In a panel on ‘Open Innovation’ at the DLD Conference, moderated by Fast Company’s Linda Tischler, Google’s Marissa Mayer was asked about Eric Schmidt‘s transition to a new role at the company, handing over the reins to co-founder Larry Page.
Mayer:
For a long time, Google has been run by a triumvirate, and last week we announced a reshuffling. It’s important to stress that roles have changed, but Larry, Eric and Sergey will continue to lead the company.
There’s been a lot of speculation about this in the press and beyond, but we’re genuinely excited about the changes. Let’s not forget Larry has been CEO of Google before.
Schmidt tweeted something amusing about the reshuffle, saying ‘adult supervision was no longer needed’. It was meant as a joke, but I’m personally really excited to see the more mature management side of Larry.
Larry’s passion has always been products, so he’ll be focused a lot on the technical part of the equation, and execution across the board.
(Other panel members included Beth Comstock, the CMO of GE, Kohei Nishiyama, founder of Elephant Design and Jens Martin Skibsted, partner of KiBiSi.)