Trillion Dollar Coach – Book Summary
If you’re looking for a leadership playbook to elevate your business, look no further than Trillion Dollar Coach. In this book, authors Alan Eagle, Eric Schmidt, and Jonathan Rosenberg share the lessons they learned from working with and being coached by the man who managed to remain a secret yet impacted many top companies today; Bill Campbell.
Why Read This Book
Trillion Dollar Coach teaches you how to be a better leader at work by sharing the lessons of Bill Campbell, a businessman who helped create multi-billion-dollar companies in Silicon Valley.
You’ll learn:
- How to set ambitious goals that will stretch your team and make them grow
- How to take tough decisions without overthinking
- How to give valuable and constructive feedback to your team members
- Learn from the experiences of Google co-founder and former CEO Larry Page.
- How to build a successful startup
Who’s Trillion Dollar Coach for?
This book is ideal for any business leader who wants to reach higher heights with their company. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO, a manager, or an entrepreneur; you’ll find valuable advice in this book.
Who is the Trillion Dollar Coach?
Bill Campbell’s eulogy by some of his students was an intriguing read about a business executive and mentor who, along with other tech luminaries like Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt, played an essential role in their success. Bill was a private man and died in 2016, but his life impacted many people. Especially his mentees, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, with whom he served as a leader and coach, shaped them into who they are today.
Interestingly, Bill didn’t take any cash, stock, or profit in ways you would expect from his work. I didn’t know people like Bill existed till I read this book. This book was full of value bombs.
Silicon Valley is often associated with brilliant university dropouts who made the world-changing innovations from their garages before their thirties. But innovation in Silicon Valley isn’t for young people alone.
Bill Campbell, was born in 1940 in Pennsylvania and was already in his 40s before becoming one of Silicon Valley’s most influential tech names. His dad was a physical educator and a local steel mill worker. Bill Campbell was a smart, ambitious student who set out to make a career in his youth. He started writing op-eds for his school newspaper as a teenager to remind his peers about the importance of good grades and warn them against “loafing” (= avoiding activity, especially work).
Summary & Key Insights:
Trillion Dollar Coach studies the life, principles, values, and stories of Bill Campbell. It was published after Bill’s death in 2016 and focused on his methods for building company culture and effective leadership. Bill was dynamic, energetic, outgoing, and successful at building people, companies, and teams.
Managers are Leaders
Good management is critical for authentic leadership. It’s about bringing people together and helping them succeed. Good managers shouldn’t be dictators. They don’t go about commanding their employees here and there.
Good managers value everybody and consider their opinions important. Your people will determine whether you are a great leader or not. They will praise and admire you as their leader if they see you as a great manager.
Great managers understand that employees are the backbone of any company’s success. They’re more interested in helping people develop and grow in their jobs. They are responsible for building the right team and kindling their passion. They must also create an environment that respects, trusts, supports, and encourages them.
A Trillion Dollar Coach Supports People
Support here means equipping people with the tools, training, and resources they need to succeed. A good manager continues to develop their employees’ skills for them to excel.
Treat everyone as an individual, understand their career objectives, and respect their choices. Managers need to find a way to align their employees’ career goals with the company’s.
Trust gives people freedom to do their jobs and make decisions. It is about letting people know that you believe in them and what they are capable of doing. A great manager must be a great coach. He is awake at night thinking of ways to make each staff member better. He truly cares about making the workplace one where everyone can grow and improve daily. The priority of a great manager is the success and well-being of the employees.
People Trust Coaches
Trust can mean a lot of things. It means being true to your word, maintaining integrity and being honest. Nonetheless, there are a few ways to gain people’s confidence. Managers must be honest about their employees’ abilities, diligence, and ability to deliver on their promises. It is crucial to successful relationships. Trust fosters psychological safety, and excellent teams need it to thrive, so build trust within your community.
Google’s best performing teams are confident in taking risks because they know they have their manager’s backing. That’s what psychological safety looks like. If everyone is clear about their goals and understands their role, they will work together to achieve the company’s goals.
Bill believes that managers must master building safety and clarity. To succeed, organizations must act as communities. Each team member must have their interests integrated and be open to others. This will allow them to be obsessed with the best interests of their organization.
A great coach is paramount to building great teams. The best way to develop products and create dominant groups is through coaching. The highest-performing teams have the freedom and resources to make a significant impact. They are the engine that drives very competitive, fast-moving businesses.
Leadership Based On The First Principles
The hard-and-fast truths that form the basis of a company are the first principles for every situation. This is the foundation of the company’s products and services. These principles should guide all decision-making.
Because they are responsible for creating new products and services, the product team is at the company’s core. So it pays to trust your people. Their goals will align with your company’s goals if they gain emotional value as well as significant monetary compensation.
Every company’s goal is to make a product vision a reality. All other components serve that product. To be successful, a company must constantly develop innovative products. Attracting creative and genius people is key to creating an environment that allows them to succeed on a large scale. For success, product excellence is critical.
A Trillion Dollar Coach Leaves Feedback Quickly
Managers should not just instruct people but also explain why. A manager must relate well with each team member, as their success is paramount. Make the workplace comfortable for everyone. It’ll lead to higher performances.
These meetings give the whole team a chance to discuss important issues with one another and make critical decisions.
Everyone can speak in team meetings, making them an excellent place for engagement. Everyone meets, brainstorms, and receives directions and feedback. Don’t waste time with input from employees.
Even if you have to give negative feedback, be open and honest. Managers should give negative feedback privately and one-on-one in a caring tone. That’s if you want to have the desired effect with it.
Create Communities Outside the Workplace
We all know that teams perform better when there is a sense of community in the workplace. It doesn’t have to end there, though. You should encourage employees to create communities outside of work. This way, people are even more connected and build a stronger workplace.
It is important to show genuine compassion and care for each member of your team. Be one of their cheerleaders. As much as they’re willing to share with you, try to learn about the lives of your employees outside work. Ask about their kids or partners.
Studies show that employees who are affectionate and care about each other are more productive, show higher employee satisfaction, and exhibit lower absenteeism.
Treat each member of your team as a human. You can get closer to them by removing the barriers between their personal and professional lives. This goes beyond asking their children how they are doing when you pass them in the hall. Go deeper with the conversation by asking them questions about their college plans and offering advice and support where you can.
You need to support them in their biggest times of need, like when they’re ill, injured, or sad. Treating everybody as a friend is an essential pillar of a strong community.
My favorite quote from this book is:
“Leadership is about recognizing greatness in everyone, and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge.”
Conclusion
This book’s most impressive aspect is that Bill Campbell, a mentor to many top entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, including Steve Jobs and Google co-founders, demonstrates that successful companies are built on People, Teams, Trust, and Love. The book teaches us that the key traits of coachability are honesty, humility, perseverance, persistence, diligence, and an eagerness to learn.
