for Larry Page Ceo of google

Dr. Laura Jones

Strayer University

August 27, 2013

Larry Page, CEO, Google

Larry Page is the current CEO of Google, the world’s most popular search engine. His father was a pioneer in computer science and artificial intelligence and his mother taught computer programming, so the most logical educational route was for Larry to study computer engineering. He is a graduate of Stanford University where he met his partner and co-founder Sergey Brin; as a research project, Page and Brin created a search engine that listed results according to the popularity of the pages. They called this search engine Google after the mathematical term “Googol” which is a 1 followed by 100 zeros (Biography). Their mission was to take all of the world’s information and organization it in such a way to be useful to people in any location, country and industry. Google started with donations family and friends in 1998. Google receives over 200 million queries a day. Google headquarter in the heart of the Silicon Valley in Californian and has been a public traded company since 2004. In 2006, Google purchased YouTube, the most popular video streaming website which added $4 Billion to Larry Pages net worth of $23 Billion of March 2013.

Larry Pages Leadership and Philosophy

Google has never operated like the traditional company and it does not have to base on its successes. Pages believes to be successful you do not need to focus on beating your competition, instead he focuses on innovations. Page thinks there’s a fundamental problem in how companies are run and the media plays a large role in that, as if it’s a sporting event (Levy, 2013). This creates two issues; one is motivation. He explains that you do not get the best out of people when all your concentrating on is what are the other guy doing. The second is, making small changes to be ahead of the competition. If all you do is small improvements on existing things, you will just get incremental improvements. Google has stood out in since they emerged on the scene. One big innovation is Google’s Street-view Maps, when everyone said it could not be done, Page insisted in driving his car around Michigan, taking pictures and proving everyone else wrong. Page collected still pictures from the back of an SUV, lined them up to create the first street view (Crum, 2013). The original launch happen in 2007 in the United States and now has expanded to all seven continents with a 360-degree panoramic view all streets in most cities around the world. Now, Google Street View can be used for small to medium companies who want to provide a sneak peek into their company similar to a virtual tour. This is a great insight to gyms, restaurants and attractions. Google Street View even has a off the grid view where any person can see tourist attractions like the Grand Canyon, Stonehenge, Volcanoes and so much more.

Larry Pages philosophy on how his organization should be operated reflects the ideas of his leadership style. Pages’ leadership style is distinct and evident from his background in engineering and his upbringing a son of two computer science professors. One approach is to pay attention to our idea and cultivate the nest of them (Elmer, 2011). Page urges his staff to believe in the presumptuous ideas. By tackling these big ideas that could potential change the world, he attracts extremely smart people and achieve outrange goals. In 2009, during a Google Faculty Summit, the Google group researching artificial intelligence came across an “ad targeting system” which now accounts for more than half of revenues. Page pointed out that it was a pretty good side effect.

For the first several years, Page insisted in being part of every new hire for Google and even though some have moved on to build their own companies or joined other companies, most have stayed because of his approach. The ones that stayed make enough money to buy and do whatever they want and yet they choose to work for Page. As Steven Levy mentions, the author of In the Plex, A look Inside Google and a person who has interview Page six times, his employees believe in him. Page recently restructured Google to allow for a more open door policy, reducing the middle management clutter in his organization. Page beliefs in the non-traditional management of Google is evident as one of his new approaches to have Google executives gather once a week for an entire day to encourage faster decisions, collaboration and quick choices (Elmer, 2011). This approach leads to a faster time line and provides new technologies to their customers.

Larry Pages Personal and Organizational Values

In the case of Larry Page, his personal values and organizational values seem seamless. His father, Carl Page was a highly regarded computer science professor at the Michigan State University who imbedded the idea that computer technology will change the world. This idea was the driving forces of Pages ambition for Google. As Google started as BackRub in his dorm room in Stanford University, his intention was to make the research better and user friendly. As BackRun morphed into Google the idea stayed the same; “to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place” (Flynn, 2004). Page knew he had something, even if the companied remained a small private business, I am sure he would have been happy with those results as he never wanted to be rich from his idea, but Google grew in 1999 with the help of family, friends, professors, colleagues and other search engine investors of the time like, Netscape, AOL and Yahoo. Google mission statement now; “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” (Google, 2011) reflects those personal and organization values that started BackRub in 1995 with the inspiration of utilizing computers to make the lives of people a bit easier.

Larry Pages influence Ethical Behavior in Google

Larry Page’s most valuable strength would be his passion for innovations and his intelligence when it comes to making general things easier for the customer of Google. His original idea of making the worlds information accessible and easier to manage has been his foresight from day one. He has introduced Google maps when everyone around him said it would not work or it’s not worth it and it has become the most use instructional direction platform since MapQuest. I believe Page to be an Introvert because of his approach to meetings and formal functions, which I believe could be a good component of his success. His quiet and reserved demeanor could settle most conflicts as a CEO and he takes his time to think of his actions or words. Page seems to disdain all traditional core functions of a CEO which make his approach once again unique. Also in the tech industry, I believe the person in charge should know the company inside and out, which make Page the perfect CEO. Leaders come in many shapes and fashions but in this industry in which Page is a major component being intelligent of what he is saying will be better appreciate or accepted then a charismatic leader who may dodge technical answers. His strengths in believing what is right will come in handy for Page as his new role of CEO for Google.

Communication for Page is nothing new; he spoke and met Brin to start this idea, he met with people to help fund those ideas and he made great success. Just like most people, Page is also timid when it comes to public speaking. In fact Forbes Magazine wrote an article that Larry Pages claims to have “vocal cord paralysis” and doubted his ability to be an effective CEO. This is something that will need to unfold as Pages settles in his role of CEO (Elmer, 2011). Page may also want to consider taking a lesson or two on adversity, especially in government anti-trust regulations. As Google becomes a much bigger entity the Federal trade Commission is considering taking action against Google and its dominant position in the Web (Thomas, 2012). Page has been also been known to sit through meetings not concentrating on what is being said and when confronted or asked for his opinion he is such a smart guy that he takes a moment to catch himself up with the notes in front of him and replies. When asked, Page mentions he gets distracted from ideas floating in his head, so he write them down but gets too involved with them. As newly appointed CEO he will need to control his thoughts and manage his surroundings. Taking a page from his earlier years, he will need to be involved in every meeting as he was in every interview of a potentially new employee.

Qualities Which Contribute to Good Leadership

After researching Larry Page I can see what makes people gravitate towards him. He is an innovative leader who shares his ideas with those close it him and allow other into his success. He seems to be that guy at the playground that will let you kick the ball during his turn when you where the person kid picked to join the team. His ability to recruit talent young talent, expose them to wonderful new technologies and allow them to bloom in their own world is nothing short of a mistake. Page has taken an idea expanded it to an enterprise. The one quality I admire from Page is that he is not worried about his competition, he is more concern about his products and services to his customer or technological advances which will peoples’ lives easier. Google is just not a search engine of information; it categorizes information so that your time searching the abundance of information is use wisely and effectively. The additions of YouTube helps people like me in doing Do-It-Yourself projects around the house and pass time watching funny videos of people falling, prank each other or getting into accidents. GoogleMaps does not only allows to know where we are going in a 2D scale but now major cities have a 3D function; also, it allow you to see the neighborhood in which you will be visiting and actually look at landmarks to ensure you’re in the correct location. So far, none of Page’s competitors have even attempted to duplicate this accomplishment, which is what set Google apart from other search engines and what sets Larry Page apart from other entrepreneurs.

Influencing Group Dynamics

Communication is key in any relationship and it is what sets human apart in the animal kingdom. Pages public speaking may not be his strong point and challenges will arise in his new role of CEO of Google, but in an untraditional corporate setting is where he thrives. From their very first meeting on a campus weekend familiarization Page and Brin argued about anything on computers. Eventually the two settled down and agreed on one great thing which became their livelihood. The two collaborated on ideas, functions and design with themselves and introduced the idea to a selected few Stanford University professors who loved the idea and by their ability to express themselves, provided funds and advice for the two as they continued to build on their idea. Page was never one to make himself better than the person next to him yet he admired and welcomed ideas from his fellow man. His ability to believe in his product led him to discuss and be seem by other organization such as Netscape and Yahoo who in 1999 funded a large portion of Page and Brin’s BackRub to become a public traded company as Google (Flynn, 2004). Although this action of becoming a public traded company made both men Billionaires overnight, they both were not influenced by it and never lost sight of what they started and what they wanted to do. Google remains today as one of the largest technology producing companies in providing searchable information, mobile devices, social media and many more.

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