Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once said that a lesson from his father about motivation shaped his leadership style and helped define his decades-long career.
A Leadership Lesson That Stuck
Speaking in a 2018 interview with renowned economist Tyler Cowen, Schmidt described himself as a “systemic thinker” who focuses on how people behave inside organizations.
When asked about his “greatest talent in business,” Schmidt traced it back to advice he received at home.
“My father taught me that the best way to get people to do stuff is to have it be their idea,” Schmidt said. “If you can find a way that your idea is also their idea, then you can go back to working on the people whose idea you don’t agree with.”
Why Great Managers Barely Have To Manage
Schmidt said the ideal leader creates conditions where teams are largely self-directed. In that model, managers spend less time issuing orders and more time aligning incentives and purpose.
“The ideal manager doesn’t ever have to do anything because all the people who they work with are self-functioning,” he said.
Adding that while the concept is aspirational, leaders who fail to motivate people aren’t “really giving them an opportunity to be successful.”
Eric Schmidt’s Career Journey
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1955, Schmidt studied at Princeton University before earning a doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
He rose through the ranks at Sun Microsystems, later became CEO of Novell and joined Google in 2001 after being recruited by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Schmidt served as Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011 before becoming executive chairman. Google went public in 2004.
After Alphabet was formed in 2015, he assumed the same role at the parent company and later transitioned to a technology adviser position in 2017.
Active in public policy, Schmidt also served on President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Schmidt currently has a net worth of $56.2 billion.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com
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