A few days before Thanksgiving, I used this space to put forward the long-held (in my mind) notion that Eric Schmidt, when he left Novell to take the top spot at Google in 2001, committed the single greatest career move in the history of career moves.
As a consequence, I argued, any great career move on the part of anyone should be known as "a Schmidt."
(2011's 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries)
Yesterday's news that Schmidt will be vacating Google's CEO position in favor of company co-founder Larry Page (and a new title for Schmidt of executive chairman) detracts not one iota from my theory about the usefulness of "a Schmidt" as an idiom. In fact, I believe this change only strengthens it.
Think about it: Schmidt is handing Page the reins with Google as high on the business mountaintop as any company not named Apple could possibly be.
If Google goes on to further expansion of its world dominance, Schmidt will receive his fair share of the credit.
If Google goes all Yahoo on us, Page will take the blame.
Either way, a Schmidt remains a Schmidt until someone comes along and tops it.
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