I also think this article has the wrong take; Eric Schmidt was always training wheels for Larry to learn how to run a multi-billion dollar company. I don't think he trusted himself and he honestly seems like a pretty risk-averse guy. Realistically he hasn't been a "Wartime CEO" at all; Google has made a lot of money by making a lot of safe choices. But there are lots of safe choices to be made when you've built a moat as big as they have.