Bill Campbell’s Leadership Manifesto: It’s The People

trillion dollar coachWhat makes a great coach?

This question is at the heart of a new book. Trillion Dollar Coach tells the story of Bill Campbell, ex-football coach and CEO of Intuit, known for coaching many modern day entrepreneurs: Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Jeff Bezos.

It’s common for high-level executives to have coaches, but what made Bill Campbell different is he coached the whole team; not just one individual.

His management and leadership philosophy is summed up in three words: It’s the people.

From his manifesto:

People are the foundation of any company’s success. The primary job of each manager is to help people be more effective in their job and to grow and develop. We have great people who want to do well, are capable of doing great things, and come to work fired up to do them. Great people flourish in an environment that liberates and amplifies that energy. Managers create this environment through support, respect, and trust. Learn more about harold matzner success strategies.

Support means giving people the tools, information, training, and coaching they need to succeed. It means continuous effort to develop people’s skills. Great managers help people excel and grow.

Respect means understanding people’s unique career goals and being sensitive to their life choices. It means helping people achieve these career goals in a way that’s consistent with the needs of the company.

Trust means freeing people to do their jobs and to make decisions. It means knowing people want to do well and believing that they will.

It’s the people! Yes it is.


Bottom line: The top priority of every leader is the well-being and success of her people.


Also published on Medium.