It was announced recently that Google‘s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is set to sell a sizable portion of his Google holdings. On Friday February 8th 2013 it was revealed that he is to sell up to 3.2 million shares of the 7.6 million shares that he owns. On current valuation, each share is worth almost $800.
So whilst still holding onto the majority of his shares in the company, he’ll be walking away with $2.5 billion. It would be fair to say that from a financial point of view Eric Schmidt has done well. And as the world’s largest single brand, Google has done well, especially when you consider it is not even 20 years old.
What is perhaps surprising to many people then is how much importance Schmidt and his colleagues at Google have placed on business coaching. Perhaps this is a clue to why the company has achieved so much, so quickly.
As Schmidt says “I’ve received so many types of advice over the years that I don’t know where to start. One that comes to mind is to have a coach. A board member in 2002 called John Dorset said – “You need a coach” and I said – “I don’t need a coach, I’m an established CEO, is something wrong?”
Like many people, Schmidt’s initial thoughts about coaching were based on an assumption that coaching is for people or companies when things are not going well. If you think about this it’s a strange viewpoint because we don’t assume that in sport. In fact if a gymnast or football team didn’t have a coach it would be one of the first things we’d suggest if they wanted to improve their performance.
Schmidt’s colleague John Dorset was quick to clarify this point.
“No, no, no you need a coach, everybody needs a coach” said Dorsett.
Soon afterwards, Schmidt started working with a coach and soon realised the power that a good executive coach could bring.
“Every famous athlete, every famous performer, has somebody who’s a coach” says Schmidt.
So what does he feel that a good business coach can offer? A coach. Is “somebody who can watch what you’re doing and say – is that what you really meant, did you really want to do that?” For Schmidt it’s about having somebody who can offer perspective and allow him to explore new ideas.
“The one thing people are never good at is seeing themselves as others see them.” For many top executives this is an area that is vital. As we all get tied up in the busy day to day ‘doing’ it’s all too easy to miss the bigger picture.
A great executive coach will not let you lose a clear sense of where the company should be going, seeing and seizing opportunities in the bigger picture and being clear about whether you, the executive, are really driving for the desired and planned for results and beyond or, as often happens, becoming part of the problem by getting too close to the action or immersed in the day to day details.
For these and many other issues “a coach really, really helps” concludes Schmidt.
If you want to find out whether you are ready to move to the next level and want to find out whether coaching could be right for you, contact The Results Centre to find out more.