How Google Works

by Eric Schmidt

When you base your product strategy on technical insights, you avoid me-too products that simply deliver what customers are asking for.

People need to disagree and debate their points in an open environment, because you won’t get buy-in until all the choices are debated openly. They’ll bobblehead nod, then leave the room and do what they want to do.

The job of the decision-maker, then, is to get the timing just right. Exhibit a bias for action, to cut off debate and analysis that is no longer valuable, and start moving the team to rally around the decision. But don’t be a slave to a sense of urgency. Maintain flexibility until the last possible moment.

To emotionally commit to a decision with which they don’t agree, people have to know that their opinion was not only heard, but valued. “You’re both right” accomplishes this.

Leadership’s purpose is to optimize the flow of information throughout the company, all the time, every day. This is an entirely different skill set.

when someone comes to you with bad news or a problem, they are in climb, confess, and comply mode. They have spent a lot of time considering the situation, and you need to reward their transparency by listening, helping, and having the confidence that next time around they will nail the landing.

At Google, our themes include putting users first, thinking big, and not being afraid to fail.

if you repeat something twenty times and people don’t get it, then the problem is with the theme, not the communications.

In a conversation you listen to the questions and try to figure out a way to answer intelligently, with insights and stories, while reinforcing the message but not parroting it.

Praise is underused and underappreciated as a management tool. When it is deserved, don’t hold back.

For something to be innovative, it needs to be new, surprising, and radically useful.