Watch Apple CEO Tim Cook talk leadership, social issues at 'CEO Initiative' series

Announced late in the day, Cook's appearance will be live streamed via the magazine's website at 6:05 p.m. Pacific.

What, exactly, Cook and Lashinsky will discuss onstage tonight is unknown, but the event covers the topic of "companies doing well by doing good." Ostensibly, Cook intends to laud Apple's extracurriculars, which include a wide range of social and environmental initiatives.

Cook's public appearances almost always include some reference to social advocacy. The executive has long heralded equality and diversity as important to every modern society, and consistently pushes that message in interviews, public statements and media events. Apple attempts to meet the high standards Cook touts with its corporate structure, though disclosures reveal there is much work to be done when it comes to diversity in the company's upper echelons

Human rights concerns are another topic of interest for Cook, who has received multiple awards for his efforts toward equality, both in and out of the workplace. Under his tenure, Apple has become a leading supporter of LGBT issues and non-discrimination policy.

More recently, Apple's aspirational social programs have conflicted with its business operations.

Last year, Apple came under fire for removing certain VPN apps from the iOS App Store in China to remain in line with that country's laws. Some decried the move as a step toward denying free speech.

Earlier this year, Apple once again found itself in the crosshairs of among human rights activists when it moved iCloud account keys to Chinese servers. Again, Apple was obeying Chinese law, but critics said the migration could be dangerous for users branded as political dissidents, whose communications and personal information might soon be open to surveillance.