Google's former CEO on why the company was caught off guard by OpenAI
theverge.com
theverge.com
> I’m sorry to be so blunt [...] But the fact of the matter is, if you all leave the university and go found a company, you’re not gonna let people work from home and only come in one day a week if you want to compete against the other startups. [0]
Hold up, so stuff like WFH policies are to blame for the company losing its edge and not being head-to-head with "other startups"?
I thought it was because Alphabet Incorporated wasn't directly competing with "startups" was because it was a structurally different kind of company that works in fundamentally different ways because it's publicly traded (GOOG) and employs ~150,000 people! How silly of me!
This doesn't work once people have families/lives. You're going to exclude a lot of more experienced people with this mindset.
You want a bunch of 20 somethings to hack a product together cool, but in my 30s I'm not working 70 hour weeks.
I have a dream of creating a 4 day work week company geared towards people who understand time is more important than money. We'd pay less than market, but encourage people to get things done while actually at work.
The modern workplace is outdated. Butt in chair != productivity. An adult who needs to take off at 3 to pick up their kids can be just as effective as someone who sits around making small talk until 6.
I do work at a 4 day work week company which is also remote-first (no mandatory office meetings, ever). I don't think I am ever going back to anything different.
> The modern workplace is outdated. Butt in chair != productivity. An adult who needs to take off at 3 to pick up their kids can be just as effective as someone who sits around making small talk until 6.
Yes. Hire adults and show them that you trust them, and you will get great results.
If not, I'd love to add!
How tiny a violin does it take . . . ?
If anything this shows you can have a good work life balance culture and deliver groundbreaking results but get it all fcked up by sht leaders.
Regardless of WFH, Google VPs and Directors should have been spending time on understanding and capitalizing on opportunities. RTO won't fix that.
I was at Google march 2011- dec 2018 and when I tried reading Schmidt's "How Google works", I had to put it down coz it was obviously so disconnected from the realities.
I think highly of Eric as a leader, and a smart person, but he has no clue about why Google has struggled to innovate from 2014-2015 onward.
After covid, like many other organizations, they went too lean, concentrating on sustainable operations, expecting a tough market.
WFH was an effect of their adopted work-culture and not a phenomenon in itself.