Books Recommended by Eric Schmidt
Eric Schmidt is an American businessman, software engineer and author. He’s known for his work at Google: Eric joined the company as CEO from 2001 to 2011, until 2015 he was the Executive Chairman, and until 2017 he was the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc (after Google’s corporate restructure).
Eric studied at Princeton University, majoring in Architecture, and later switched to electrical engineering, earning a B.S. degree in 1976. He earned a M.S. degree from the University of California, Berkeley for designing and implementing a network, and a Ph.D. with a dissertation about the problems of managing distributed software development and tools for solving these problems.
Schmidt held various technical positions with IT companies, including Bell Labs and Palo Alto Research Center. He joined Sun Microsystems in 1983 as its first software manager and rose to become director of software engineering, VP and general manager of the software products division, VP of the general systems group, and President of Sun Technology Enterprises.
In 1997, Schmidt became the CEO and chairman of the board of Novell, during a period of decline. He departed in 2001, after the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners.
That same year, he was interviewed by Google’s CEOs Larry Page and Sergey Brin, but also by Bill Campbell, who was their coach. Schmidt ran the company under the guidance of VCs John Doerr and Michael Moritz.
Schmidt held various leadership positions in the company until December 2017, when he transitioned to a technical advisor role, and in 2019 he still served on the company’s board.
He was also part of Apple’s board of directors, a position he held between 2006 and 2009.
Eric is the co-author of three books that are mandatory reading in Silicon Valley:
1. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business (2013): about the geopolitical implications of increasingly widespread internet use and access to information.
2. How Google Works (2014): a collection of business management lessons learned while leading Google.
3. Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell, released in spring of 2019, with leadership lessons learned from Bill Campbell, a former college football player and coach who mentored some of the most successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, such as Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Sundar Pichai, Sheryl Sandberg, and played an instrumental role in their companies.
All books recommended by Eric Schmidt:
Books by Eric Schmidt
10 books recommended by Eric Schmidt
A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life
by Brian Grazer, Charles Fishman
To have a great life, you need to be curious. Curiosity is what makes us human and moves our world forward. Brian Grazer tells this story in an exceptional way and demonstrates how everyone can tap into curiosity to live a bigger life.
Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies
The secret of Silicon Valley is that it keeps updating the playbook. Each new success - from Google to Facebook to Airbnb and Uber - develops new techniques for world-transforming products. Blitzscaling paints the picture, with key case studies, of what it really takes to… Read the full quote
The secret of Silicon Valley is that it keeps updating the playbook. Each new success - from Google to Facebook to Airbnb and Uber - develops new techniques for world-transforming products. Blitzscaling paints the picture, with key case studies, of what it really takes to build a market-leading company. If you want to learn how to manage growth amid the controlled chaos that has become the new normal for startups and legacy businesses alike, read this book.
Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World
by Peter Diamandis, Steven Kotler
Abundance showed us where our world can be in 20 years. BOLD is a roadmap for entrepreneurs to help us get there.
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
Tribalism is all around us, but it does not have to be. After all, we are all human. In lively and engaging prose, Christakis shows what is possible, and what we must do.
Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose
by Jean Case
Jean Case has done what many before her have tried but been unable to achieve: break down the essential qualities and principles that drive success. Her book tells us in no uncertain terms what it takes to break through in an increasingly crowded world of… Read the full quote
Jean Case has done what many before her have tried but been unable to achieve: break down the essential qualities and principles that drive success. Her book tells us in no uncertain terms what it takes to break through in an increasingly crowded world of ideas. With legitimately surprising research and compelling stories, Be Fearless inspires us all to take risks we usually wouldn’t, conquer the fears that get in our way, and lead a fulfilling life of clear purpose and maximum impact.
Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It
by Scott Kupor
As someone who’s helped a small company become a huge, valuable company, I know firsthand the power of the startup ecosystem and entrepreneurship. This book is the definitive book on navigating VC as part of that.
The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty
by Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, Karen Dillon
Clayton Christensen's latest book The Prosperity Paradox is a must-read. Powerful, persuasive, andwonderfully written, Christensen and his coauthors make a compelling case for the game-changing roleof innovation in some of the world's most desperate economies.
Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction
Urgent doesn’t begin to describe the insights contained in Tom Siebel's Digital Transformation. His combination of historic perspective and an incisive approach to the specific technologies reshaping our world should be essential reading for any leader.
The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
Niall Ferguson's The Square and the Tower brilliantly illuminates the great power struggle between networks and hierarchies that is raging around the world today. As a software engineer steeped in the theory and practice of networks, I was deeply impressed by this book's insights. Silicon Valley needed a history lesson and Ferguson has provided it.
Understanding the Digital World
This is the clearest and simplest explanation of the world we now all depend on--how it works and why it does what it does―from one of our best-known inventors. Everyone on Earth needs to read it.
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