the world with degrees from highly ranked universities is massive. It's not rare.

[ohyoutravel]

The chances of the top three (four?) executives at any given giant multinational company all holding degrees from the same institution is pretty small. I don’t think there is an intent to malign Duke, but it is noteworthy.

[lapcat]

> The chances of the top three (four?) executives at any given giant multinational company all holding degrees from the same institution is pretty small.

Not really. Colleges are social networks. Alumni favor each other. Facebook and Google were both founded at colleges.

> I don’t think there is an intent to malign Duke

I read it the opposite way, as attempting to say that having degrees from Duke somehow makes Apple leadership uniquely capable: "all have degrees from Duke University and 30 year careers in supply chain management".

> but it is noteworthy.

It's some interesting trivia. But it's not clear why it's noteworthy in the context of the discussion of secrecy at Apple.

Tim Cook got an MBA at Duke, Jeff Williams got an MBA at Duke. Tim Cook was at IBM, Jeff Williams was at IBM. Tim Cook joined Apple in operations, Jeff Williams joined Apple in operations. Do you think those are all just random chance coincidences?