- Management
- Culture
“How Google Works,” authored by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and others. The essence of this book lies in the idea that “smart creatives (talented individuals) hate being managed.”
It states that a leader’s job is not to manage them, but to create an “environment” where they can run freely.
While reading, there are parts where you might think, “That’s only possible because it’s Google,” but I’ve organized the principles that I felt could be implemented even in my own environment.
1. Talent
In an era of rapid change, the “ability to keep learning” is more important than current knowledge volume.
- Find Learning Animals: Hire people who are intellectually curious, unafraid of change, and continue to learn new things.
- Hire People Smarter Than You: Do not compromise. Don’t be afraid to hire people smarter than yourself; strive to raise the team’s average.
- Hiring is Everyone’s Job: Don’t leave it to HR. It is the highest priority task to which a leader should dedicate their time.
2. Culture
Smart creatives lose motivation with bureaucratic procedures and negative reactions.
- A Culture of “Yes”: Have an attitude of “let’s try it” towards new ideas. Don’t kill their speed with red tape or approval processes.
- Keep the Office “Dense”: Rather than spacious private offices, a distance where shoulders almost touch creates accidental conversations and collisions of ideas. Prioritize energy over quiet.
- Remove “Knaves”: Those who envy the success of colleagues or steal credit—no matter how talented—must be removed because they rot the organization.
3. Strategy
Existing market research is merely an analysis of the “past.”
- Technical Insights: Have a new perspective based on technology that solves problems customers haven’t realized yet. It’s the mindset of building a “car” rather than a “faster horse.”
- Don’t Look at Rivals: If you only look at competitors, your products will become similar and mediocre. Look at customers and the “limits of what’s possible,” not the competition.
4. Decision Making
The era of following the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO) in the meeting room is over.
- Data Supremacy: Make “Let’s look at the data,” not “I think,” the password. Newcomers and presidents are equal before data.
- Right Consensus: This is not unanimous agreement or compromise. It means debating thoroughly, airing all opposing views, deciding the “best course of action,” and then everyone cooperating once it’s decided.
5. Communication
Information is not a source of power; value is created only when it is shared.
- Default Open: Except for legally restricted matters, disclose all management information to employees. If you trust employees with information, they will act with a sense of ownership.
- Bad News First: Create a psychologically safe environment where bad news reaches the leader immediately, faster than good reports.
6. Innovation
Innovation is not born by command.
- 70-20-10 Rule: Allocate 70% of resources to core business, 20% to growth business, and 10% to completely new challenges. Create a mechanism to forcibly allocate resources to “new things.”
- 20% Rule: Allow employees to spend 20% of their work time on projects they like. This is not time management, but a system to give employees “freedom” and “trust.”
- Ship and Iterate: Rather than hoarding it until it’s perfect, the key to success is to release it (ship it) first, then improve it at high speed while watching user reactions.
Summary
It’s easy to dismiss this as “only possible because it’s Google,” but the essence might be the very simple concept of “trusting talented people and not getting in their way.”
Even if it’s difficult to imitate everything at once, small habits like “looking at data instead of HiPPO” or “saying Yes instead of starting with denial” seem changeable starting tomorrow.
Creating innovation, after all, is not about rules, but about the “people” who work with passion. I want to start by creating an “environment where people can run wild” within my own reach.
