The Story of Eric Schmidt and Google
硅谷神话Google的缔造者埃里克·施密特
Eric Schmidt made a move that surprised many in dot-com circles when he became the chief executive officer of Google，the phenomenally successful web search engine. Google had quickly garnered a cult following for its clean interface and speedy results，and was set to become the high-tech industry’s next stellar financial success. Schmidt，a veteran of computer manufacturer Sun Microsystems and Novell，the software maker，was considered the ideal visionary to guide Google into a period of growth and maturation as a business.
Schmidt was born in l955 and graduated from Princeton University in l976 with a degree in electrical engineering. He then earned a graduate degree in engineering from the University of California at Berkeley，and a doctorate in computer science from there as well. In l983 he was hired at Sun Microsystems，a Silicon Valley computer maker that was still a very young company.
Sun quickly emerged as an industry leader. Schmidt began there as a software manager，and in l991，he was named head of Sun Technology Enterprises，an arm of the company charged with exploring future directions in new technologies. He returned to Sun proper in 1994 as its chief technology officer，and as such Schmidt has been credited with helping make the Java programming language ubiquitous to the web in the late 1990s.
Schmidt left Sun to take a job at Novell in 1997.Hired as its new chief executive officer，Schmidt faced a formidable task: to reverse the declining fortunes of this software manufacturer.
When Schmidt arrived at Novell in March of l997，its stock price was sinking，but he felt that the core leadership and vision was still there.“I’ve done my due diligence and concluded there’s tremendous technology inside the company and we need to get it out as fast as we can，”he said.“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me.”Schmidt liked to sell Novell software himself personally to CEOs around the world，and during his first year on the job logged more than 250，000 air miles. By mid-l998，Novell’s fortunes had improved after Schmidt helped it renew focus on its core business.
In March of 200l，Schmidt surprised many when he became board chair of Google，Inc.，the California-based Internet search engine.“I just liked the company，”Schmidt recalled.“It’s as simple as that.”Five months later，he was made Google’s new CEO. Google was founded in 1998 by two Stanford University doctoral students，Larry Page and Sergey Brinn. It began as a search service for the techie insiders，but quickly caught on with more and more web users for its uncluttered look and impressively quick search results. And it was soon one of the top 15 most-visited websites.“They’re，the eBay of information，”a Morgan Stanley analyst，told Fortune.“You go to eBay to find things that are hard to find. You go to Google to find informaton that is hard to find.”
Succeeding Page as CEO，Schmidt was viewed as the leader who would make Google the next Yahoo or Amazon.com. Schmidt felt at home at the company，which boasts 50 employees with Ph.D.s among a staff of 400. Google’s iconoclasm was evident in all aspects of the company—from the absence of large banner，ads on its search page to the motorized scooters that employees rode inside headquarters.
Over the next few months，Google’s fortunes only continued to escalate. The nature of the web meant that search engines themselves，while widely used，were tough to make profitable. Google was performing about 150 million searches a day (or l，800 per second) which takes an immense amount of computing power. Google did sell what are known as“click-through”ads (if a search engine query is “tennis shoes，”for example，a small Nike ad will appear). These small ads were only words，not images，which cut page-loading time immnsely.
With Schmidt at the helm，Google is aggressively trying to leverage its reach technology，and advertiser base. The ultimate goal is “To enable you to find anything you are looking for anywhere，”Schmidt says.
Most Friday afternoons，Google employees worldwide can tune in for a Q&A with co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. “People ask anything from‘What is our specific direction in this area? ’to‘Why has the soda(in the snack rooms) changed?’” says Stacy Sullivan，director of human resources and chief culture officer.Google’s focus on maintaining a“flat organization”where any employee can address company co-founders on a weekly basis.
In addition to its perks and meritocratic culture，Google is in tune with the increasing importance people place on work-life balance. The company provides an on-site doctor and dentist at headquarters and even allows employees to bring their dogs to work.