Converting to Google

I found it annoying when a friend of mine started working for Google recently, and within a month, he could find nothing negative to say about the company, whereas earlier he had. I figured he'd been brainwashed or maybe drugged by whatever they put into the free food provided for Google employees.

Yesterday, I went to visit a couple of folks at Google who want to promote diversity among its staff. I gave them a bunch of ideas, including ways to brand themselves when sponsoring events, and was surprised when they said, "Oh, we want to stay behind the scenes. We're not interested in promoting ourselves."

I suppose one doesn't have to promote oneself when you've got the sexiest search engine in existence.

Then I asked them what their objective was, and they both responded: "We want to change the world."

At that moment, I felt as if  I were  in the company of missionaries, not marketers.

Then they turned the tables and asked me what I'd like in return for the ideas I'd given them during lunch. "Nothing," I said. "I'm supporting the same goal you are, encouraging women to take a look at careers in science and technology."

Driving home, I felt as if I'd just been at the United Nations, not a software company.

Comments

[Billy]

WOW, amazing how people can become robots (so fast).

[~bc]

Or, they could just work for a company they believe in. Probability alone would determine that such companies can exist. Not everyone one can work for the same company Dilbert does. It's a shame that we've become so jaded that we can't believe this is possible.

All that aside, why would it be in one's best interests to speak negatively of one's company (if they like the company or their job) since word-of-mouth is the strongest advertising, and every employee is indeed an ambassador... even if you're not the PR department, when you speak about a company you work for, people treat you as an authority upon this, and this influences outsiders' opinions, and thus customers. And happy customers lead to better rewards for employees.

If they employees believe in the company, and the company is good to them.

It would be nice to think that good companies exist, and may actually benefit all of us, customers and employees.

Eh, I've gone on much too long. Just thinking outloud.