Eric Schmidt and the Google Triumvirate

A few weeks ago, I learned that Google was not only run by its CEO Eric Schmidt, but also by its founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page… as a triumvirate! It’s impressive that they’ve been so successful so far with such leadership. I attribute it to their vision. However, it’s of little surprise to me that Eric Schmidt is stepping down.

According to Techcrunch:

“For the last 10 years, we have all been equally involved in making decisions. This triumvirate approach has real benefits in terms of shared wisdom, and we will continue to discuss the big decisions among the three of us. But we have also agreed to clarify our individual roles so there’s clear responsibility and accountability at the top of the company,” Schmidt continues. In other words, he seems to be saying that while he was CEO, it was really a joint effort among the three to run the company. And now, in order to move quicker, they need one leader to make the decisions. And that will be Page.

Now the statement about moving quicker was Techcrunch’s conclusion, but I agree. My business partner Brian wrote an article about this topic recently. His conclusion was also that one business leader is better than many in an organization essentially because they can make mistakes faster and pivot. Instead of wasting time try to gather a consensus. I’m starting to agree more and more with this sentiment. Reflect7 definitely moves slower than we should; I think because of this.

What are your thoughts? Do you have business partners? If so, how do you run your company?