It’s been a pretty good week at Google. Yesterday, Eric Schmidt the CEO hosted the MBA interns for a Q&A session. One thing he said that resonated was that most MBAs get to the top by following orders; getting good grades, testing well, and generally jumping through hoops. However, career success will require breaking with that conformist mentality and generating new ideas, new products and services, and new ways of doing business.
Within Google, it also means being able to defend your ideas within a meritocracy where the best ideas, however radical, rise to the top. Instead of asking how to control the chaos, one must manage uncertainty while retaining a lively and creative dialogue that encourages debate. The CEO isn’t the only good brain within a company and the solution to the uncertainty and challenges of the world lies in fully leveraging the bright minds within your organization. Worthy ideas must be efficiently identified and decisions must be made in a timely manner to allocate resources and execute against opportunities. It strikes me as a very delicate balance, especially at scale, but I think Google has developed a process that seems to work. Related advice: hire the best (inversely, work with the best). Solutions arise through the wisdom of crowds, so have a smart crowd and let them speak.
Another bit of advice he had was to be willing to take risks in your career, but don’t linger in positions that aren’t a good fit. Feel free to join that startup, but if the culture’s wrong or growth becomes limited, be willing to walk away. Ditto for functions and industries. The career paths of my generation will likely be non-linear, so roll with it.
Today was nice too. I was grabbing lunch at one of the campus cafes and spotted Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Steve Jobs browsing the salad bar. What was really cool was that while everyone noticed, no one particularly cared. It’s nice to be at a place where the C levels are people too.
