Tim Cook stepped down as Apple CEO in September, handing over the top job to former hardware chief John Ternus and taking an executive chairman role. Cook’s still a visible representative of the company, having been recently photographed attending a state dinner at the White House. But in an interview with The Independent, Cook says he’s “not meddling” in Ternus’ work.

“First of all, John and I have an incredible level of trust in each other,” Cook said. “The relationship must be based on trust, and the communication must be frequent and significant. But other than that, what I’m focused on right now is worldwide policy. And the interface with governments around the world matters because there are lots of things where we’re trying to advance or advocate for change. There’s a significant amount of work in that, and I’m doing that and helping John in any way he sees fit. I’m not meddling. I’m not a meddler.”

Cook also said he’s told Ternus to “make it your own job. Put your time in the things that you can add the most value to around the company. And that means don’t mimic me. Just like I didn’t mimic Steve. We all have different strengths.” (Ternus told staff that, based on advice from Cook, “I need to spend my time where I can add the most value for Apple,” Bloomberg recently reported.)

In the interview, Cook discussed how he wanted to make the leadership transition to Ternus “the best transition ever, a textbook example that people could look back to and learn from.” The transition “actually started years ago,” according to Cook, and he said that “I think everything has gone sort of exactly the way I had envisioned it.” Ternus introduced the iPhone Duo just days after taking over, and Cook said that he “wanted John to have some wind at his back.”