Eric Schmidt says a firm of 10,000 could cut a couple thousand people
20% of knowledge workers could be cut
Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said on the In Good Company podcast, in remarks first reported on October 21, 2026, that AI platforms can remove much of the coordination tax large organizations pay, the time spent in meetings and aligning teams. He recalled that his job at Google was 12 hours of meetings a day. He guessed that a company of 10,000 people has a couple of thousand it does not need, and described a friend who cut a fifth of his staff, including what Schmidt called ‘glue people’ who plan and coordinate across teams. He said invention, sales and leadership remain.
Alan's takeSchmidt has wanted to get rid of 'glue people' since at least 2015, long before AI gave him a reason. But coordination isn't a job category; it's part of every knowledge worker's job. Spreadsheets didn't remove the math people, they moved the math into everyone's work and changed what analysts do. Yes, AI can eliminate many coordination hours. But cutting people without first distilling their jobs, separating the judgment from the routine, will cut the judgment too. It’s also worth knowing that Schmidt owns about 1% of Anthropic, so weigh his case against 'glue people' accordingly.