Trillion Dollar Coach
Bill Campbell believed leadership had very little to do with titles or hierarchical positions, but with people. These people are the ones who make a leader when the leader focuses on her/his people.
The legendary coach of Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt helped to build companies that are now worth more than a trillion dollars. He was a football coach for most of his life and got his first job in Silicon Valley with 43 years, where he is one of the most acclaimed figures, despite the constant cursing and kissing to board members. He was also one of the few against the decision of forcing Steve Jobs out of Apple and was promoted as a director when he returned.
His approach to management was quite simple, yet powerful: a great manager is a great coach. Climbing the corporate ladder is also about making others successful, helping and caring, not in a professional manner, but in a personal one.
Bill was known for starting meetings with a report on the employees’ holidays and personal stories. This was his way of creating a culture of trust and love among individuals. Why does it matter? Building a community inside work improves performance and lowers turnover.
I recently read a story by Melinda Gates, an incredible leader, and philanthropist, that illustrates beautifully the importance of promoting a kind, empathic and meaningful relationship with employees. When Melinda was the manager in Microsoft in the early ’90s, a high-performer employee came to her office and said that his brother was very ill, with AIDS, a disease built upon stigma now, and even more back then. He told Melinda the hard truth to justify a possible drop in his performance. A week later, she invited him to her office and told him to start focusing on a particular retailer, in the Bay Area, where his brother lived. “Anytime you need to be down there, go ahead. I don’t need to know about it. Just go. (…) Then it hit him, and his eyes welled up with tears”. This is what leadership is to me.
“Managers create this environment through support, respect, and trust. Support means giving people the tools, information, training, and coaching they need to succeed. ”
Those who had the opportunity to work with Bill, describe him as an active listener: when he was listening, he didn’t try to force his ideals, but instead tried to understand different perspectives and would ask follow-up questions. Great managers don’t tell people what to do, they tell stories and build principles that guide their decisions.
His philosophy on empowering people to make decisions on their own is quite similar to Ray Dalio’s. He too created a list of principles that guided the whole decision-making process which is available online. When an agreement can’t be reached, it’s not the majority who decide, but the leader, who uses the organization values’ and mission to make the right choice — the best idea, rather than consensus.
Finally, Bill was always willing to help others around him and coached dozens of people during his life. But he knew that honesty, grit, and openness to learning were characteristics that his coachees had to possess, otherwise, it would not work. When presented with a new challenge, the main focus was the team and their abilities. This makes sense because if you work a team, they will be able to solve many problems. If you work a problem, the team only solves a few.
“There are people who are team players and really care about the company. When they speak up, it matters a lot to me because I know they are coming from the right place.”