Google has been a leader of Fortune 100 rating nine times. In 2015 it occupied the top position of the rating (Fortune, 2016). One of the most famous CEOs of Google is Eric Schmidt, who followed Larry Page at this position. Mr. Schmidt was the CEO of the company from 2001 to 2011.
Erick Schmidt (born in 1955) was raised in Falls Church and Blacksburg, Virginia. His father was a professor of international economics at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and John Hopkins University, and his mother practiced as a psychologist. Eric Schmidt studied in Yorktown High School (Arlington County, Virginia), and entered the University of Princeton following the graduation. Firstly, he majored in architecture, but then decided to shift to electrical engineering. In 1979 Eric Schmidt graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with an MS. Degree. His final work was dedicated to creating a network called Berknet that provided technical opportunities for linking several computer centers and departments at the University of Berkeley. His Ph.D. study dealt with the problems of developing and managing distributed software (Bloomberg Business, 2016).
In terms of his early career Mr. Schmidt held a number of positions in different IT companies (e.g., Bell Labs, Zilog) and also lectured at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 1983 Mr. Schmidt started to work as a software manager for Sun Microsystems, Inc., a company that specialized in selling computers, their components and also became a founder of the Java language of programming. In 1997 Eric Schmidt started to work as a CEO for Novell, Inc., a U.S. multinational software developer, headquartered in Utah Valley (Bloomberg Business, 2016). In 2001 Laryy Page and Sergey Brin, the cofounders of Google, conducted an interview with Eric Schmidt and hired him as Google CEO. Since 2001 Schmidt shares the responsibility for Google’s daily operations with its cofounders.
Already in 2007 Eric Schmidt was at the top of the rating of the most important people on the Web, elaborated by the magazine PC World. Furthermore, over the period from 2006 to 2009 Mr. Schmidt was a member of Apple board of directors. However, he had to leave this position due to growing competition between Google and Apple, causing a conflict of interests. He also was a part to the Board of Trustees at several universities (including Princeton University). In 2006, Mr.Schmidt and his family launched the Schmidt Family Foundation, specializing in the issues of sustainability and preserving natural resources.
Eric Schmidt is a proponent of distributed empowerment-related leadership approach, broadly used in Google. His lessons of leadership can be formulated as follows. First of all, it is important to get to know employees and let them have the issues they are passionate about and want to solve. To promote these ideas, Google supports communication between employees from different departments, as well as management. Furthermore, Google employees have a right to use 20 percent of their time at work to develop solutions to issues they want to work on themselves. Interestingly, a lot of successful ideas stem from this 20 percent of employees’ time. Schmidt also reveals the need to secure rewards and promotion for the best-perfuming employees. Aiming to attract and retain best employees, Google offers highly competitive salaries, as well as a specific environment that helps employees fully focus on their projects. Furthermore, Eric Schmidt feels negative about hierarchies, similarly to the founders of Google. That is why they promote the functioning of a flat organizational structure, where employees can easily share idea (Manimala et al, 2013).
References
Bloomberg Business (2016). Eric E. Schmidt. Retrieved 19 February 2016 from http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=719894&privcapId=29096
Fortune (2016). Google. Retrieved 19 February 2016 from http://fortune.com/best-companies/google-1/
Manimala, M., Wasdani, K., (2013). Distributed leadership at Google: lessons from the billion-dollar brand. Retrieved 19 February 2016 from http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/distributed-leadership-at-google-lessons-from-the-billion-dollar-brand/
