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REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt
Take Jared Smith, the cofounder of up-and-coming survey startup Qualtrics, who worked for Schmidt both at Novell and Google. By watching Schmidt, Smith learned a lot about managing people, he tells Business Insider.
"A simple thing he taught me: when you are in a meeting, be very careful what you comment on, because if you say too much, people won't know what's important," Smith says.
In other words: Anytime your colleagues or staff are presenting information to you, if you comment on every idea or every slide, they won't know what's most important to you. So reserve your comments for only the things you want them to focus on and that's the feedback everyone will remember and that's what they'll work on.