AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
The Tim Ferriss Show
#367: Eric Schmidt — Lessons from a Trillion-Dollar Coach
Apr 9, 2019
01:44:02
Episode guests
AI Summary
Highlights
AI Chapters
Episode notes
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
- Bill Campbell focused on precise actions and values, cutting through slogans and marketing phrases for team success.
- He facilitated decision-making by allowing all voices to be heard, fostering a collaborative environment.
- Bill's coaching thrived on relentless honesty, active listening, and aligning individual contributions with company goals.
Deep dives
Bill Campbell's Coaching Style
Bill Campbell's coaching style was characterized by his ability to cut through slogans and marketing phrases, focusing instead on precise actions and values that contributed value to the team. He would listen attentively and predict behaviors, ensuring that individuals felt heard and understood. His structured approach to discussions involved prompts on a whiteboard, discussing themes like revenue, troubled products, executive performance, and ensuring valuable engagement.
Influence on Decision-making and Conflict Resolution
Bill facilitated decision-making and resolved conflicts by allowing all voices to be heard while maintaining the ultimate decision-making authority. He would defer decision-making until all perspectives were considered, coaching individuals to reach collective agreements. His approach prevented hurt egos, fostering a collaborative environment conducive to team success.
Advising C-Suite Executives
Bill's role extended beyond slogans and encompassed a deep understanding of each C-suite member's contribution to the company's value. He adeptly managed relationships, ensuring that executives articulated their value daily and avoided generalizations. By focusing on individual contributions tied to overall objectives, Bill guided executives to align their actions with the company's goals.
Honesty, Listening, and Accountability
Bill Campbell's coaching thrived on relentless honesty, directness, and active listening. He insisted on eliminating any gaps between statements and facts, scrutinizing statements for truthfulness, and cut through evasion. Bill's vast experience helped him detect authenticity, while his undivided attention and ability to spot inconsistencies fostered trust and accountability within the team structure.
The Importance of Giving Back and Working with Principles
The podcast discusses a remarkable individual who refused compensation for his work as a give back to the industry. He exemplified the importance of working with people on principles he cared about without being motivated by financial gain. This individual found happiness and success in coaching and fostering teamwork, valuing personal relationships over monetary incentives.
Effective Coaching Strategies and Decision-Making
Another key point highlighted in the podcast is the effective coaching strategies employed by the individual. He prioritized working with the right people before addressing problems, emphasizing the significance of team dynamics. His approach to firing employees involved quick decisions with high credibility, ensuring support for the transition and future roles. Furthermore, his coaching extended beyond the professional realm, encompassing personal development and commitment to principled leadership.
6.
How Did You End Up at Sun and I Did Anyone in Particular Take You Under Their Wings?
2min
31.
I Don't Take Cash, I Dont Take Stock, and I Don'T Take Shiter Are Interrelated?
2min
39.
Is There Anything on a Billboard That You Would Want Billions of People to Notice?
4min
"You can systematize innovation even if you can't completely predict it." — Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) is Technical Advisor and Board Member to Alphabet Inc., where he advises its leaders on technology, business and policy issues. Eric joined Google in 2001 and helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. He served as Google's Chief Executive Officer from 2001-2011, and Executive Chairman 2011-2018, alongside founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Eric serves on the boards of The Mayo Clinic and The Broad Institute, among others. His philanthropic efforts through The Schmidt Family Foundation focus on climate change, including support of ocean and marine life studies at sea, as well as education, specifically cutting-edge research and technology in the natural sciences and engineering. He is the founder of Schmidt Futures, which works to improve societal outcomes through the development of emerging science and technology.
He is the co-author of The New Digital Age, How Google Works, and the new book, Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell, which he co-authored with fellow Google leaders Jonathan Rosenberg (@jjrosenberg) and Alan Eagle (@aeaglejr).
Click here for the show notes for this episode.
This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn and its job recruitment platform, which offers a smarter system for the hiring process. If you've ever hired anyone (or attempted to), you know finding the right people can be difficult. If you don't have a direct referral from someone you trust, you're left to use job boards that don't offer any real-world networking approach.
LinkedIn, as the world's largest professional network, which is used by more than 70 percent of the US workforce, has a built-in ecosystem that allows you to not only search for employees, but also interact with them, their connections, and their former employers and colleagues in a way that closely mimics real-life communication. Visit LinkedIn.com/Tim and receive a $50 credit toward your first job post!
***
If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!
For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.
Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.
For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.
Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please fill out the form at tim.blog/sponsor.
Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.
Follow Tim:
Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss
Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss
Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss
YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Get the Snipd
podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered
Discover
highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any
moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share
& Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover
highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode