Bill Campbell helped to build some of Silicon Valley’s greatest companies including Google, Apple and Intuit. It is written by the former CEO of Google, along with a couple of other Silicon Valley powerhouse leaders who were coached by Bill. Bill’s principles for coaching leaders and teams are brilliantly compiled in this book. It captures how Bill developed trusting relationships, fostered personal growth, infused courage, emphasized operational excellence and identified simmering tension that inevitably arise in fast moving environments. This book is a blueprint for forward thinking business leaders and managers that will help them to create higher-performing and faster-moving teams and companies

1. Trillion Dollar Coach: Takeaways
Bhavesh Shukla

2. Overview
1. How I ended up reading this book?
2. What it’s about? Who has written it?
3. Key lessons for all of us
4. Conclusion

3. Gist: What’s it’s about?
• Bill Campbell: Head football
coach at Columbia who went
on to become the coach of top
Silicon Valley CEOs (including
Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt,
Sunder Pichai and others)
• Corporate: VP of Sales at Apple
and also CEO on Intuit
• Trillion dollars: He is credited to
build Apple and Google and
numerous other
companies…overall…created
value of over trillion dollars

4. Written By
Eric Schmidt
Former CEO of Google and current Executive Chairman

5. Key Lessons

6. Your Title Makes You a Manager.
Your People Make You a Leader.

7. Bill’s Own Transformation
• As CEO of Claris, he thought his
job was to tell everyone what to
do
• Enter Donna Dubinsky who told
him:
– No one wanted to work for a dictator.
“Bill, your title makes you a manager;
your people make you a leader.”

8. It’s the People
• Aug. 2008: Gawker published an
article “The 10 Most Terrible
Tyrants of Tech.”
• Google’s Jonathan Rosenberg also
featured and he felt proud of
being featured
• Bill’s advice to Jonathan: “Not
something to be proud of. What if
I send this to your mother? What
would she think?”

9. Start with Trip Reports
• Eric asked in his weekly meetings:
What did you do over the
weekend?
• Two objectives
– Team members got to know each
other as a human being
– Got everyone involved in the meeting
in a fun way

10. Breaking Ties
• How Eric had hard time solving a
conflict even after applying the rule
of two
• Bill’s advice: Tell them…either you
break the tie or I will
• Bill’s wisdom: Manager’s job is to run
a decision-making process that
ensures all perspectives get heard
and considered, and if necessary…to
break ties and make the decision

11. Lesson for Us
• Earn the title of leader…only your
people can give it
• Behave as if you mother is
watching you
• Start meeting with trip reports
• Source for the best ideas, but
when required, step in and break
the ties

12. Team First

13. Team First
• Bill’s guiding principle: team is
paramount. Most important thing
he looked for and expected in a
people was “team-first attitude”.
• How he persuaded Eric Schmidt to
not step down when Eric wanted
to leave Google in 2004 after
being told to step down from
Chairmanship

14. Team First, Solution Second
• Work the team, then the problem
• Instead of first worrying about:
– What is the situation?
– What are the issues?
– What are the options?
• Pay attention to:
– Who is working on the problem?
– Is the right team in place?
– Do they have what they need to
succeed?

15. Pick Right Players
• Bill looked for four characteristics:
Smartness, working hard attitude,
integrity and grit.
• He looked for commitment…to the
cause and not just to own success
• He taught Sundar Pichai to:
– Spot the people who give up something
for the sake of their team’s objective
– Look for people who cheer for other’s
success

16. Solve the Biggest Problem
• How Bill trained Shona Brown at
Google to tackle the hardest
problem first
• How he handled the simmering
tensions between two product
leaders at Google with each
claiming the products belonged to
their group

17. Lessons for Us
• Most important attitude: team-
first attitude
• In any problem-solving situation,
pay attention to the team first
• Pick right players
• Let the elephant in the room be
on the table

18. Power of Love

19. Love
• Love is a word you don’t hear a lot
in business settings.
• Bill didn’t separate the human and
working selves…he treated
everyone as a person:
professional, personal, family,
emotions…
• How he changed Sundar Pichai’s
perspective

20. How Bill Cared
• When Steve Jobs was ill, Bill visited him
nearly every day
• “Bill showed me that when you have a
friend who is injured or ill or needs you
in some way, you drop everything and
just go.”
– Phil Schiller, Head of Marketing, Apple

21. How Bill Encouraged
• How Bill Clapped for Phil Schiller when
he presented new products in front of
Steve Jobs and Al Gore
• “Bill would clap and cheer, give double
fist pumps, he would get so excited.
That’s one of the greatest things I
learned from Bill. Don’t just sit your
butt in the seat. Get up and support
your teams, show the love for the work
they are doing.”
– Phil Schiller, Head of Marketing, Apple

22. Lesson for Us
• Let’s treat each other a whole person
(human first, professional second)
• Show your care for people by
– Knowing their names
– Knowing their families
– Showing up when colleagues are in trouble
– Cheer them up…like a football coach would
do for his team

23. Three Things I have Tried to Implement
• Bill’s frame work for 1:1 review
• Let the Elephant in room on the table
• Pick the right players who has a
willingness to work hard, integrity, grit,
empathy, and a team-first attitude.

24. Discussion

25. Thank you!