Top 3 Things I learnt from ‘Trillion Dollar Coach’
Trillion Dollar Coach — The Leadership Handbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell — as the name suggests summarizes the coaching techniques of Bill Campbell, the coach. Bill transitioned from a football club coach to the tech industry in the late 1970s and built an illustrious career at companies like Apple, Claris, Go, Intuit and so on. He played an instrumental role in coaching the executive leadership at Google including Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and Sundar Pichai. He was also a trusted advisor of Steve Jobs (Apple) and coached many tech beacons of silicon valley including Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, Dick Costolo, Sheryl Sandberg, Marissa Mayer and so on. The list is huge. When he died in 2016, almost the entire silicon valley as well his football club members and teams turned up to pay their last respects.
Here are some of the key things that I learnt from the coach’s method:
1> Build your teams as communities with love and passion
You will hear the theme of love many times. Bill brought his true self to work and that included his nature of compassion and love. He was truly invested in other people’s well being, their families, kids’ hobbies, how they are doing in their life. Bill was loved by them all. Most of the coaching conversations he had with leaders were more focused on their life. Leaders found Bill as a sounding board, someone who would not give them solutions directly(most of the time) but will drive them toward it gradually. Bill’s method of coaching the leaders in board rooms and teams on the football field had its roots in human values. He cared for everyone, loved them from his heart, applauded their success enthusiastically and yet scolded them when needed.
Bill was a true embodiment of the following quote,
When you are blessed, be a blessing!
2> Embrace team-first culture based on trust and loyalty
Coming from the culture of the football team, it was always a team-fist approach for Bill and not individual aspirations. He would not hesitate to give tough feedback when people brought their egos into the decision-making process and were not thinking about what is good for the company. There is an interesting example of Eric Schmidt — when he was asked to step down as CEO just before Google became public. And how Eric was coached by Bill to stay on.
In many coaching conversations mentioned in the book, everyone insists that Bill would always be “present” fully in that conversation, listening intently and giving genuine feedback in the course. He would make time for everyone despite his busy schedule and when he gave you time, he was completely devoted to you — your problems, success and failure, and your life journey. And this approach didn't change if he was talking to an executive or with his caddy or even a restaurant server. Everyone remembers him with the same warmth!
One of the key quotes that sum up his approach is,
Your title makes you a manager, your people make you a leader
3> Give straightforward feedback but let them know you care
Bill was a straight shooter and always gave no-nonsense feedback by cutting the crap (and many a time along with profane language). He would never beat around the bush but was always careful not to insult people in front of everyone. He would have 1:1 conversations with people and give them the beating they needed to hear. But no one ever minded his straightforwardness, since everyone was convinced that the strict talk is coming from a place of love, care and compassion. People knew how much Bill was invested in their success. It is incredible to know that Bill regularly attended Eric’s staff meetings and acted as a coach for the entire Google executive team.
He always encouraged people to tackle the elephant in the room first, i.e. the hardest problem the team is facing. He would cut the fluff in the presentations and would always go to operational numbers first. People knew not to dance around stuff and get transparent with Bill because they knew that,
He was a like shadow behind you. He would always have your back. You hear him, but you are the one in front and he would cover for you.
The whole premise of the Coach’s method is based on human values of love, care, warmth. He brought these values to the forefront which usually take a back seat in a corporate setup. In countless examples in the book, his interactions with leaders, players, and communities stress an important aspect of Bill’s personality, he truly loved people and was genuinely invested in helping them and making them successful. One of the key lessons that stand out is,
To create effective teams, you need to understand and focus on human values. Positive human values generate positive business outcomes!
