Googliness - The Culture of Google
Updated: Oct 22, 2020
This is the fourth and final part of a series about Google, based on the book How Google Works, by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg. In this final post, I’ll cover Google culture; I’ll touch on where culture comes from, how you can build great teams with culture, and cultural leadership. I’ll also explain what it means to be a smart creative and how important company culture is to attract and retain top talent.
Culture and success go hand in hand, and if you don’t believe in your own slogans you won’t get very far. Think about your own company mission statement for a minute. Is it filled with the typical business jargon?
“Our mission is to build unrivalled partnerships with and value for our clients, through the knowledge, creativity, and dedication of our people, leading to superior returns to our shareholders.”
Mission statements like the one above from Lehman Brothers are neither authentic, nor inspirational. Customers and employees dream in imagery, not blocks of text. Mission statements should not be exercises in checking off boxes; did we cover customers - check, employees - check, shareholders - check. Rather, they should be authentic answers to the questions of why, who, and what. Why do we do what we do, who do we do it for, and what is the product or service that provides proof of our purpose.
Consider these mission statements instead:
JetBlue: To inspire humanity – both in the air and on the ground
TED: Spread ideas
Warby Parker: To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses
Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy
LinkedIn: To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful
These mission statements are authentic, succinct, and clearly convey why the company exists. A good mission statement will also inspire employees and give them a guiding light to latch onto when making difficult business decisions. It gives them a purpose to work and connects them closer to the why, who, and what. Business plans aren’t nearly as important as the pillars upon which they are built.
Where Does Culture Come From?
How do you instill culture into a company? Is culture something that comes from leadership or the employees? Or is it something that just happens over time?
Culture stems from the founders but is reflected in the team the founders form. Most companies don’t start with establishing the type of culture they want. Instead, they launch a product or service and try to develop a culture after the company becomes successful. At that point it may be left up to the HR or PR department to attempt to codify the culture and this is how the mission statements filled with empty business jargon get created.
It is very hard to change a culture after one has been established so it’s vitally important to get it right from the beginning. A self-selection tendency will set in - people who believe in the same things the company does will want to work there, while people who don’t believe in the company values, won’t. If a company believes in a culture of open and honest communication, it will attract like minded employees. However, if a company starts to push a hierarchical and bureaucratic culture, it will have a hard time getting employees to go along with the change.
Once you have your culture established, how do you maintain it? One often overlooked but important part of establishing and maintaining a company culture is the office space. Your office space should be designed for maximum interactions, not for isolation and status. Many corporate offices today have a similar design; managers on the perimeter of the building with office size varying according to status, and junior employees in open cubicles scattered throughout the interior spaces of the building. This type of interior design establishes a culture in and of itself; manager’s doors act as barriers to keep people out.
Smart employees thrive on interaction and the free flow of information and ideas. The steady state of the office environment should be energetic, crowded, and brimming with energy, not quite, where the only employee interaction is via meetings. Employees should still have a place to retire to when they have had enough group stimulation - outdoor space, kitchens, conference rooms, etc. But when they come back to their desk, they are surrounded by teammates.
An interesting way to make the office space fun is to allow employees to decorate their space. In 2010 Google ran an art wall contest with the winning team getting a nice dinner and donation to a charity of their choice. It was a great team building activity that Googlers worked on in their free time with very little investment from the company. Check out the videos of all the unique designs on the Google blog.
Culture Creates Amazing Teams
Does your company foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement or does leadership think those things are a waste of time and take focus away from your job? As a leader you should create opportunities for every employee to be constantly learning new things, (even skills that are not directly beneficial to the company) and then expect the employee to apply the newly learned skill. Google defines their ideal candidate as someone who prefers roller coasters - ones who keep learning. So set learning goals for your employees and then expect them to use their knowledge.
Think about how teams are organized in your physical office space. If your company is like most, then groups of people sit together based on title rather than sitting together as cross functional teams - the finance department, marketing, engineering, etc. But this is not the way we actually work. Product managers for example, are responsible for working with team members from engineering, R&D, procurement, to design, develop, and launch a product to market. This type of set up, promotes a culture of transparency and a sharing of ideas across divisions.
Imagine you’re a product manager and you get a call from your boss. He says, one of the VP’s suggested that we add a specific new feature to an existing product. You know this feature will substantially increase costs and reduce the product margin. You present the data to your boss but he tells you to do the project anyway, after all the request came directly from a VP and we can’t say no to him. Does this situation sound familiar? Is the culture at your company to listen to the highest paid person’s opinion, or it is the quality of the idea that matters, not who suggests it? Google describes the later culture as one of meritocracy.
A meritocratic culture is one where everyone feels empowered to voice their opinion; it demolishes the culture of fear. It’s important to note that a meritocracy is not a democracy - there is no voting taking place. Ideas are adopted based on an earned right - those people who have built a reputation and who have proven themselves in the past. How would you describe those people? For Google, they are the smart creatives.
The Smart Creative
Who are smart creatives? It's not some new term for a millennial, or someone who needs a pool table in the office and free beers at 5pm. A smart creative is not averse to taking risks, she doesn’t keep quiet when she disagrees with something, and she gets bored easily and changes roles often. The smart creative possess business savvy, technical knowledge, creative energy, and a hands-on approach to getting things done. They place culture at the top of their priority list. To be effective at work, they need to care about the work that they're doing. This is why, when starting a new company, culture is the most important thing to consider. A smart creative needs to understand and believe in the “why” of the company she is working for.
Smart creatives want to get things done and as a result prefer a flat organization as opposed to one with many levels - they need direct access to the decision makers in the company. They are not hemmed in by role definitions or org structure and are not afraid to share their own ideas. If you want to attract and retain smart creatives the trick is to not let them get too comfortable - always come up with ways to make their job interesting.
Being a Leader (not a manager)
We’ve seen how culture drives teams to perform their best and how culture attracts and retains smart creatives. As mentioned before culture is created from the founders of the organization and is embodied by everyone on the team. That is why it's vitally important that you hire the right leaders for your business. What is the difference between a manager and leader? A manager tells people what to do and even sometimes how to do it, whereas a leader operates by example. A leader in a company sets the tone for how things are done, he makes the work environment a safe place for others to speak up and express their opinions without prejudice.
Your title makes you a manager. Your people make you a leader
As a leader you need to be more than an individual contributor; you need to place the company’s and team's interests above your own. The character of a company is the sum of all the people who work there. So if you want a stellar company, you have to set that standard for your employees.
Leaders at Google have a “follow me” mentality. When you’re a leader, employees are always watching and picking up on even the smallest of cues - does he pick up trash on the floor, does he clean the lunch room table when he makes a mess? When you lead by example it shows that you care about the company. Your employees will see this and follow suit. Here is a good example from Eric Schmidt, “When you’re a leader everyone is watching, so it doesn’t matter that you dance poorly, it matters that you dance”. He said this in reference to a dance party that was held at the Google office with K-pop star PSY.
Think back to when you were in middle school. Maybe you played softball or soccer. Or maybe you were a gymnast or a bowler. Whatever it was, you had a coach - someone to observe your actions and give you guidance on how to improve your performance. Fast forward to today, do you have a leadership coach? Business leaders need coaches just as much as middle school athletes do. A business coach can provide an outside perspective on your particular situation. Anyone who says they don’t need a coach does not understand the value one provides.
What You Can Take Away
Mission statements should be authentic and inspirational. Keep them concise and don’t fill them with business jargon.
Culture comes from the founders and is reflected in the leadership team they choose. Create your culture wisely, as it’s very difficult to change a culture after it has been established.
A great culture leads to a great team. Great teams thrive in transparent, honest, and safe environments.
Smart creatives are the new knowledge workers and you want them on your team. They are driven to succeed and need a great culture to thrive. They need to understand and believe in the “why”.
Even the most tenured executive needs a coach. Coaches are able to observe you in action and provide feedback that you yourself may not be aware of. No one is too senior to stop learning.
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