Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Handbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell
My journey, with this book, chapter by chapter, on a great coach… As the title says, it is a handbook on leadership
‘Everyone Needs a Coach’ — Eric Schmidt (& Bill Gates) is a video I discovered early on in this journey to become a coach… Eric speaks of Bill Campbell in the video.
Executive Leadership Coaching is in vogue, among corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, and others.
Foreword: by Adam Grant: One of the lessons I learned in the communication classes at my B School was to read the foreword also in a book. Started with the foreword in this book, and found it was written by one of my favorite authors. Adam Grant sets the tone for this book.
Excerpts from the book in bold… be part of my journey
#DYK Silicon Valley’s best-kept secret is a coach. Wow!
Being a coach is to be comfortable to be in the shadows while shining the spotlight on others.
- Coaching is not just about the game, work.. but about LIFE. My Master would add, ‘life is a game, play it’!
ICF definition of coaching is about maximizing potential, personal & professional.
- Coaching as such should make the coachee move towards the potential, purpose. And it is always about making an impact through selfless contribution. For ‘selfless sacrifice alone guarantees legacy’, as per our scriptures. ‘Give the clients the world view’ as Bill Campbell did.
Interestingly, I recently invited one of my good-old-clients to look at moving from #I2We2He, beyond his goals, dreams, personal success. My client is on the right track, I as a coach too :)
- Trillion Dollar Coach (#TDCoach) reveals that to be a great manager (or leader), you have to be a great coach.
- Bill was indeed ahead of time… I will discover more in the chapters that ensue.
- Coaching (Vs Mentoring): Coaching is about the belief in coachee’s potential, holding up a mirror to see his/her blind spots, holding him/her accountable, taking responsibility for making him/her better, without taking credit for the accomplishments.
- Bill invented his own category. His life proves classical coaching happens when the coach does not understand the work.
- Perhaps Bill contributed to the focus on teams at Google, and Project Aristotle thereof.
- Indeed, #TDCoach belongs not to the self-help section, but help others section. The world is confused with all the self-help, and self-love. Help was always for others, as they wanted it?
The Foreword sets the tone for the journey ahead… Be part of my reflective journey
Reflections from a preview on Livemint:
When Eric threatened to leave, ‘this was not a fight to have today’, Bill reminded Eric. ‘Your pride is getting in the way of what’s best for the company, and for you ‘. How often our ego, pride comes in the way of making the right decisions, related to career and life?
I always invite the leaders to look at: The best bet is always to ask what is good for the organization, team? (#I2We2He)
Team First
We hear more about Google’s work culture, innovation, ‘Don’t be Evil’, and Project Aristotle. But this book would also give how the focus on ‘team first’ helped this company immensely. Perhaps Bill Campell helped in creating that focus.
- ‘ Team building is vital, and the principles Bill espoused apply at every level of an organization.’. Leadership is always at all levels, not just the top.
- “Bill didn’t work the problem first, he worked the team. We didn’t talk about the problem analytically. We talked about the people on the team and if they could get it done.”
