The Power of 20% Time

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Many initiatives in the company have come out of 20% time ideas. It allows reasonable employees to defy unreasonable managers. This institutionalized defiance can help balance the power and keep high performing employees engaged during challenging times. So if an employee is under pressure, the manager says, you've got to work harder,. You've got to give me everything you have. And that simple principle, which never really happens in practice, but it's understood, empowers the employee with both dignity, but also choices.

Google doesn’t tell its employees how to innovate; it manages their inventive chaos. Their secret? Mix free-flowing ideas with disciplined decision-making.

In this week's All-Star Episode, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt shares his strategies to manage chaos. CEO of Google from 2001-2015, and now the co-founder of Schmidt Futures, Schmidt reveals the hidden secret in Google’s famous “20% time” policy, their approach to hiring smart creatives, and the parallels between leading Google and piloting small airplanes. Plus, the decision he made to support a crazy idea that he was certain would bankrupt the company.

"All-Star Episodes" are part of a special series designed to center some of the most timely — and timeless — business wisdom in the Masters of Scale feed. These episodes best encapsulate the kind of transformative, unconventional insights you hear in the series. Have an idea for an All-Star Episode from our library? Let us know at hello@mastersofscale.com.

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