By Schmidt, Rosenberg and Eagle
Fortune called him “Silicon Valley’s best-kept secret.” You can call him “Coach.”
The book in a sentence (or two):
What makes a high performing team is a leader who is both savvy manager and caring coach. Bill Campbell modeled both, and in doing so helped “the best” get better. In Trillion Dollar Coach the authors examine both the what and how of Bill’s coaching method: what he told people to do and how he approached his coaching sessions.
About the authors:
Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle all played or play high-level roles for Alphabet (formerly Google). Bill Campbell entered their lives, improved their effectiveness, and perhaps most of all, touched their hearts. Together, these business leaders gives us “the secrets” of Bill's coaching excellence.
Bill Campbell helped to build some of Silicon Valley’s greatest companies -- including Google, Apple, and Intuit -- and to create over a trillion dollars in market value. A former college football player and coach, Bill mentored visionaries such as Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt and coached dozens of leaders on both coasts. When he passed away in 2016, “the Coach” left behind a legacy of growing companies and successful people, and an abundance of respect, friendship, and love. From trilliondollarcoach.com
My quick take on Trillion Dollar Coach:
This is a toolbox for leaders who want to better coach their teams and others. Bill’s candor, love, and frameworks are points to emulate. If you want to understand how much this book has impacted me, just look at the number of podcast episodes I have devoted to it at OnMyWalk.com (more than any other!). Trillion Dollar Coach is helping me clarify where I am doing it right and how I can do it better.
Overview and Analysis:
Trillion Dollar Coach is divided into four sections: (1) Managing the details: A framework for one-on-ones, staff meetings and how to handle difficult people, (2) Building trust, (3) Building teams, (4) Bringing love to the workplace. Here's what I found helpful: In highlighting Bill’s practices, the authors (all very successful leaders) help me to see what a high-performing organization looks like. In other words, this is more than a coaching how and what, it is also a primer on leading and managing your division or company on matters of innovation (66f), compensation (65f), hiring and firing (71f), and more.
In my role as college president, I lead a team of highly qualified individuals--all are exceptional leaders. I direct and I coach. This book is a huge help as I strive to get better at leading and coaching our team and others. I appreciate the way the authors tell us how one person did it; a story that is more principle-based than method-driven. We see the methods and they are very helpful, but it is the person and the principles that come through that makes Trillion Dollar Coach a win for me!
My Takeaways:
1. The importance of coaching: These words come from Adam Grant’s foreword: “I’ve come to believe that coaching might be even more essential than mentoring to our careers and our teams. [Coaches] don’t just believe in our potential; they get in the arena to help us realize our potential. They hold up a mirror so we can see our blind spots and they hold us accountable for working through our sore spots.” xiv
2. Only coach the coachable: Bill looked for coachability: honesty and humility (service to something bigger than yourself), the willingness to persevere and work hard, and a constant openness to learning. 87
3. The one-on-one: Bill believed the most important thing a manager does is to help people to be more effective – and that includes their growth and development. He believed the best way to facilitate that growth is through the 1:1. These meetings require a structure and the time to prep for them. 47
4. The framework: Having a structure for 1:1s is essential. Bill asked for “The Top 5 List,” i.e. the top five things the leader he was coaching wanted to discuss. Bill had his own list prepared, but he wanted to see how the leader was prioritizing his time and effort (46). Bill’s framework included (1) Performance on job requirements (sales figures, product delivery, customer feedback, budget matters, etc); (2) Relationships with peer groups; (3) Management and Leadership: Are you guiding/coaching your people, weeding out the bad ones, able to get your people to do heroic things?; (4) Innovation (Best Practices): Are you constantly moving ahead…thinking about how to get better? Are you evaluating new technologies, products, practices? Who are you measuring yourself against? 51
5. On Managing the aberrant genius: These individuals are the high performing but difficult team members. Tolerate and even protect them as long as their behavior isn’t unethical or abusive and their value outweighs the toll their behavior takes on management, colleagues, and teams.
6. The need for speed: I suspect this hit me hard in that we were in the middle of a “speed to market” process at Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School. Bill’s constant theme was "If you have the right product for the right market at the right time, go as fast as you can. There are minor things that will go wrong and you have to fix them quickly, but speed is essential.” 68
7. Breathe confidence into your people: Bill believed it was the manager’s job to push the team to be courageous. Push them beyond their self-imposed limits. Let them know you believe they can do things, even if they are not sure. People should walk out of your office courageous to try new things. 100f
8. Pick the right players: “The doers in every company are marked by smarts and hearts: The ability to learn fast, a willingness to work hard, integrity, grit, empathy, and a team-first attitude.” I would add: the best players are also proactive. 123
9. The Peer Feedback Survey: Bill stressed the importance of peer relationships. I am glad the authors included his Peer Feedback Survey (see page 126). It stresses the importance of and examines the “how to” of conducting a peer survey.
10. Don’t let the bitch sessions last: This was gold, so I’ll include this longer passage from Trillion Dollar Coach: Apple’s Eddy Cue spoke of how Bill made sure "that problems were aired completely and transparently. And then once that was accomplished, he moved on. . . . [Bill taught me], 'When it gets to the negative, get it out, get to the issues, but don’t let the damn meeting dwell on that. Don’t let the bitch session last for very long.'” 135
11. The power of love: Because it wasn’t about him, and because Bill loved people (and people knew it—he gave hugs to everyone), Bill could cut to the chase, “He had a way of communicating that he loved you. And that gave him license to tell you that you are full of shit and you can do it better . . . It was never about him. Coming from him, it didn’t hurt when he told you the truth.” 158
Words to ponder:
A Coach: “A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.” Tom Landry, as recalled by Jonathan Rosenberg 86
Coaching in the moment: Scott Cook said, “A coach coaches in the moment.” Bill practiced this. His mindset: Don’t wait for a performance review to say what needs to be said. 93
Free-form listening: “Practice free-form listening. Listen to people with your full and undivided attention – don’t think ahead to what you’re going to say next – and ask questions to get to the real issue.” 93
Picking the right players: “Everybody that is managing a function on behalf of the CEO ought to be better at that function than the CEO.” 116
What makes great boards great: "'A virtuous cycle of respect, trust, and candor' is one thing that makes 'great boards great.'" 76
On firing people: "No one ever succeeds at their third chance." Bill Campbell
Conclusion:
I highly recommend Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle. It gets five stars from me for: (1) Proven effectiveness, (2) Readability, (3) Insightful. I am gleaning the insight of a lifetime!! (4) Practicality, and (5) Personal impact. This book is shaping my leadership and coaching. My only knock is what feels at times as the “deification of Bill.” I’m sure he was good, but he’s nobody’s savior. Other than that, Trillion Dollar Coach is a leadership essential!
