Making Google a great place to work has been the plan from the get-go. Co-founder Sergey Brin reveals that even as the company is supersizing itself, it's doing all it can to stay Googley.
Google is unabashedly engineering-centric. Doesn't that irritate the nonengineers?
The fact that we are fairly engineering centric has been misinterpreted to mean that somehow the other functions are less important. The fact is that we want everybody in the company to be innovative. You can see that in our legal or financial work - with the IPO, for example - and with our compensation systems.
Google seems to enjoy thumbing its nose at the outside world. True?
It's important for people to always ask, "Why not?" What's accepted is often arbitrary.
As it gets bigger, does Google risk becoming less zany?
Definitely. At the same time, we have far more resources. If we decided that we need to have a big island for some operations tomorrow, we could afford to buy an island. We have no such plans. But the resources do give us opportunities.
What types of people fail at Google?
I think you have to be flexible. For example, we don't usually tell people what they're working on until they show up, because our priorities might change. So somebody who's really obsessed and needs to know, 'I'm going to be working on X' probably wouldn't enjoy it.
What happens to the culture when Google no longer has the wind at its back?
I think we're going to have our cycles. There's no getting around it. But if you really believe in your mission and your values, as we do, then you ride through the tough times.
Google is unabashedly engineering-centric. Doesn't that irritate the nonengineers?
The fact that we are fairly engineering centric has been misinterpreted to mean that somehow the other functions are less important. The fact is that we want everybody in the company to be innovative. You can see that in our legal or financial work - with the IPO, for example - and with our compensation systems.
Google seems to enjoy thumbing its nose at the outside world. True?
It's important for people to always ask, "Why not?" What's accepted is often arbitrary.
As it gets bigger, does Google risk becoming less zany?
Definitely. At the same time, we have far more resources. If we decided that we need to have a big island for some operations tomorrow, we could afford to buy an island. We have no such plans. But the resources do give us opportunities.
What types of people fail at Google?
I think you have to be flexible. For example, we don't usually tell people what they're working on until they show up, because our priorities might change. So somebody who's really obsessed and needs to know, 'I'm going to be working on X' probably wouldn't enjoy it.
What happens to the culture when Google no longer has the wind at its back?
I think we're going to have our cycles. There's no getting around it. But if you really believe in your mission and your values, as we do, then you ride through the tough times.
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