‘Don’t be evil’ and other Google-isms

That’s Google’s mantra in the headline. It pushes the members of the team to do the best way they know how for their users, for their customers, and for everyone. “Don’t be evil” is a catchphrase that acknowledges that large companies often exploit short-term profits with actions that may not be in the best interests of the public. “Supposedly, by instilling a don’t-be-evil culture, the corporation establishes a baseline for honest decision-making that disassociates Google from any and all cheating. This, in turn, can enhance the trust and image of the corporation, which may outweigh short-term gains from violating the Don’t Be Evil principles,” Wikipedia reports.

The story of Larry Page and Sergey Brin is the story of Google. After all, the two are the founders of Google, the company that changed the rules of business — from news delivery to PC computing to the collection and dissemination of information. Larry, Sergey and Google’s interweaving tale is captured in Richard L. Brandt’s book, Inside Larry & Sergey’s Brain, a lively, cheerful and relaxed unfolding of their start-up years, how their tandem clicked, and how they were able to establish what has been described as “the mother of all Internet companies.”

The book allows the readers a quick look into the mind of the founders, and to learn from some very useful lessons and insights into entrepreneurship. It presents a detailed background of Larry and Sergey as it connects their core values with a number of business decisions, which may have appeared  “out of this world” or insane at first, but essentially led to Google’s spectacular achievements.

It has been written that Larry and Sergey are exceptional apart, but as founders, they harmonize well. Larry is the main strategist and handles the company’s future direction, while Sergey is a mathematical genius and is Google’s technological authority. Here are some take-aways from the formidable tandem that brought Google to fame and glory:         



Be seen as very innovative, very trusted, highly ethical and in due course create a big difference in the world. 
 

Have a goal. Google’s goal is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. What’s yours? 



Play hard, work hard. Larry and Sergey started out of a garage and used secondhand and improvised furniture.  They were able to secure venture capital funding and attracted other talented people to join the company. 



Think unconventionally. What made Google such a stunning success is what outsiders may have initially viewed as insanity on the part of the founders.  However, the unconventional thinking that failed to maximize profitability in the short run directly led to Google’s stunning rise. 



Rely on your users to help with your marketing.  Google does. It has a very high percentage of users who pass on information, in whatever means, about its search engine. “We have a strong commitment to our users worldwide, their communities, the web sites in our network, our advertisers, our investors, and of course, our employees. Larry and Sergey with their team will do their best to make Google a long-term success and the world a better place.”

6. You don’t have to have as many managers as you should. Google would rather have a lean but mean team, too few rather than too many. It just wants to have great people working for the company.

7. Be idealistic yet realistic at the same time. “Some say Google is God. Others say Google is Satan,” says Sergey,  “but if people think Google is too powerful, remember that with search engines, all it takes is a single click to go to another search engine,” he appends. Larry and Sergey have handled being loved and hated at the same time they have been viciously cunning. The two shatter templates, defy old models and create a lot of adversaries. They’re hardnosed businessmen and idealists at the same time. Their belief in the power of the Internet to make the world a better place is unassailable.

8. Respect ideas. It’s a no-brainer, but Larry and Sergey push this principle for reiteration: “A product that’s really gaining a lot of usage, is surely born out of a good idea.”

9. You’re as good as your last job. There’s always a lot of room for improvement in the job you do, and there’s no inherent ceiling that you can hit.

10. In a business like Google, doing collaborative work yields a better result, because you have more bandwidth and the checking and balancing work go on. “The dream as conceived almost three decades ago has not been achieved,” Larry reveals. “Until software becomes the ultimate tool for collaboration, productivity and efficiency, the work is not done. And there’s nothing more fun than doing that work.”            

11. Google is always excited about Internet access in general. “With better access to the Internet, people do more searches. Before Google, people didn’t put much effort into the ordering of search results. You might get a couple thousand results for a query. We saw that a thousand results weren’t necessarily as useful as 10 good ones. We developed a system that determines the best and most useful websites,” Larry states.

12. The kinds of questions people ask in Google searches continually change. “The queries have become far more challenging and complex. People’s expectations have grown. They ask for unusual things that have a variety of associated linguistic challenges. Google has to deal with all of those situations,” Sergey shares.        

13. Google is all about getting the right information to people quickly, easily, cheaply — and for free. Sergey discloses, “We serve the world — all countries, at least (over) 100 different languages. It’s a powerful service that most people probably couldn’t have dreamed of 20 years ago.”

14. As a company operated based on data, Google assumes a highly regimented and precise method to problem solving. The company’s view is that information is the basis for almost all the decisions anybody makes. The more information you can get, the more credible the information is, and the more likely you are to make a good decision.

15. Hire the right people. The key element in hiring the right people is discovering intelligent people who have a minor disregard for the impossible.

16. Keep it simple. Larry and Sergey are sticklers for simple ideas, believing that they make things trouble-free and clear-cut.

17. In Google’s, as in any other business, Larry and Sergey try very hard to find user needs that are not being met at all.  They did not come from affluent families and thus were constantly facing pressure to produce profits.  However, in the end, “The decision to consider the needs of the search user first trumped short-term profitability but led to the trust needed by Google to gain footing in numerous other innovative projects,” Larry intimates.

18. Google hears surprising stories all the time. The amazing thing is that it is part of people’s daily lives, like brushing their teeth.

19. The smarter the search engine, the better for its followers. Imagine the great leap from “swimming” through library stacks to a session with Google as you get the entirety of the world’s information with the click of a finger.

20. Google developed the most profitable form of advertising anyone had ever seen, ads selected real-time based on search terms. It focused on small advertisers looking for bargains. The model was a perfect fit for the Internet age.

21. Continue to think big. Both Google founders continue to do so. They sharpen their game and improve the accuracy of their assessments about people in general, as well as Google’s motivations and intentions. Indeed, Larry and Sergey have shown a persistent focus on innovation that puts  them miles ahead of competitors on all fronts.

Search engine optimization warrior John I. Jerovic declares, “The entire philosophy of Google, the search engine giant, has been to ‘index the world’s information.’”

Have you Googled lately?

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E-mail bongosorio@yahoo.com or bong_osorio@abs-cbn.com for comments, questions or suggestions. Thank you for communicating.