Discover a wealth of wisdom and insight from Eric Schmidt through their most impactful and thought-provoking quotes and sayings. Expand your perspective with their inspiring words and share these beautiful Eric Schmidt quote pictures with your friends and followers on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or your personal blog - all free of charge. We've compiled the top 252 Eric Schmidt quotes for you to explore and share with others.

The business world traditionally rewards people for being closer to the top (case in point: outrageous CEO salaries) or for being closer to the transactions (investment bankers, salespeople). By Eric Schmidt Closer Salespeople Ceo Top Case

The tendency of a CEO, and particularly (speaking from experience) of a new CEO trying to make an impact in a founder-led company, is to try to make too big an impact. It is hard to check that CEO ego at the door and let others make decisions, but that is precisely what needs to be done. By Eric Schmidt Ceo Impact Make Speaking Experience

Over time I've learned, surprisingly, that it's tremendously hard to get teams to be super ambitious. It turns out most people haven't been educated in this kind of moonshot thinking. They tend to assume that things are impossible, rather than starting from real-world physics and figuring out what's actually possible. It's why we've put so much energy into hiring independent thinkers at Google, and setting big goals. Because if you hire the right people and have big enough dreams, you'll usually get there. And even if you fail, you'll probably learn something important. It's also true that many companies get comfortable doing what they have always done, with a few incremental changes. This kind of incrementalism leads to irrelevance over time, especially in technology, because change tends to be revolutionary not evolutionary. So you need to force yourself to place big bets on the future. By Eric Schmidt Surprisingly Learned Ambitious Big Tremendously

If you thought when you got your job at 20 that it would never change you were misinformed. Retrain yourself to be curious. By Eric Schmidt Misinformed Thought Job Change Retrain

There is a mistake technical and scientific people make. We think that if we have made a clever and thoughtful argument, based on data and smart analysis, then people will change their minds. This isn't true. If yoy want to change people's behavior, you need to touch their hearts, not just win the arguments. We call this the Oprah Winfrey rule. By Eric Schmidt Make People Mistake Technical Scientific

You can attract the best smart creatives with factors beyond money: the great things they can do, the people they'll work with, the responsibility and opportunities they'll be given, the inspiring company culture and values, and yes, maybe even free food and happy dogs sitting desk-side. By Eric Schmidt Money Deskside Attract Smart Creatives

Sheryl Sandberg: "It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution. It's also a very clear path to happiness."115 She couldn't be more right. You will not be as successful as you could be if you only like what you do and don't love it. Trite, perhaps, but true. Sheryl is also right in saying that combining passion and contribution is a luxury: not that it's expensive, but just rare. It's something that many people either can't figure out (how many people truly know their passion at the outset of their careers?) or can't afford (you may love whittling garden gnomes, but the world loves engineers and your spouse and children love a regular paycheck). By Eric Schmidt Sandberg Passion Sheryl Love Ultimate

One of Eric's most basic rules is sort of a golden rule for management: Make sure you would work for yourself. If you are so bad as a manager that you as a worker would hate working for you, then you have some work to do. The best tool we have found for this is the self-review: At least once per year, write a review of your own performance, then read it and see if you would work for you. And then, share it with the people who do in fact work for you. This will elicit greater insights than the standard 360-degree review process, because when you are initiating criticism of yourself it gives others the freedom to be more honest. By Eric Schmidt Make Work Eric Rules Rule

I've come to a view that humans will continue to do what we do well, and that computers will continue to do what they do very well, and the two will coexist, but in different spaces. By Eric Schmidt Continue Coexist Spaces View Humans

I do want to emphasize that we've seen an explosion in the use of Google Maps and Google Earth for education. The earth is a special place. It is our home and it's why we're all here. And the ability to see what's really going on the earth, the good stuff and the bad stuff, at the level that you can, is phenomenal. By Eric Schmidt Google Maps Earth Education Emphasize

Washington - having spent a lot of time there, I grew up there and have spent a lot of time there recently - is largely defined by detailed analytical views and policy choices that are not very good. You know, each policy choice has a winner and a loser, right? Somebody's ox is getting gored. By Eric Schmidt Lot Time Spent Washington Policy

Favoring specialization over intelligence is exactly wrong, especially in high tech. The world is changing so fast across every industry and endeavor that it's a given the role for which you're hiring is going to change. Yesterday's widget will be obsolete tomorrow, and hiring a specialist in such a dynamic environment can backfire. A specialist brings an inherent bias to solving problems that spawns from the very expertise that is his putative advantage, and may be threatened by a new type of solution that requires new expertise. A smart generalist doesn't have bias, so is free to survey the wide range of solutions and gravitate to the best one. By Eric Schmidt Favoring Wrong Tech Specialization Intelligence

Mobile use is growing faster than all of Google's internal predictions. By Eric Schmidt Google Mobile Predictions Growing Faster

I had a rule that I had to go to bed before the sun came up. So I used to look up the sunrise times because I thought it would be bad karma to be going to bed as dawn was arriving. By Eric Schmidt Bed Rule Sun Arriving Sunrise

John Seely Brown, the former director of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, once said, The essence of being human involves asking questions, not answering them. By Eric Schmidt Brown Center Seely Xerox Palo

Ultimately, application vendors are driven by volume, and volume is favored by the open approach Google is taking. There are so many manufacturers working so hard to distribute Android phones globally that whether you like [Android 4.0] or not ... you will want to develop for that platform, and perhaps even first. By Eric Schmidt Ultimately Google Volume Application Taking

We have an opportunity for everyone in the world to have access to all the world's information. This has never before been possible. Why is ubiquitous information so profound? It's a tremendous equalizer. Information is power. By Eric Schmidt World Information Opportunity Access Profound

We didn't see any statistically significant relationship between our buzz and our short-term sales ... Is that the end of the story? I would say no. This is one study on a set of brands in a particular company within a certain segment of the consumer-packag ed-goods industry. It is by no means a generalized result that applies to all industries. By Eric Schmidt Sales Statistically Significant Relationship Buzz

Of course smart people know a lot and can therefore accomplish more than others less gifted. But hire them not for the knowledge they possess, but for the things they don't yet know. By Eric Schmidt Gifted Smart People Lot Accomplish

Our colleague Ellen West related a story to us that was told to her by a member of the Gayglers (Google's diversity group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees). He told Ellen that the Gayglers had discussed whether or not Google could be considered the first "post-gay" company at which they had worked. The consensus was that it was close, since at Google "it doesn't matter who you are, just what you do." Bingo. By Eric Schmidt Gayglers West Google Ellen Gay

Google's architectural model around broadband and services and so forth plays very well to the powerful devices and services Apple is doing. We're a perfect back end to the problems that they're trying to solve. By Eric Schmidt Services Apple Google Architectural Model

In practice, ship and iterate means that marketing programs and PR pushes should be minimal at launch. If you are in the restaurant business, you call this a soft opening. When you push the babies out of the nest, don't give them a jetpack or even a parachute - let them fly on their own. (Note: This is a metaphor.) Invest only when they get some lift. Google's Chrome is a great example of this - it launched in 2008 with minimal fanfare and practically no marketing budget and gained terrific momentum on its own, based solely on its excellence. Later, around the time the browser pushed past seventy million users, the team decided to pour fuel on the fire and approved a marketing push (and even a TV advertising campaign). But not until the product had proven itself a winner did it get fed. By Eric Schmidt Practice Ship Launch Iterate Programs

We see most big problems as information problems, which means that with enough data and the ability to crunch it, virtually any challenge facing humanity today can be solved. We think computers will serve at the behest of people - all people - to make their lives better and easier. And we are quite sure that we, as a couple of Silicon Valley guys, will come under a lot of criticism for this Pollyannaish view of the future. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. By Eric Schmidt Problems Virtually Solved People Big

There's nothing wrong with continuous improvement and smart business tactics, but the tail is wagging the dog when market research becomes more important than technical innovation. By Eric Schmidt Tactics Innovation Wrong Continuous Improvement

Or you could take a more deliberate approach. Adjust your course. Make your five-years-out ideal job closer to your if-only-I-could dream job, yet attainable from your current path. We've seen even this simple act of setting the right goal turn around people's careers. By Eric Schmidt Approach Deliberate Job Adjust Make

You should never be able to reverse engineer a company's organizational chart from the design of its product. Can you figure out who reigns supreme at Apple when you open the box for your new iPhone? Yes. It's you, the customer; not the head of software, manufacturing, retail, hardware, apps, or the Guy Who Signs the Checks. That is exactly as it should be. By Eric Schmidt Product Reverse Engineer Company Organizational

Marissa Mayer, who became one of Silicon Valley's most famous working mothers not long after she took over as Yahoo's CEO in 2012, says that burnout isn't caused by working too hard, but by resentment at having to give up what really matters to you. By Eric Schmidt Mayer Silicon Valley Yahoo Ceo

It should go without saying - but it usually doesn't, so we'll say it - that data is best understood by those closest to the issue, which is often not management. As a leader, it is best not to get lost in details you don't understand, but rather trust the smart people who work for you to understand them. By Eric Schmidt Issue Management Data Understood Closest

The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data. Failing that, there are other ways to get that information, By Eric Schmidt Facebook Data Thing Happen Open

YouTube's traffic continues to grow very quickly. Video is something that we think is going to be embedded everywhere. And it makes sense, from Google's perspective, to be the operator of the largest site that contains all that video. By Eric Schmidt Youtube Quickly Traffic Continues Grow

I believe that this notion of self-publishing, which is what Blogger and blogging are really about, is the next big wave of human communication. The last big wave was Web activity. Before that one it was e-mail. Instant messaging was an extension of e-mail, real-time e-mail. By Eric Schmidt Blogger Email Selfpublishing Communication Big

When a CEO looks around her staff meeting, a good rule of thumb is that at least 50 percent of the people at the table should be experts in the company's products and services and responsible for product development. This will help ensure that the leadership team maintains focus on product excellence. Operational components like finance, sales, and legal are obviously critical to a company's success, but they should not dominate the conversation. By Eric Schmidt Ceo Meeting Percent Development Product

The biggest mistake that I made was not anticipating the rise of the social networking phenomenon, By Eric Schmidt Phenomenon Biggest Mistake Made Anticipating

In our case, we focus on quality, and we have a very simple model. If we show fewer ads that are more targeted, those ads are worth more. So we're in this strange situation where we show a smaller number of ads and we make more money because we show better ads. And that's the secret of Google. By Eric Schmidt Ads Show Case Quality Model

Silicon Valley's involvement with Washington dates from one event, which was John Scully - who was the CEO of Apple - had dinner with President Clinton and Vice President Gore in 1993. And we're all going, like, 'What's going on? Why would we have dinner with the president?' By Eric Schmidt Scully Apple Valley Washington John

The funny thing about advertising is that it's not a zero-sum game ... Historically, in the digital ad world, pie has gotten larger and it's possible for everyone to win, and it's perfectly possible that will continue to be true for quite some time. By Eric Schmidt Game Funny Thing Advertising Zerosum

When you use Google, do you get more than one answer? Of course you do. Well, that's a bug. We have more bugs per second in the world. We should be able to give you the right answer just once. We should know what you meant. By Eric Schmidt Google Answer World Bug Bugs

I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time. By Eric Schmidt Knowable Time Society Understands Recorded

Most companies' culture just happens; no one plans it. That can work, but it means leaving a critical component of your success to chance. Elsewhere in this book we preach the value of experimentation and the virtues of failure, but culture is perhaps the one important aspect of a company where failed experiments hurt. By Eric Schmidt Companies Plans Culture Work Chance

People who bet against the Internet, who think that somehow this change is just a generational shift, miss that it is a fundamental reorganizing of the power of the end user. The Internet brings tremendous tools to the end user, and that end user is going to use them. By Eric Schmidt End Internet User People Shift

Search companies, which I won't mention by name, tried to do so many things at the same time, they forgot all about search. They either missed the next revolution of search or they created an opening for a Google to enter. By Eric Schmidt Companies Time Search Mention Things

information systems will streamline many of them for people living in those countries, such as integrated clothing machines (washing, drying, folding, pressing and sorting) that keep an inventory of clean clothes and algorithmically suggest outfits based on the user's daily schedule. Haircuts will finally be automated and machine-precise. By Eric Schmidt Washing Drying Folding Information Countries

Google is more than a business. Google is a belief system. And we believe passionately in the open Internet model. By Eric Schmidt Google Business Internet System Model

As Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spake Zarathustra: "You must be proud of your enemy; then your enemy's successes are also your successes."87 Be proud of your competitors. Just don't follow them. By Eric Schmidt Proud Zarathustra Enemy Nietzsche Spake

I used to say that you'll have 10 IP address on your body ... and it looks like that's going to happen through medical monitoring. By Eric Schmidt Body Monitoring Address Happen Medical

I've never met a person who does not want a safer world, better medical care and education for their children, and peace with their neighbours. I just don't meet those people. What I meet, over and over again, as I travel around, is that the essential human condition is optimistic - in every one of these places. By Eric Schmidt World Children Neighbours Met Person

Working from home during normal working hours, which to many represents the height of enlightened culture, is a problem that - as Jonathan frequently says - can spread throughout a company and suck the life out of its workplace. By Eric Schmidt Jonathan Hours Culture Workplace Working

Do not be afraid to fail, but also, do not be afraid to succeed. By Eric Schmidt Afraid Fail Succeed

The policy of America to deny visas to technically trained people in the U.S. and shipped to other countries, where they create companies that compete with America, has to be the stupidest policy of all the U.S. government policies. By Eric Schmidt America Policy Countries Government Policies

Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learn something new. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids. Even if it's a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference. Yes lets you stand out in a crowd, be the optimist, see the glass full, be the one everyone comes to. Yes is what keeps us all young. By Eric Schmidt Find Things Job Meet Bit

The building block of organizations should be small teams. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, at one point had a "two-pizza team" rule,41 which stipulates that teams be small enough to be fed by two pizzas. By Eric Schmidt Small Bezos Amazon Building Block

Steve Jobs was one of the greatest business divas the world has ever known!) By Eric Schmidt Jobs Steve Greatest Business Divas

If you think about the history of the PC industry, the PC industry has essentially been nothing but acquisitions by one company or another. Dell is the outlier. Dell built its own culture. They automated themselves to be the most efficient manufacturer. By Eric Schmidt Industry Dell History Essentially Acquisitions

The rise of Google, the rise of Facebook, the rise of Apple, I think are proof that there is a place for computer science as something that solves problems that people face every day. By Eric Schmidt Rise Google Facebook Apple Day

Meetings should have a single decision-maker/owner. There must be a clear decision-maker at every point in the process, someone whose butt is on the line. A meeting between two groups of equals often doesn't result in a good outcome, because you end up compromising rather than making the best tough decisions. Include someone more senior as the decision-maker. The decision-maker should be hands on. He or she should call the meeting, ensure that the content is good, set the objectives, determine the participants, and share the agenda (if possible) at least twenty-four hours in advance. After the meeting, the decision-maker (and no one else) should summarize decisions taken and action items by email to at least every participant - as well as any others who need to know - within forty-eight hours. By Eric Schmidt Decisionmaker Meeting Owner Single Good

If you look at the history of technology over a couple hundred years, it's all about time compression and making the globe smaller. It's had positive effects, all the ones that we know. So we're much less likely to have the kind of terrible misunderstandings that led to World War I, for example. By Eric Schmidt Years Smaller History Technology Couple

You can understand Tunisia revolution as a failure to censor the internet. And Libya had that failure too. It's very difficult for governments that are autocratic and don't have broad popular support to be in power when a lot of people have these devices. That was what Arab Spring was about, that people could express this and lead to revolution. By Eric Schmidt Tunisia Internet Failure Understand Censor

For those who say you're thinking too big ... be smart enough not to listen. For those who say the odds are too small ... be dumb enough to give it a shot. And for those who ask, how can you do that? ... look them in the eyes and say, Ill figure it out. By Eric Schmidt Big Thinking Listen Ill Small

Many people, when considering a job, are primarily concerned with their role and responsibilities, the company's track record, the industry, and compensation. Further down on that list, probably somewhere between "length of commute" and "quality of coffee in the kitchen," comes culture. Smart creatives, though, place culture at the top of the list. To By Eric Schmidt People Job Responsibilities Record Industry

Continuous scans of the brain to measure changes in blood flow) could control a robot hundreds of miles away just by imagining moving different parts of his body. The subject could see from the robot's perspective, thanks to a camera on its head, and when he thought about moving his arm or his legs, the robot would move correspondingly almost instantaneously. The possibilities of thought-controlled motion, not only for "surrogates" like separate robots but also for prosthetic limbs, are particularly exciting in what they portend for mobility-challenged or "locked in" individuals - spinal-cord-injury patients, amputees and others who cannot communicate or move in their current physical state. By Eric Schmidt Robot Continuous Flow Body Moving

There are an untold number of cultural similarities that have never been fully explored because of the difficulty of communication; in a future revolutionary setting, seemingly random connections between distant populations or people will entail knowledge transfer, outsourcing certain types of duties and amplifying the movement's message in a new and unexpected way. By Eric Schmidt Communication Setting Seemingly Transfer Outsourcing

We are certain that for every one of these rock stars we meet in our daily work, there are dozens or even hundreds more who are doing their best to unseat us from our perch. Maybe all of them will fail, but probably not. Probably, somewhere in a garage, dorm room, lab, or conference room, a brave business leader has gathered a small, dedicated team of smart creatives. Maybe she has a copy of our book, and is using our ideas to help her create a company that will eventually render Google irrelevant. Preposterous, right? Except that, given that no business wins forever, it is inevitable. Some would find this chilling. We find it inspiring. By Eric Schmidt Work Perch Rock Stars Meet

Android's great Sky Map is an astronomy application that turns a phone into a star chart. It was built by a team of Googlers in their spare time (what we call "20 percent time" - more on that later), not because they love to program computers, but because they were enthusiastic amateur By Eric Schmidt Sky Map Android Chart Time

For a meritocracy to work, it needs to engender a culture where there is an "obligation to dissent". By Eric Schmidt Work Obligation Dissent Meritocracy Engender

product excellence is now paramount to business success - not control of information, not a stranglehold on distribution, not overwhelming marketing power (although these are still important). There are a couple of reasons for this. First, consumers have never been better informed or had more choice.13 It used to be that companies could turn poor products into winners by dint of overwhelming marketing or distribution strength. Create an adequate product, control the conversation with a big marketing budget, limit customer choice, and you could guarantee yourself a good return. By Eric Schmidt Success Information Power Important Marketing

With your permission you give us more information about you, your friends, and we can improve the quality of our searches. We don't need you to type at all. We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less guess what you're thinking about. By Eric Schmidt Friends Searches Permission Give Information

It's also true that many companies get comfortable doing what they have always done, with a few incremental changes. This kind of incrementalism leads to irrelevance over time, especially in technology, because change tends to be revolutionary not evolutionary. By Eric Schmidt True Companies Comfortable Incremental Time

Knaves are not to be confused with divas. Knavish behavior is a product of low integrity; diva-ish behavior is one of high exceptionalism. Knaves prioritize the individual over the team; divas think they are better than the team, but want success equally for both. Knaves need to be dealt with as quickly as possible. By Eric Schmidt Knaves Team Behavior Confused Divas

Knaves need to be dealt with as quickly as possible. But as long as their contributions match their outlandish egos, divas should be tolerated and even protected. By Eric Schmidt Knaves Dealt Quickly Egos Divas

How many meetings have you been in where the first dozen or so slides are full of words, and the person stands up there and repeats the words? By Eric Schmidt Words Meetings Dozen Slides Full

You have done all this work to create a hiring process that brings in all these awesome smart creatives, and how do they pay you back? By leaving!! That's right. News flash: When you hire great people, some of them may come to realize that there is a world beyond yours. This isn't a bad thing, in fact it's an inevitable by-product of a healthy, innovative team. Still, fight like hell to keep them. By Eric Schmidt Creatives Back Work Create Hiring

Companies come up with elaborate, often passive-aggressive ways to say no: processes to follow, approvals to get, meetings to attend. No is like a tiny death to smart creatives. No is a signal that the company has lost its start-up verve, that it's too corporate. Enough no's, and smart creatives stop asking and start heading to the exits. By Eric Schmidt Companies Elaborate Processes Follow Approvals

The issues of wireless versus wireline gets very messy. And that's really an FCC issue, not a Google issue. By Eric Schmidt Messy Wireless Versus Wireline Issue

Scaling needs to be a core part of your foundation. Competition is much more intense and competitive advantages don't last long, so you have to have a "grow big fast" strategy. By Eric Schmidt Scaling Foundation Strategy Core Part

In whatever number of years I have on Earth, I think that promoting the values of free expression, the openness of the Internet, that's the best use of my time. By Eric Schmidt Earth Internet Expression Time Number

Around 400 million people in the last year got a smartphone. If you think that's a big deal, imagine the impact on that person in the developing world. By Eric Schmidt Million Smartphone People Year Deal

He showed a video of a seemingly crazy man dancing all by himself at an outdoor concert. The man stands on the side of a hill, shirtless and barefoot, gesticulating wildly and having the time of his life. By Eric Schmidt Concert Man Showed Video Seemingly

In many countries adult pornography legislation is an attempt to legislate something else. By Eric Schmidt Countries Adult Pornography Legislation Attempt

The average American doesn't realize how much of the laws are written by lobbyists. By Eric Schmidt American Lobbyists Average Realize Laws

Can a robot be brave? Can it selflessly sacrifice? Can a robot, trained to identify and engage targets, have some sense of ethics or restraint? By Eric Schmidt Brave Robot Sacrifice Trained Targets

As Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, says: "In the old world, you devoted 30 percent of your time to building a great service and 70 percent of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts."16 By Eric Schmidt Percent Bezos Amazon Time Jeff

incrementalism leads to irrelevance over time, By Eric Schmidt Incrementalism Time Leads Irrelevance

Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance. By Eric Schmidt Verified Information Verification Top Results

Google was founded to get information to everybody. A by-product of that strategy is that we invented an advertising business which has provided great economics that allows us to build the servers, hire the employees, create value. By Eric Schmidt Google Founded Information Servers Hire

We know that Google Earth and Google Maps have had a tremendous impact on Google traffic, users, brand, adoption, and advertisers. We also know Google News, for example, which we don't monetize, has had a tremendous impact on searches and on query quality. We know those people search more. Because we've measured it. By Eric Schmidt Google Earth Maps Users Brand

The characteristic of great innovators and great companies is they see a space that others do not. They don't just listen to what people tell them; they actually invent something new, something that you didn't know you needed, but the moment you see it, you say, 'I must have it.' By Eric Schmidt Great Characteristic Innovators Companies Space

Smart creatives thrive on interacting with each other. The mixture you get when you cram them together is combustible, so a top priority must be to keep them crowded. By Eric Schmidt Smart Creatives Thrive Interacting Combustible

Hiring decisions are too important to be left in the hands of a manager who may or may not have a stake in the employee's success a year later. By Eric Schmidt Hiring Decisions Important Left Hands

And for more egregious offenses, you need to get rid of the knave, quickly. Think By Eric Schmidt Quickly Offenses Knave Egregious Rid

At Google, operations are not just an afterthought: they are critical to the company's success, and we want to have just as much effort and creativity in this domain as in new product development. By Eric Schmidt Google Operations Afterthought Success Development

Just remember when you post something, the computers remember forever By Eric Schmidt Forever Remember Post Computers

It's a mistake to predict the size of markets that are so new. This model has shown no signs of slowing down. So we are going to get as much of it as we possibly can, and when we get close to that we'll figure out other problems. By Eric Schmidt Mistake Predict Size Markets Model

This is a common refrain you hear in Silicon Valley: the CEO who picks up the stack of newspapers outside the front door, the founder who wipes the counters. With these actions, the leaders demonstrate their egalitarian natures - we're all in this together and none of us are above the menial tasks that need to get done. By Eric Schmidt Valley Silicon Ceo Door Counters

Establishing a successful hiring culture that delivers a steady stream of outstanding people starts with understanding the role of recruiters in sourcing candidates. Hint: It isn't their exclusive realm. By Eric Schmidt Establishing Candidates Hint Successful Hiring

Steve Jobs told the Macintosh team that real artists ship. By Eric Schmidt Jobs Macintosh Steve Ship Told

We used to think that the enterprise was the hardest customer to satisfy, but we were wrong. It turns out, consumers are harder than the enterprise because the consumer will not give you a second chance. By Eric Schmidt Satisfy Wrong Enterprise Hardest Customer

Be very generous with the resources they need to do their work. Be stingy with the stuff that doesn't matter, like fancy furniture and big offices, but invest in the stuff that does. By Eric Schmidt Work Stuff Generous Resources Matter

I'm able to bring business expertise but, more importantly, operating experience. The people here at Google are young. Every day there are lots of new challenges. I keep things focused. The speech I give everyday is: "This is what we do. Is what you are doing consistent with that, and does it change the world?" By Eric Schmidt Importantly Operating Experience Bring Business

We want to make sure the thing you're looking for is on Google 100 percent of the time. By Eric Schmidt Google Percent Time Make Thing

In the inevitable showdown between speed and quality, quality must prevail. By Eric Schmidt Prevail Quality Inevitable Showdown Speed

We weren't here to hope and hang on. We wanted to win. By Eric Schmidt Hope Hang Win Wanted

Mobile is the future and there's no such thing as communication overload By Eric Schmidt Mobile Overload Future Thing Communication

the job of finding people belongs to everyone, and this fact needs to be woven into the fabric of the company. By Eric Schmidt Company Job Finding People Belongs

Google dress code was: "You must wear something". By Eric Schmidt Google Dress Code Wear

Market research can't tell you about solving problems that customers can't conceive are solvable. Giving the customer what he wants is less important than giving him what he doesn't yet know he wants. By Eric Schmidt Market Solvable Research Solving Problems

Praise is underused and underappreciated as a management tool. By Eric Schmidt Praise Tool Underused Underappreciated Management

Are there members of your team whom, if they told you they were leaving, you would not fight hard to keep? If there are employees you would let go, then perhaps you should. By Eric Schmidt Leaving Members Team Told Fight

Google docs and spreadsheets don't work if you're on an airplane. But it's a technical problem that is going to get solved. Eventually you will be able to work on a plane as if you are connected and, then when you get reconnected to the Internet, your computer will just synchronize with the cloud. By Eric Schmidt Google Airplane Docs Spreadsheets Work

Supercomputer pioneer Seymour Cray used to deliberately hire for inexperience because it brought him people who "do not usually know what's supposed to be impossible. By Eric Schmidt Seymour Cray Supercomputer Impossible Pioneer

Facial recognition, completely unmonitored, can be used for very bad things. It can be used for stalking, for example. By Eric Schmidt Facial Recognition Completely Unmonitored Things

One of the unintended negative consequences of online advertising has been the loss of value in traditional classifieds. It's simply quicker, simply easier for an end user who's online, on a broadband connection, to look things up and to figure out what they want to buy. By Eric Schmidt Classifieds Online Unintended Negative Consequences

The "first follower" principle: When creating a movement, attracting the first follower is the most crucial step. By Eric Schmidt Principle Follower Movement Attracting Step

if the past is any indicator of our future, today's big bets won't seem so wild in a few years' time. By Eric Schmidt Future Today Time Past Indicator

Bet on technical insights that help solve a big problem in a novel way, optimize for scale, not for revenue, and let great products grow the market for everyone. By Eric Schmidt Bet Optimize Scale Revenue Technical

The tectonic, technology-driven shifts that characterize the Internet Century have rendered some of the commonly accepted strategic fundamentals we learned in school and on the job incorrect.56 By Eric Schmidt Internet Century Tectonic Technologydriven Job

A great start-up, a great project - a great job, for that matter - should be fun, and if you're working your butt off without deriving any enjoyment, something's probably wrong. By Eric Schmidt Great Startup Project Job Matter

You should hire the best engineer you can find, regardless of her coding preference, because if she's the best she can down enough Java to C how to make the Python Go. By Eric Schmidt Java Python Find Preference Hire

When Jonathan was in business school, one of his finance professors used to say that "money is the lifeblood of any company." This is only partially true. In the Internet Century money is obviously critical, but information is the true lifeblood of the business. Attracting smart creatives and leading them to do amazing things is the key to building a twenty-first-century business, but none of that happens if they aren't flush with information. By Eric Schmidt Jonathan School Company Business Money

The most successful leaders in the Internet Century will be the ones who understand how to create and quickly grow platforms. By Eric Schmidt Internet Century Platforms Successful Leaders

I think of Google as a set of overlapping things. It's a consumer platform, consumer phenomenon of which search is its fundamental activity, but there are many other things you can do than search ... I think of Google as an advertising company who services the broader advertising industry in the ways that you know. By Eric Schmidt Google Things Set Overlapping Consumer

The coach doesn't have to play the sport as well as you do. They have to watch you and get you to be your best. By Eric Schmidt Coach Play Sport Watch

I use Google+, and I find the quality of the comments are very sophisticated because there is more trust inside of Google+ than there is inside of Twitter and Facebook, for example. By Eric Schmidt Google Facebook Inside Twitter Find

There's nothing that cannot be found through some search engine or on the Internet somewhere. By Eric Schmidt Internet Found Search Engine

Twitter can no more produce analysis than a monkey can type out a work of Shakespeare. By Eric Schmidt Shakespeare Twitter Produce Analysis Monkey

Crazy enough to think you will succeed, but sane enough to make it happen. By Eric Schmidt Crazy Succeed Happen Sane Make

Since I have access to every, every crisis in the world because it's always blaring at me on cable television, that doesn't mean I have to worry about every one of them. This is also known as knowing where the off button is. By Eric Schmidt Television Access Crisis World Blaring

Success is really about being ready for the good opportunities that come before you. It's not to have a detailed plan of everything that you're going to do. You can't plan innovation or inspiration, but you can be ready for it, and when you see it, you can jump on it. By Eric Schmidt Success Ready Good Opportunities Plan

A technical insight is a new way of applying technology or design that either drives down the cost or increases the functions and usability of the product by a significant factor. By Eric Schmidt Factor Technical Insight Applying Technology

In the Internet Century, a product manager's job is to work together with the people who design, engineer, and develop things to make great products. By Eric Schmidt Engineer Century Internet Design Manager

When things are running perfectly smoothly, with people and boxes on charts enjoying a one-to-one relationship, then the processes and infrastructure have caught up to the business. By Eric Schmidt Relationship Smoothly Business Things Running

The solution to government surveillance is to encrypt everything, By Eric Schmidt Solution Government Surveillance Encrypt

The thing that people seem to miss about not just Google, but also our competitors, Yahoo, eBay and so forth, is that there's an awful lot of communities that have never been served by traditional media. By Eric Schmidt Yahoo Google Competitors Ebay Media

If you could trade the bottom 10 percent of your team for new hires, would your organization improve? If so, then you need to look at the hiring process that yielded those low performers and see how you can improve it. By Eric Schmidt Bottom Percent Hires Improve Trade

Technology will move faster than governments, so don't legislate before you understand the consequences By Eric Schmidt Technology Governments Consequences Move Faster

To innovate, you must learn to fail well. Learn from your mistakes: By Eric Schmidt Innovate Learn Fail Mistakes

Of course, the world will be filled with gadgets, holograms that allow a virtual version of you to be somewhere else, and endless amounts of content, so there will be plenty of ways to procrastinate, too - but the point is that when you choose to By Eric Schmidt Gadgets Holograms Content Procrastinate World

Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool ... Brand affinity is clearly hard wired. It is so fundamental to human existence that it's not going away. It must have a genetic component. By Eric Schmidt Brands Solution Problem Brand Cesspool

Washington is an incumbent protection machine. Technology is fundamentally disruptive. By Eric Schmidt Washington Machine Incumbent Protection Technology

And the customer has a voice; provide a bad product or lousy service at your peril. By Eric Schmidt Voice Provide Peril Customer Bad

The result of all this turmoil is that product excellence is now paramount to business success - not control of information, not a stranglehold on distribution, not overwhelming marketing power (although these are still important). By Eric Schmidt Success Information Distribution Power Important

We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less know what you're thinking about; By Eric Schmidt Thinking

Technology is always evolving, and companies.. not just search companies.. can't be afraid to take advantage of change. By Eric Schmidt Companies Technology Evolving Change Search

There are some people who actually enjoy firing. Beware of them. Firing instills a culture of fear that will inevitably fail, and "I'll just fire them" is an excuse for not investing the time to execute the hiring process well. By Eric Schmidt People Enjoy Firing Beware Fail

Work-life balance. This is another touchstone of supposedly "enlightened" management practices that can be insulting to smart, dedicated employees. The phrase itself is part of the problem: For many people, work is an important part of life, not something to be separated. The best cultures invite and enable people to be overworked in a good way, with too many interesting things to do both at work and at home. By Eric Schmidt Worklife Balance Part Enlightened People

The trend has been mobile was winning. It's now won. By Eric Schmidt Winning Trend Mobile Won

Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value By Eric Schmidt Bitcoin Remarkable Cryptographic Achievement Ability

combining passion and contribution is a luxury: not that it's expensive, but just rare. It's something that many people either can't figure out By Eric Schmidt Combining Luxury Expensive Rare Passion

We call it the rule of seven. We've worked at other companies with a rule of seven, but in all of those cases the rule meant that managers were allowed a maximum of seven direct reports. The Google version suggests that managers have a minimum of seven direct reports (Jonathan usually had fifteen to twenty when he ran the Google product team). We still have formal organization charts, but the rule (which is really more of a guideline, since there are exceptions) forces flatter charts with less managerial oversight and more employee freedom. By Eric Schmidt Rule Google Reports Direct Call

This is why a venture capitalist will always follow the maxim of investing in the team, not the plan. Since the plan is wrong, the people have to be right. Successful teams spot the flaws in their plan and adjust. So By Eric Schmidt Plan Venture Capitalist Follow Maxim

Tom Lehrer line - "Life is like a sewer: What you get out of it depends on what you put into it"112 - and a promise that if they put real effort into the exercises, he will help them. By Eric Schmidt Life Lehrer Tom Line Sewer

Even if it's a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new and make a difference in your - and likely in others' lives as well. Yes is what keeps us all young. It's a tiny word that can do big things. Say it often. By Eric Schmidt Bit Edgy Zone Meet Comfort

It looks like the thing that separates out the capable students from the really successful ones is not so much their knowledge ... but their persistence at something, By Eric Schmidt Knowledge Thing Separates Capable Students

Give the wrong people a big challenge, and you'll induce anxiety. But give it to the right people, and you'll induce joy. By Eric Schmidt Challenge Anxiety Induce Give People

By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded. By Eric Schmidt Google Embedded Summer Majority Televisions

Google Maps are phenomenal. Yep, ask an Apple user. By Eric Schmidt Maps Yep Google Phenomenal Apple

Creating a meritocracy requires equal participation by both the hippo, who could rule the day by fiat, and the brave smart creative, who risks getting trampled as she stands up for quality and merit. By Eric Schmidt Creating Hippo Fiat Creative Merit

ego creates blind spots. By Eric Schmidt Ego Spots Creates Blind

No matter what a person's job is, they should be encouraged to have opinions about the business, industry, customers and partners, By Eric Schmidt Industry Business Customers Partners Matter

Half of Google's revenue comes from selling text-based ads that are placed near search results and are related to the topic of the search. Another half of its revenues come from licensing its search technology to companies like Yahoo. By Eric Schmidt Google Search Half Yahoo Selling

As Sun cofounder Bill Joy noted, no matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else. By Eric Schmidt Sun Bill Joy Noted Cofounder

What do we care about? What do we believe? Who do we want to be? How do we want our company to act and make decisions? By Eric Schmidt Care Decisions Company Act Make

I think to some degree one of the strengths of the high tech industry is that people are actually willing to tell you things. When I went to Novell, I didn't know how to be a CEO, so I went in and I called all sorts of CEOs I knew. I called in a favor. I wanted to come by and listen to them tell me what it's like to be a CEO. By Eric Schmidt Ceo Things Degree Strengths High

People are building communities of people who use video. They're sharing them. YouTube's traffic continues to grow very quickly. By Eric Schmidt People Video Building Communities Youtube

There clearly are cases where evil people exist, but you don't have to violate the privacy of every single citizen of America to find them. By Eric Schmidt America Exist Cases Evil People

I think it's pretty clear that the Internet as a whole has not had a strong notion of identity. And identity means, 'Who am I?' Fundamentally, what Facebook has done has built a way to figure out who people are. By Eric Schmidt Internet Identity Pretty Clear Strong

In the Internet Century, the objective of creating networks is not just to lower costs and make operations more efficient, but to create fundamentally better products. By Eric Schmidt Century Internet Efficient Products Objective

Android is ahead of the iPhone now, By Eric Schmidt Android Ahead Iphone

One advantage of hierarchical, process-laden organizations is that it's easy to figure out with whom you need to talk: Just look for the right box on the right chart, and you've got your person. But the steady state of a successful Internet Century venture is chaos. By Eric Schmidt Hierarchical Processladen Talk Chart Person

creativity loves constraints. By Eric Schmidt Creativity Constraints Loves

I think I could argue that the press has more impact on politics than corporations. By Eric Schmidt Corporations Argue Press Impact Politics

To me, what you want to do is find a way to let this play out between the virtual world and the physical world ... Ultimately, I think society will get there. It will be messy, but we'll get there. By Eric Schmidt World Find Play Virtual Physical

We're about to see an acceleration in technological platforms that, for marketers, will be on a scale rivalled only by the arrival of color TV. By Eric Schmidt Marketers Acceleration Technological Platforms Scale

There's been spying for years, there's been surveillance for years, and so forth, I'm not going to pass judgement on that, it's the nature of our society. By Eric Schmidt Years Society Spying Surveillance Pass

The Internet is fast becoming a cesspool where false information thrives. By Eric Schmidt Internet Thrives Fast Cesspool False

Every 2 days we create as much information as we did up to 2003. By Eric Schmidt Days Create Information

While people will do a good job in preparing something for the board's consumption, they will do a great job if they know that material will be shared with the entire company. By Eric Schmidt Job Consumption Company People Good

Your default mode should be to share everything By Eric Schmidt Default Mode Share

Say yes to more things. By Eric Schmidt Things

I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next. By Eric Schmidt Google Questions People Answer

I spend most of my time assuming the world is not ready for the technology revolution that will be happening to them soon, By Eric Schmidt Spend Time Assuming World Ready

Even though Google may do very well, there will always be an alternative to what Google is doing, and people will always have the free choice ... because there's no way for us to prevent them from exercising that choice. That is one of the key aspects of why the Internet has been so successful. No technologies can dominate. By Eric Schmidt Google Choice Alternative People Free

Countries that have the Internet already are not going to turn it off. And so the power of freedom, the power of ideas will spread, and it will change those societies in very dramatic ways. By Eric Schmidt Internet Countries Power Turn Freedom

The adult way to run a business is to run it more like a country. They have disputes, yet they've actually been able to have huge trade with each other. They're not sending bombs at each other. By Eric Schmidt Run Country Adult Business Disputes

A lot of the Google inventions came from engineers just screwing around with ideas. And then management would see them, and we'd say, 'Boy, that's interesting. Let's add some more engineers.' By Eric Schmidt Google Boy Ideas Lot Inventions

If you believe that the qualities defining you are carved in stone, you will be stuck trying to prove them over and over again, regardless of the circumstances. But if you have a growth mindset, you believe the qualities that define you can be modified and cultivated through effort. By Eric Schmidt Qualities Stone Circumstances Defining Carved

dissent must be an obligation, not an option. By Eric Schmidt Dissent Obligation Option

Remember, when you go to YouTube, you do a search. When you go to Google, you do a search. As we get the search integrated between YouTube and Google, which we're working on, it will drive a lot of traffic into both places. So the trick, overall, is generating more searches, more uses of Google. By Eric Schmidt Google Remember Search Youtube Places

And the more broadband we can get globally, the better. It's better for the world; it's better for our advertisers; it's better for Google. By Eric Schmidt Globally Broadband Google World Advertisers

A mind set in its ways is wasted. Don't do it. By Eric Schmidt Wasted Mind Set

The core problem is that the world is full of people who would like to take 99 per cent of the information that's on the Internet, and eliminate 1 per cent. Everyone has their own thing they don't like. By Eric Schmidt Internet Cent Eliminate Core Problem

I had always assumed that the right way to do it was to these engineers, put them in offices by themselves with doors that they could close so they could think deep thoughts. This is a terrible idea. By Eric Schmidt Engineers Put Thoughts Assumed Offices

None of us is as smart as all of as By Eric Schmidt Smart

Amazon has well passed any expectations of its ability to change distribution and marketing. By Eric Schmidt Amazon Marketing Passed Expectations Ability

There's a set of people who are intrinsic oppositionists to everything Google does. By Eric Schmidt Google Set People Intrinsic Oppositionists

If I give you a penny, then you're a penny richer and I'm a penny poorer, but if I give you an idea, then you will have a new idea but I'll have it too. By Eric Schmidt Penny Give Idea Poorer Richer

I still believe that sitting down and reading a book is the best way to really learn something. By Eric Schmidt Sitting Reading Book Learn

consensus is not about getting everyone to agree. Instead, it's about coming to the best idea for the company and rallying around it. By Eric Schmidt Consensus Agree Coming Idea Company

If you want better performance from the best, celebrate and reward it By Eric Schmidt Celebrate Performance Reward

Keep in mind, from the outset, that the best way to avoid having to fire underperformers is not to hire them. By Eric Schmidt Mind Outset Avoid Fire Underperformers

In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you. We need a [verified] name service for people. Governments will demand it. By Eric Schmidt Threats Verified World Asynchronous Dangerous

Dictatorial tendencies rarely contain themselves to just one aspect of work. By Eric Schmidt Dictatorial Work Tendencies Rarely Aspect

The Internet is really about highly specialized information, highly specialized targeting. By Eric Schmidt Internet Highly Specialized Information Targeting

The business should always be outrunning the processes, so chaos is right where you want to be. By Eric Schmidt Processes Business Outrunning Chaos

Stop being an idiot; all that matters is growth. By Eric Schmidt Stop Idiot Growth Matters

Google is very much a not-invented-here, build-it-ourselves culture. By Eric Schmidt Culture Google

If you forgo your plan, you also have to forgo fear. By Eric Schmidt Plan Fear Forgo

In a world where everything is remembered and everything is kept forever, you need to live for the future and things you really care about. By Eric Schmidt Forever World Remembered Live Future

information is costly to produce but cheap to reproduce. By Eric Schmidt Information Reproduce Costly Produce Cheap

What is your technical insight? By Eric Schmidt Insight Technical

If you are a manager, it's your responsibility to keep the work part lively and full; it's not a key component of your job to ensure that employees consistently have a forty-hour workweek. By Eric Schmidt Manager Full Workweek Responsibility Work

In a networked world, trust is the most important currency. By Eric Schmidt World Trust Currency Networked Important

You need to have confidence in your people, and enough self-confidence to let them identify a better way. By Eric Schmidt People Confidence Selfconfidence Identify

One person's definition of evil is another person's different definition. By Eric Schmidt Person Definition Evil

It's very difficult for governments to dominate the Internet because it's so difficult to control. People want to be free. People want to hear multiple voices. They want to make their own decisions. And people who see things will report things. By Eric Schmidt Internet Difficult People Control Governments

Ultimately, in the Internet, openness has always won. I cannot imagine that the current competitive environment would reverse that. By Eric Schmidt Ultimately Internet Openness Won Imagine

I leave out the parts that people skip. By Eric Schmidt Skip Leave Parts People

The lack of a delete button on the internet is a significant issue, By Eric Schmidt Issue Lack Delete Button Internet

The computing world is very good at things that we are not. It is very good at memory. By Eric Schmidt Good Computing World Things Memory

Perhaps it's human nature, or just corporate nature, but most people tend to think incrementally rather than transformationally or galactically. By Eric Schmidt Nature Galactically Human Corporate People

The self driving car is not self-aware. It's just driving; it's not thinking. By Eric Schmidt Selfaware Driving Car Thinking

People are surprised to find out that an awful lot of people think that they're idiots. By Eric Schmidt Idiots People Surprised Find Awful

Leadership requires passion. By Eric Schmidt Leadership Passion Requires

Innovative people do not need to be told to do it, they need to be allowed to do it. By Eric Schmidt Innovative People Told Allowed

In other words, if you can't win the game, change the rules. By Eric Schmidt Words Game Change Rules Win

Make sure you would work for yourself. By Eric Schmidt Make Work

If you have a child, you'll notice they have two states: asleep or online. By Eric Schmidt Child States Asleep Online Notice

Each country makes a different decision on adult pornography, but the good news is that even governments you hate, hate child pornography. By Eric Schmidt Pornography Hate Country Makes Decision

We say we're stubborn on vision and flexible on details. By Eric Schmidt Details Stubborn Vision Flexible

If you're going to make a law, make a law that actually works. It's extraordinarily difficult. By Eric Schmidt Make Law Works Difficult Extraordinarily

When the Internet publicity began, I remember being struck by how much the world was not the way we thought it was, that there was infinite variation in how people viewed the world. By Eric Schmidt World Internet Began Publicity Remember

Revenue solves all known problems.") By Eric Schmidt Revenue Problems Solves

(A frequent Eric aphorism during financial discussions: "Revenue solves all known problems.") By Eric Schmidt Revenue Eric Discussions Problems Frequent

There is a science to managing high tech businesses, and it needs to be respected. One of them is that in technology businesses, leadership is temporary. It's constantly recycling. So the asset has limited lifetime. By Eric Schmidt Businesses Respected Science Managing High

The Internet is the largest experiment involving anarchy in history. By Eric Schmidt Internet History Largest Experiment Involving

We are what we tweet. By Eric Schmidt Tweet

To be a thought leader, you have to have a thought. By Eric Schmidt Thought Leader

Eric once chatted with Warren Buffett about what he looks for when acquiring companies. His answer was: a leader who doesn't need him. By Eric Schmidt Warren Buffett Eric Companies Chatted

The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had. By Eric Schmidt Humanity Internet Understand Thing Built

General Electric CEO Jack Welch said in Winning: No vision is worth the paper it's printed on unless it is communicated constantly and reinforced with rewards. By Eric Schmidt Winning Electric Ceo Jack Welch

Twitter is not a technology company, it is a publishing company. By Eric Schmidt Company Twitter Technology Publishing

At the most senior level, the people with the greatest impact - the ones who are running the company - should be product people. By Eric Schmidt People Level Impact Company Senior

The Internet of things will augment your brain. By Eric Schmidt Internet Brain Things Augment

People assume that computers will do everything that humans do. Not good. People are different from each other and they are all really different from computers. By Eric Schmidt People Assume Humans Computers Good

Your car should drive itself. It's amazing to me that we let humans drive cars ... It's a bug that cars were invented before computers. By Eric Schmidt Drive Cars Computers Amazing Humans

It's because of this fundamental shift towards user-generated information that people will listen more to other people than to traditional resources. By Eric Schmidt Resources People Fundamental Shift Usergenerated

People are good at intuition, living our lives. What are computers good at? Memory. By Eric Schmidt People Intuition Living Lives Good

We run the company by questions, not by answers. By Eric Schmidt Questions Answers Run Company

You have to fight for your privacy or you lose it. By Eric Schmidt Fight Privacy Lose

If you think about YouTube, YouTube is a 'searching the world's videos' problem, right? They all have to be there, but how do you find them? What I guess I'm trying to say is that search is still the killer app. By Eric Schmidt Youtube Searching Problem World Videos

The most valuable result of 20 percent time isn't the products and features that get created, it's the things that people learn when they try something new. By Eric Schmidt Percent Created Valuable Result Time

If you focus on your competition, you will never deliver anything truly innovative. By Eric Schmidt Competition Innovative Focus Deliver

In general in technology, if you own a platform that's valuable, you can monetize it. By Eric Schmidt Technology Valuable General Platform Monetize