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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Working with Internet Giant, Google - Part 10 (Finale)

Ultimately, talents and graduates line up to work with the companies and employers of the year, and the Google brand name is always prominent in the internet business. For any company or employer to be attractive towards drawing top talents, perhaps its time to focus on building the intangible value of your brand, like how Avinash Kaushik would explain with his experience of working with Google in this Series Finale. 
# 1: The brand.
My son Chirag will be four in a couple months. The first word he could spell without looking at it was G O O G L E. I think he was two and half.
I don't wear too many Google shirts, I don't have too much Google stuff. He had visited Google a couple of times, he loves walking around, looking at stuff etc. As a result he has this deeply favorable view of the Google "brand".
I was impressed. Remember this is a little kid (he can spell more things now!).
The interesting thing is that the Google brand has the same effect on people of all ages. There is a thriving cottage industry in sub optimal google thoughts, but for the most part people have a wonderful positive response when you tell them you work for Google (even as a consultant!).
My friend Blaire was telling me how she gets stopped and asked nice things when she is wearing the Google "girl power" t-shirt. That's branding.
google doodles
People have a positive opinion of Google and it transfers to your sense of pride in your company. Goes to show if you just produce a good product it can translate into something remarkable (something worth remarking).

Google is amongst a select list of companies that will look good on your resume for some time to come, there is little doubt about that.
Phew, deep breath.
That's the top ten reflecting on my own experience as a consultant at Google.
There are other things that full time employees might list, the 20% time, or 401k or health insurance or otherbenefits.
A parting thought. . . .
Google is 10 years old. Just 10 years old. The top ten list above illustrates perhaps some of why it has become so good so fast. Some things above are hard to do, but most big companies (say Fortune 1,000 atleast) can easily do all of them. Yet they don't.
The net net of all of the above is, IMHO, that Google is a faith based initiative. If you treat your employees exceptionally and give them room to breath, then they will reward you exceptionally.
What about the future?
google 3
What the company and its people have accomplished thus far is simply astounding.
But it has yet to face a shock, yet to truly feel pressured, yet to miss earnings for a couple of quarters.
It will.
It is not a question of if, it is a question of when. Circle of life.
It faces many challenges. It is doing many things right and it is probably doing other things wrong, and it does not know it yet. Time will tell.
There is a famous quote used by the great Warren Buffett. . . .
      "It's not until the tide goes out that you realize who's swimming naked ."
Google's greatness, and longevity, will be determined by not what it would have done until that point. But what it does when the tide goes out. Which perks go first, who makes the first sacrifices, what happens to the list of 10 above?
I am hopeful, based on my experience, that it will make the right choices.
Note: We would like to thank Avinash Kaushik for writing in such a detail and a pleasure to read about his 11 months work experience in Google, voted the most innovative company in the world. Thank you again and we are sure, the readers would agree. 

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