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Find the Smartest People in Your Organization

Eric Schmidt, the soon-to-be-former CEO of Google, will not stay long in his new position as the company's "executive chairman," whatever that is. How do I know? He's too smart not to fly GOOGS for a new challenge.

Here is what I mean. In 1997, Schmidt left his position as CTO of Sun Microsystems to head networking giant Novell. What he didn't anticipate was that company was in dire trouble, and his first job would be leading it through a massive turnaround. Here is the incredibly smart thing he did. He went hunting for the smartest people in the company to make sure he could a.) keep them at Novell, b.) listen to their insights on what was wrong and what needed to be done.

How do you find the smartest people in an organization? As we all know, intelligence does not always correspond to current job title. And in an technology company such as Novell, the real brilliant guys and gals are engineers hidden many layers below the top.

Here's how Schmidt found them, as he told Harvard Business Review in 2001.


Someday you, as a company leader, is going to have to identify the brightest bulbs in your organization. These are the people you want to make sure you keep happy. These are the people with whom you want to keep counsel.

And now you know how to find them.

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(Photo by Flickr user timlewisnm, CC 2.0)
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