Don't Mention Becoming A Millionaire
Piece in Newsweek that makes me wonder about PR spin. Its an interview with Eric Schmidt, taking as his sermon text "Ten Golden Rules"
"Getting the most out of knowledge workers will be the key to business success for the next quarter century. Here's how we do it at Google". He then proceeds to go through the list, but somehow fails to mention that you can become a millionaire at Google, which probably is more of an employee driving factor than any other I know. He also lets objectivity get away from him on his point 8!
Quote:
Don't be evil. Much has been written about Google's slogan, but we really try to live by it, particularly in the ranks of management. As in every organization, people are passionate about their views. But nobody throws chairs at Google, unlike management practices used at some other well-known technology companies. We foster to create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect, not a company full of yes men.
- Y! MyWeb
jthats an interesting read
lots of warm and fluffy sentiment here about how workers drive everything and play a part in all the decisions from hiring to what products to develop to what to Sergey should have for lunch and then we have
Are they actually all Borg or is that a contradiction?
motivation for article
I'd imagine they didn't mention employees' potential to become millionaires because the piece is aimed at people who own or may buy Google shares. It reassures people that the company is being run well etc. Shareholders want to become millionaires themselves!
Not all Borg
Gurtie, the workers do drive an awful lot, and a lot of stuff happens bottom up. That time the CEO spent in the same office with an engineer is because that engineer took some initiative. I've realized the wisdom of the saying "you can't manage what you can't measure," but I have seen several decisions based on trusting an experienced person's intuition. Luckily, those decisions turned out to be right. :)
lol
Matt you take me way too seriously sometimes :)
But if your headline is "Not all Borg" does that mean that some are??? there's a GHN article in this somewhere.... hmm.... and there was I was focussing on the 'eat your own dogfood' angle.
lighten up guys
Of more concern, is the way Google works hand in glove with the National Security Agencies tracking us all.
Otherwise it is a bunch of really, really smart people with a mountain of cash and a very good way of doing things. Google is an example of the new organisation.
Like the internet, they are a lot less structurally vertical than almost any other large company I've ever seen.
Google is a threat to the wolf outriders (us) as not only are these guys smart but they are organised as a group.
Think of Napoleon's armies as an innovation in human organisation and Google as another such innovation in human organisation for a different century. Rarely was so much wealth created so quickly - and with control of an enormous territory, albeit in cyberspace.
Of course, like Napoleon, Google could overreach and suddenly fall. But most empires do not fade so quickly.
In any case, a lot of the griping here about Google seems to be naught but envy. Hounds baying and scraping for the scraps which fall from the Lord's table.