William Vincent Campbell Jr., known to the world as Bill Campbell, was a famous Silicon Valley coach. Bill Campbell mentored some of the biggest names like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg and Larry Page, among many others. Prior to becoming a legendary “coach” of Silicon Valley’s A listers, Bill Campbell was a football coach at Columbia University. Bill Campbell turned his attention towards the Silicon Valley after retiring from football and became the CEO of Intuit. He also became the VP of Marketing and a board director at Apple Inc. Campbell believed coaching is the best way to transform effective people into a powerful team. Respected by many, Bill Campbell taught many important lessons. Here are some important lessons by Bill Campbell about life and leadership.
1) Innovation is the key to success
According to the people who were mentored by him, Campbell always put more importance on innovations. He believed a company can really grow if it puts more focus on its R&D department. On Campbell’s advice, Intuit gave its engineers 4 hours every week to brainstorm and innovate. This resulted in Intuit’s engineers coming up with some really great ideas. Campbell believed people could come up with great ideas when given the necessary freedom and resources.
2) Trust is key
One important thing Campbell taught the top executives is to completely trust the people with whom you work. Campbell put more importance on building trust and it was the main reason why so many top executives were able to share every little detail with him. Campbell kept a powerful balance between his love for his colleagues and his business.
3) People are important
Bill Campbell is famous for his love for every single person working at his company. He deeply cared about the people he coached and people who worked for him and took a personal interest in everyone’s life. Campbell truly believed to be a good leader, you have to earn the respect of the people, instead of demanding it.
4) Be yourself
The most important lesson Bill Campbell taught everyone is to be true to yourself. He followed this advice himself as well. Despite being the CEO of a Company and being a mentor to some of the famous CEOs of the Silicon Valley, Campbell preferred working from an old sports bar in Palo Alto. People loved him for his simplicity.
Which life lessons from Bill Campbell did you find helpful? Comment below and let us know.