Who is your coach?

Good morning everyone

In last week’s letter, I included quotations about love from Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul. Thank you to Maryse Barack who shared this quotation from Chilean biologist, Humberto Maturana,

“Love, allowing the other to be a legitimate other, is the only emotion that expands intelligence.”

I have sat with this quotation all week, with the challenge of what seeing another’s legitimacy means and the opportunity for growth that it presents in moments of disagreement.

Maturana co-authored the intriguing, but dense, Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Knowledge. If I am feeling brave one Sunday, I will attempt a synopsis of his thinking.

Today’s letter is about the power of advisors. Through the lens of Google and Airbnb’s CEOs, we look at their advisors and the impact they had.

STRATEGY

Eric Schmidt’s moment of humility

Bill Campbell coached both Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt. By Schmidt’s reckoning the businesses that Campbell coached are today worth at least $2 trillion.

I am reading The Trillion Dollar Coach. It was written by Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Alan Eagle in honour of the work that Campbell did. When I am done, I will share more.

For now, listen to this Tim Ferriss interview with Schmidt, the former CEO of Google. The first half is a fascinating account of the emergence of Silicon Valley as we know it today. In the second half, Schmidt explores how he came to work with Campbell and his impact on both Google and Apple.

He reflects somewhat wryly that, “In my first year at Google, John Doerr, who had placed me here at Google, said, ‘You need a coach.” And I said, ‘I don’t need a coach. I’m really good.’ And he said after some back and forth he said, ‘Well, do tennis players have coaches?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And then he got me. I had to say, ‘Okay.’ So, we met and then the rest is history.”

With rich anecdotes, he illustrates how Campbell enabled the Google executive team to successfully scale the business.

He says “The thing that he did is he understood how to coach teams of people who were, themselves, competitive with each other. And I mention this because you would assume that, if you go to a company, as you get higher and higher, you’re dealing with very sophisticated, very educated, very experienced, seasoned professionals; they all know what to do. Well, in fact, not only do they not know what to do, but they’re all caught up in their own politics and their own egos, and they disagree with each other, and they want to make their mark, and they want credit, and so forth. And a coach sorts that out…”

SELF

The making of a modern elder: Lessons from AirBnB

I recently finished Chip Conley’s Wisdom @ Work [The Making of a Modern Elder]. Conley had started and built one of the largest boutique hotel operations in the US, has published 5 books at the intersection of psychology and business and been Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy at Airbnb.

In Wisdom @ Work he analyses his experience of being the ‘elder’ in multi-generational tech-led Airbnb where he was recruited to add leadership, operational and industry-specific knowledge but needed to build trust.

He distils his experience into four lessons:

• Evolve;
• Learn;
• Collaborate; and
• Counsel.

The book is powerful reading. It’s a beautiful tapestry of personal experience and insights from psychology, strategy and spirituality. Whether you’re architecting a second career or leading teams of different generations, his stories and advice will provide you with many ‘a-ha’ moments. This statement resonated with me:

“Modern Elders often have deep domain expertise that can be helpful to an organisation, but only if you serve up that expertise with a humble mixture of teaching and learning.”

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says of Conley “He affirmed that we all have a story to share and something to learn from one another. That if we take the time to connect, we can learn anywhere and from anyone. And for me, there’s nothing more important or speaks more clearly to Airbnb’s mission than the lesson that we can all belong anywhere…”

Who is your Campbell or Conley?

Where in your life could you play that role for others?

Soul

Kayak with whales

One of the joys of living in Cape Town is that I’ve experienced the thrill of having Southern Rights and Humpbacks surfacing meters from my kayak.

Though I haven’t been on the water this month, this footage from Thursday was too good not to share. Nothing beats the sound and serenity of a whale. This video gives you a sense of being close to these beautiful animals whilst bobbing in a kayak.

Best wishes

Karl