Jonathan Rosenberg (4)

This is a really interesting book. But, boy, there must not be any introverts at Google. I'm not sure I agree with all of their thinking as far as it always being better for the company to have an employee who does their best thinking in the company of others, and also hangs out with others mostly in their spare time. There have been so many creative high achievers over the years who work best alone. If you are trying to build a culture that incorporates the best people, surely that would show more include some of those more self-contained individuals also. I'm not sure that I necessarily buy it that a person who likes quiet to work, or who tends to get tasks done himself rather than reaching out to others, is necessarily an un-innovative control freak. It's still a fascinating look into their culture, though. show less

Better than a book written by corporate committee should be. A lot of LinkedIn-style business bollocks, obviously, but also some interesting insights into Google's culture and ways of working. Easy to read.

“The Trillion Dollar Coach” is a strangely wonderful book.

At one level the authors wrote the eulogy of a man—Bill Campbell- whom they evidently respected very much.

At another level, it is a manual for managers and leaders.
The book contains many lessons on how to manage people.

The book has been laid out well. What I like about the book is that each section ends with the lesson/message summarized in a block.

The lessons may seem to be just common sense. Most people will read the book show more and say, “But, of course! This is obvious”.

Most of these people will not live the principles laid out in the book.
This is the difference between managers and leaders, as Bill Campbell seems to have said frequently.

I like the book. show less

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How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg is a non-fiction book about the business practices of this famous company. Mr. Schmidt was the Executive Chairman of Google from 2001 to 2017 and Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2017, Mr. Rosenberg is the former Senior Vice President of Products at Google and current advisor to Alphabet Inc. CEO Larry Page.

At this point in time Google is so successful the name has show more become a verb, something few companies achieved. In How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg the two authors write about shooting for the stars, not necessarily the over the next obstacle, or in practical terms, the next quarter’s earnings.

The one thing I always admired about Google is how the company invests in smart people who do smart things based on real world physics and future thinking. The smart folks at Google know what’s possible, come up with a bad/good/great idea and have the resources to simply go at it. Some of these ideas stick, and some don’t.

The authors use the term “smart creatives”, for those people who work for them. The issue they quickly discovered is that “smart creatives” required a different management system than many other companies. The book gives us examples of Google’s hiring process, culture, strategy and decision making.
All in the name of encouraging innovation.

I enjoyed reading this book, but there is lot – a lot – of hyperbole in it. I found some of the insights valuable, but it seemed that the authors were looking to fill up some space here and there.

Overall I thought this was a really interesting read. I can certainly see how some companies can take some lessons and apply them to their own, but each company’s culture is different and people due their best jobs in different styles and time. I do understand though that techies need to socialize and talk with like-minded people, and that’s much of what the authors talk about. show less