Books Recommended by Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt is an American businessman, software engineer and author. He’s known for his work at Google: Eric joined the company as CEO from 2001 to 2011, until 2015 he was the Executive Chairman, and until 2017 he was the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc (after Google’s corporate restructure).
Eric studied at Princeton University, majoring in Architecture, and later switched to electrical engineering, earning a B.S. degree in 1976. He earned a M.S. degree from the University of California, Berkeley for designing and implementing a network, and a Ph.D. with a dissertation about the problems of managing distributed software development and tools for solving these problems.
Schmidt held various technical positions with IT companies, including Bell Labs and Palo Alto Research Center. He joined Sun Microsystems in 1983 as its first software manager and rose to become director of software engineering, VP and general manager of the software products division, VP of the general systems group, and President of Sun Technology Enterprises.
In 1997, Schmidt became the CEO and chairman of the board of Novell, during a period of decline. He departed in 2001, after the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners.
That same year, he was interviewed by Google’s CEOs Larry Page and Sergey Brin, but also by Bill Campbell, who was their coach. Schmidt ran the company under the guidance of VCs John Doerr and Michael Moritz.
Schmidt held various leadership positions in the company until December 2017, when he transitioned to a technical advisor role, and continues to serve on the company’s board.
He was also part of Apple’s board of directors, a position he held between 2006 and 2009.
Eric is the co-author of three books that are mandatory reading in Silicon Valley:
1. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business (2013): about the geopolitical implications of increasingly widespread internet use and access to information.
2. How Google Works (2014): a collection of business management lessons learned while leading Google.
3. Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell – his most recent book, released in spring of 2019, with leadership lessons learned from Bill Campbell, a former college football player and coach who mentored some of the most successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, such as Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Sundar Pichai, Sheryl Sandberg, and played an instrumental role in their companies.
