Skip to main content

Google chairman Eric Schmidt's next book will tell you how to lead a tech company

Google chairman Eric Schmidt's next book will tell you how to lead a tech company

Share this story

eric schmidt stock
eric schmidt stock

Eric Schmidt will reveal stories and advice from how he led Google for a decade in an upcoming book. The former Google CEO's first book, The New Digital Age, was just released this past April, but Hachette imprint Business Plus announced today that he's already working on a new one due out next fall. Titled No Adult Supervision Required: How To Build Successful 21st Century Companies, the book will feature inside stories from Schmidt's time at Google and other companies, while focusing on his advice for executives and entrepreneurs looking to better manage their businesses.

"Parental supervision, to be honest."

Jonathan Rosenberg, a senior vice president at Google, will be co-writing the book. The title, however, suggests that much of its ethos comes straight from Schmidt: when announcing that he would be stepping away from his role as CEO to become Google's executive chairman, Schmidt sparked a bit of controversy when tweeting, "Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" As The Wall Street Journal reported at the time, it may have been a veiled reference to a 2001 interview in which Google founder Sergey Brin said that the reason for Schmidt's appointment as CEO was to provide "parental supervision, to be honest."

Unlike Schmidt's first book — which had a somewhat broader appeal — it looks like No Adult Supervision Required will be targeted largely toward businesses-minded individuals looking for some of his wisdom. "Getting products right requires attracting and managing a new breed of technically-savvy workforce, and this book offers a practical and accessible guide for how to do that," Schmidt says in a statement. Those looking for more dirt from Schmidt's time at Google may just have to hope for another book, but if he can keep up this writing pace, it may not take all that long.