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Masters of Scale

Innovation is managed chaos, w/Eric Schmidt of Google/Alphabet

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Startups, Business, Mindset, Management, Bob Safian, Entrepreneurship, Diversity & Inclusion, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Berman

4.64.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 June 2017

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Google has succeeded by innovating again and again. Their secret? They don’t tell their employees how to innovate; they manage the chaos. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google since 2001 and now chair of parent company Alphabet, shares the controversial management techniques he created to lead an environment of free-flowing ideas — and the disciplined decision-making that helps to make a breakthrough idea into a profitable product. He reveals the secret to Google’s former “20% time” policy, their approach to hiring smart creatives, and the parallels between leading Google and piloting small aircraft. Plus, his “roommate” at Google, and the decision he made to support a crazy idea that he was certain would bankrupt the company.

Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/eric-schmidt-innovation-managed-chaos/

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now,

0:07.8

with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed.

0:17.0

We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time.

0:24.7

So search for rapid response in your podcast player and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes.

0:31.2

I'll see you on the other side.

0:33.0

My first office at Google was an 8 by 12 office, just enough room for me in my desk and my little chair,

0:39.0

and one day I walked in and I find I have a roommate.

0:45.0

He said hello and he says hello. I said hi I'm Eric and he goes hi I'm a meet.

0:50.0

That's Eric Schmidt. This story happened on his first day as Google CEO in 2001.

0:56.0

Now as a new person company to company, it's very important to not create a cultural faux-pau.

1:02.0

Like it would be incorrect to say,

1:04.0

I'm the CEO, get the heck out of my office.

1:07.0

I looked at my secretary and said,

1:09.0

did you want anything about this?

1:10.0

She said, no.

1:12.0

And I said, well, who said you could move in?

1:14.0

And he said, the VP of engineering.

1:16.0

And I said, ah, they're playing a joke on me.

1:18.0

And I said, well, why did you move here?

1:20.0

Well, because I was in a six-person office who was very crowded and your office was empty.

1:24.1

So we became colleagues.

1:27.2

So was Amid playing a joke on Eric?

...

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