A short life of the author
Eric Emerson Schmidt (born 27 April 1955) is an American technology executive and author who served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 — the period during which Google transformed from a search engine startup into one of the most powerful companies in history — and as executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet. His books, written with various co-authors, offer insider perspectives on digital technology, corporate culture, and the geopolitical implications of artificial intelligence.
Career
Schmidt was born in Falls Church, Virginia, and raised in Blacksburg and Arlington, Virginia. He studied electrical engineering at Princeton (B.S.) and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley (M.S. and Ph.D.). He held technology positions at Bell Labs, Zilog, and Xerox PARC before becoming CTO and then CEO of Novell.
In 2001, he was recruited by Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to serve as CEO — providing the “adult supervision” that the company’s venture capitalists wanted. Under Schmidt’s leadership, Google launched Gmail, Google Maps, Google News, Chrome, Android, and YouTube (via acquisition), grew from 200 employees to over 32,000, and went public in 2004. He stepped down as CEO in 2011 but remained executive chairman until 2017.
Schmidt has been active in government advisory roles, serving on the Defense Innovation Board and chairing the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (2019–2021). His personal wealth, derived primarily from Google stock, has made him one of the richest people in the world.
The New Digital Age (2013)
Co-authored with Jared Cohen, a former State Department advisor, The New Digital Age examines how the internet and digital technology are reshaping geopolitics, governance, warfare, privacy, and revolution. The book drew on Schmidt and Cohen’s travels to countries experiencing political upheaval — Libya, Myanmar, North Korea — and attempted to forecast how technology would transform conflict, identity, and state power.
The book was praised for its scope and criticised for its techno-optimism — its faith that connectivity would generally promote freedom and democracy. Subsequent events, including the rise of authoritarian digital surveillance and social media-fuelled disinformation, have complicated many of its predictions.
How Google Works (2014)
Co-authored with Jonathan Rosenberg (Google’s former SVP of Products), How Google Works is a management book that describes Google’s corporate culture, hiring practices, strategic decision-making, and innovation processes. The book introduces the concept of “smart creatives” — the type of employee that Google seeks — and describes the company’s approach to product development, meetings, and organisational structure.
The book is breezy and anecdotal, more corporate memoir than analytical treatise. It is most valuable as a primary document about how Google’s leadership understood and justified the company’s distinctive culture during its period of greatest growth.
Trillion Dollar Coach (2019)
Co-authored with Rosenberg and Alan Eagle, Trillion Dollar Coach is a biography of Bill Campbell, the executive coach who advised the leaders of Google, Apple, and other Silicon Valley companies. Campbell, who died in 2016, was a behind-the-scenes figure whose influence on Silicon Valley leadership was enormous.
The Age of AI (2021)
Co-authored with Henry Kissinger and Daniel Huttenlocher (dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing), The Age of AI examines the implications of artificial intelligence for society, geopolitics, and human identity. The book argues that AI represents a transformation as fundamental as the invention of printing or the Enlightenment, and that existing institutions and frameworks are inadequate to manage its consequences.
Collecting Schmidt
How Google Works (2014, Grand Central) in first edition brings $10–$25. The Age of AI (2021, Little, Brown) brings $10–$20. Schmidt’s books are widely available and modestly priced.