1min snip

How to be more innovative | Sam Schillace (Microsoft deputy CTO, creator of Google Docs)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

notes

NOTE

Finding Career Success by Embracing Your Natural Strengths

Success in one's career comes from embracing one's natural strengths and doing them with intensity to create impact. Identifying and focusing on what one is good at is crucial, as people tend to undervalue things that come easy to them. Many individuals gravitate towards unpleasant tasks, believing it to be the path to success, but the real key is to do what brings pleasure and guilt and do it to the best of one's ability. Work doesn't always have to be hard, but should involve doing what one loves with intensity and commitment.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Sam Schillace is deputy CTO and corporate vice president at Microsoft. Prior to working at Microsoft, Sam started a company called Writely, which was acquired by Google and became the foundation of what today is Google Docs. While at Google, Sam helped lead many of Google’s consumer products, including Gmail, Blogger, PageCreator, Picasa, Reader, Groups, and more recently Maps and Google Automotive Services. Sam was also a principal investor at Google Ventures, has founded six startups, and was the SVP of engineering at Box through their IPO. In this episode, we discuss:

• The journey of building Google Docs

• The importance of taking risks, embracing failure, and finding joy in your work

• The importance of asking “what if” questions vs. “why not”

• Why convenience always wins

• How, and why, Sam stays optimistic

• Inside Microsoft’s culture

• Why you should solve problems without asking for permission

• Early-career advice

• Why “pixels are free” and “bots are docs”

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-be-more-innovative-sam-schillace

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Where to find Sam Schillace:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schillace/

• Newsletter: https://sundaylettersfromsam.substack.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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