This great wisdom comes from a lesser-known man that we can all benefit from.
Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures are well-known. They deliver graduation speeches that are viewed millions of times on YouTube and get mentioned on the internet.
Bill Campbell, 75 years old, died Monday from cancer. Although he was an influential figure in Silicon Valley, he was also unique in many ways. Although he was the CEO of Intuit, and also chairman of its board, Coach, as everyone called him, couldn’t write a single line of code.
He was raised in Pennsylvania’s industrial belt. His father, a Columbia football coach, recommended him to Columbia because he wanted to play for the team. After graduating from college, he became a college football coach.
His career took a significant turn when he was offered a job at Apple. He managed to avoid having his 1984 Super Bowl ad cancelled.
He was promoted to vice president and assumed the highest ranking role at Intuit. He then became a respected advisor to a number of high-profile CEOs of technology companies, including Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt and Larry Page.
It is a terrible loss to him. We can all still benefit from his wisdom.
Campbell was very concerned about his employees and the people he trained. Ben Horowitz, now a legendary vice president and cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, made a deal to save Loudcloud web hosting company that he had cofounded in 2002.
The deal was able to keep the company alive but it also required a significant restructuring and the layoffs of a third its employees. Horowitz originally planned to travel to New York to attend a joint press conference. Campbell advised him to not.
“The people at the company care about what’s going to happen to them.” According to Campbell’s Fortune interview with Horowitz, “You have to tell them the news.” “You must be there all day. Help them get to the car.
Horowitz cancelled his trip, and was happy he did. It allowed me to control and live another day. This was the foundation of everything that followed.”
Medium posted an emotional tribute that Horowitz described the depth of Campbell’s empathy after Jules, Horowitz’s oldest son, revealed that he was transsexual. He would need hormone treatment and surgery. Campbell was overcome with emotion when he heard the news. He asked for Jules to visit him immediately to give him a hug, and to tell him that he would always support him.
“The worst part about today is that Bill can’t be reached.” Horowitz writes, “I miss him so much.”
Silicon Valley is known for its data. Many times executives make it more difficult for others to achieve their goals.
Campbell was aware of this and created a system to evaluate people using four metrics: traditional metrics, relationships with peers, how they help others and innovation.
Campbell suggested that they should work together. Many of the companies Campbell advised, including Apple and Google, have no chief operating officers. He believes vision is as important as operational excellence.
A structure that has a CEO and COO can lead to the CEO being too detached from the day-today operations of the company. Executives who insist on direct communication with the company will ignore the COO. Executive Director.
Campbell was a mentor to senior executives and he always tried to increase R&D budgets. Intuit provided its engineers with four hours of free time every week as a result of Campbell’s advice. This led to the creation some new products.
Campbell was not a programmer, but many of his friends said that he valued the contributions of software engineers.
Many top executives chose Campbell because they trusted him. He was thus able to serve years without conflict of interest on the archrival boards at Google and Apple.
Campbell was used to staying out of the limelight. YouTube doesn’t have many videos of Campbell, which is odd considering that one of his roles was to advise senior YouTube executives. He didn’t want to be praised for the achievements of those he advised.
He explained his refusal to interview by emailing Jennifer Reingold, Fortune reporter, as a reason for not being interviewed.
“People (many of them in the media) want to give credit to other people for being founders or CEOs. This is completely unfair.”
Contrary to Silicon Valley tradition, Campbell didn’t work in a bright office but rather from a table that featured a plaque reading “Coach’s Corner”) at the Old Bar counter. Palo Alto Pro. Campbell used to offer advice to executives at tech companies right there. He loved to give hugs and hear bad words.
He was loved by all who saw it. It was living proof of the fact that you can be exactly who you want to be, live your life how you like, and still get very far. Make the world a better place.
My name's Cody Fauser and you've entered my technological world here in this site.
As an online marketer in the technological sector, I have gained experience online both in sales and in the coding sector. On this blog you can expect marketing tips that are technically based as well as product reviews and tips about tech setups.
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