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GoogleShedsBureacracy.pdf
11/3/2016 Google Shreds Bureaucracy To Keep Talent Loyal To The Alphabet | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/10/googleofthrones/ 1/8
Google was too big for its own good. Housing everything from its search engine to robots to
life-extension technologies in one corporate hierarchy made for a lot of managers. Smart
people often loathe such paralyzing bureaucracy. That’s why breaking up the company under
the new parent company name, Alphabet, could save Google from itself.
Google today declared its name will now just host its core business. Its other, more far-flung
projects like Life Sciences (glucose-measuring contact lenses) and Calico (life extension), will
live somewhat independently alongside Google inside the new conglomerate it calls Alphabet.
The reasons why are scattered throughout the announcement:
Posted Aug 10, 2015 by Josh Constine (@joshconstine)
Google Shreds Bureaucracy To Keep Talent Loyal To The Alphabet
“Our company is operating well today, but we think we can make it cleaner and more
accountable.”
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11/3/2016 Google Shreds Bureaucracy To Keep Talent Loyal To The Alphabet | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/10/googleofthrones/ 2/8
Essentially, Alphabet is the answer to Google’s talent problem.
It formalizes a solution Google had
already been trying to execute. When
talent at the main company grew
antsy with the slow-moving
bureaucracy and all the cooks in the
kitchen, Google would find another
place in its family for them to work.
Product designers in Search would go
to YouTube. Managers would join
Google Ventures or Google Capital.
Scientists would be sent to work on
robots.
Yet over the past few years, the
competition for talent has only gotten
steeper. More giants like Facebook are
rising to become research institutions.
Unicorns offer astounding financial
upside and leadership opportunities.
And an abundance of early-stage
capital makes starting one’s own
company easier.
The result has been Google failing to attract the best talent, losing superstars, or paying
obscene retention bonuses to keep them. It does very well, but to execute on all its moonshots
while continuing to grow its top businesses, it needs all the brains it can get.
[Update: There are other reasons for the restructuring too. It lets Larry Page hand the Google
reigns to Sundar Pichai while still getting to work on his passion projects. And it could make
“This new structure will allow us to keep tremendous focus on the extraordinary
opportunities we have inside of Google”
“Fundamentally, we believe this allows us more management scale, as we can run things
independently that aren’t very related.”
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“Alphabet is about businesses prospering through strong leaders and independence. In
general, our model is to have a strong CEO who runs each business, with Sergey and me in
service to them as needed.”
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11/3/2016 Google Shreds Bureaucracy To Keep Talent Loyal To The Alphabet | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/10/googleofthrones/ 3/8
GoPro shows its vulnerability after horrific Q3 earnings 2 HOURS AGO | JOHN MANNES
acquiring or selling different businesses easier.]
But talent is a big part of it. Alphabet effectively creates more independent fiefdoms for
Google’s superstars to rule. Rather than being the senior vice president or “head” of
something, now they’ll be made CEOs with more of the power that comes with such a title.
These wardens will control their domains, while receiving help from the crown when necessary
in exchange for all the money funneling up to Alphabet.
If it’s starting to sound a bit like Game Of Thrones, that’s because it is. Rather than one giant
realm ruled by a single family, Google is dividing its empire into territories. By naming its most
worthy servants as wardens of these kingdoms, it keeps them loyal to the throne.
The Tech Behind Each Letter In Google’s Alphabet In 26 GIFs And Photos
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