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). SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1dSzTkW About Tim Ferriss: Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 300 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running. Connect with Tim Ferriss: Sign up for "5-Bullet Friday" (Tim's email newsletter): https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/ Visit the Tim Ferriss PODCAST: https://tim.blog/podcast/ Visit the Tim Ferriss BLOG: https://tim.blog/ Follow Tim Ferriss on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tferriss/ Follow Tim Ferriss on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/timferriss/ Like Tim Ferriss on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ [00:00] Start From architecture to electrical engineering [08:41] The world of electronics, then and now [10:30] Sun Microsystems and mentors [12:53] Developing clear communication [15:04] The executive arts [16:36] Uncharted territory [19:05] Venture capitalist John Doerr and how small Silicon Valley is [21:17] Eric’s 30-second history of Silicon Valley [27:07] On replicating Silicon Valley [27:42] John Doerr’s role in introducing Eric to Google [29:59] Eric's interview with Larry Page and Sergey Brin sparks an argument about proxy caches [31:12] Atypical founders [33:58] The potential leader [34:46] “Adult supervision” and the brilliant chaos of early Google [35:37] Sergey’s 70-20-10 model [38:58] What a growing company should focus on [41:08] Eric's most important job as a CEO [42:50] Google’s weekly meeting schedule [44:24] Bill Campbell, Trillion Dollar Coach [48:08] What made Bill such an exceptionally gifted coach? [51:30] Bill’s opinions about starting and running meetings [52:15] The key difference between a coach and a manager [53:40] Motivating principles vs. feel-good cliches [54:10] When decision-makers don’t see eye-to-eye [55:51] From chairman to not chairman to chairman again [57:14] Eric's first meeting with Bill [58:55] An example of how Bill moved when charged to execute a task [1:00:48] How does one person successfully lead 100? [1:01:52] The words on Bill Campbell's whiteboard [1:03:56] How Bill simultaneously helped Google and Apple [1:05:48] Bill’s secret for sniffing out BS [1:09:07] “I don’t take cash, I don’t take stock, and I don’t take shit.” [1:11:04] How Bill fired people [1:13:04] How Bill became part of “the fabric” at Google and Apple [1:14:23] How Bill course-corrected Eric [1:16:36] Bill’s workplace and weekday rituals [1:17:28] Eric's typical morning routine [1:18:35] How to find a coach [1:21:00] Intermittent fasting [1:22:25] What book does Eric gift the most? [1:24:27] Favorite failures or challenges [1:28:08] Jet training as a way to prompt leadership-level decisions [1:29:20] Exposure to the arts to develop one's intuition in a way that’s useful toward making analytical business decisions [1:31:28] What would Bill Campbell have considered “success”? [1:34:05] What would Eric’s billboard say? [1:35:24] Parting thoughts [1:38:41]