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Drinking the Kool-Aid(TM)
Google is all over the place this week. I saw a blurb on CBS "This Morning", where they were interviewing the founders and the head technology guy. Mostly interesting.
Most notable quote, the head tech expresses Google's core values: "don't be evil". Don't mix paid search advertising in with search results.
However, I was miffed by the "GooglePlex", the name for the Google campus/fraternity/sorority house. OK, so you've built this "biosphere" type environment where the employees never have to leave. You can get free health care, free gourmet food, free massage, etc. All wonderful.
Doesn't anyone else think that this promotes the worst forms of inbreeding?
. I'm wonderfully treated, I must be god's gift...
. No reason to leave campus, no reasone to meet anyone else.
. Here's to us, and them like us...
Seen it with one of my former employers and their arrogant minions, made me wanna puke. I like Google - in fact love Google - but someday I may I may despise them.
They may yet embrace evil.
hoser
Monday, March 29, 2004
I think they're young enough and hiring enough new people that they won't become stagnant for a while -- but I agree that eventually enough minds will be closed to anything but the corporate mantra that it’ll catch up to them.
MR
Monday, March 29, 2004
Free _sex_ too, or do they have to pay for this at least?
Fred
Monday, March 29, 2004
One of the profs from Rutgers is currently working at Google and is giving a talk this Friday.
http://www.dcis.rutgers.edu/cs/general/colloquia/current/04.2.04.html
Here it the link to the directions: http://www.dcis.rutgers.edu/cs/general/directions.html
Anyone interested?
Prakash S
Monday, March 29, 2004
I think "drinking the Kool-Aid" as you describe it is endemic to almost all technology companies that try to create a "meritocratic" culture.
Almost everyone who succeeds to even a modest extent in the technology business is just a "little" (IE a lot) arrogant. The same can be said of companies, which are basically reflections of the owner's thinking.
I think that age, the school of hard knocks, and maturity do a lot to make people lose the attitude. Unfortunately for our industry, we're permeated with success stories of people who backed into success without much real effort or dues paid. So there aren't a lot of hard knocks stories around. Most huge successes, like Google, Dell, Microsoft, or many of the dot com plays, were achieved by people in their 20s and 30s who didn't have to deal with big personal or business setbacks, just monotonically increasing "personal greatness" and adulation from others over their self evident brilliance.
When you don't work very hard for a reward, you tend to think you're chosen of God...
Bored Bystander
Monday, March 29, 2004
If you think Googleplex is bad, try 1 Inifinite Loop (apple)
pdq
Monday, March 29, 2004
How is that worse than:
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
USA
danielsn
Monday, March 29, 2004
Oh, I didn't answer your question....maybe it is the way the media is projecting google, and not the people working at google!
Prakash S
Monday, March 29, 2004
Nahh...
It seems that making _way_ more money than they need brings arrogance to most people (though not all of them), but bringing them to their knees by suddenly taking away the money (say, by a tanking economy or bad business judgement) dosn't take away the arrogance.
Not a Capitalist
Monday, March 29, 2004
Bored Bystander
If you think that Dell has never suffered a setback, you need to reread your business history.
http://www.forbes.com/2001/12/11/1211richest_print.html
read the bit at the bottom about brink of Dell almost collapsing in '93. Too lazy to look for more articles, but it really has not always been plain sailing.
Tapiwa
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
How much money does one need???
Tapiwa
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
>How much money does one need???
Pretty good answer:
Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin
Not a Capitalist
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
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