What is the main message of How Google Works?

The main message of How Google Works is understanding the principles that drive Google's success in order to apply them to your own business.

Who is the author of How Google Works?

Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg are the authors of How Google Works.

Entrepreneurship

How Google Works Book Summary - How Google Works Book explained in key points

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How Google Works summary

Name: How Google Works
Rating: 4.4 (122 reviews)
Author: Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

Eric Schmidt Jonathan Rosenberg

An insider's guide to one of the biggest companies in the world

4.4 (122 ratings)

18 mins

Brief summary

"How Google Works" by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg provides insights into how the world's most successful search engine operates and thrives on innovation. The book highlights key principles such as hiring the best talent and fostering a culture of creativity.

Topics

Leadership Strategy Big Tech

Table of Contents

How Google Works
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Learn Google’s secrets to foster a culture of innovation at your own company.

Google is one of the most successful technology companies in the world, notable especially for its rapid rise to the top. From its founding in 1998, Google quickly become a global leader in internet search and has since expanded into other key technology areas, such as email, mobile technology and social networking.

Although now more than 15 years old, Google still hasn’t lost its start-up mentality. How Google Works shows how Google’s leadership – founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, CEO Eric Schmidt and Head of Products, Jonathan Rosenberg – created a corporate culture that has attracted top engineers, employees who work tirelessly to develop innovative products, year after year.

In these blinks, you’ll learn about Google’s focus on hiring smart creatives – employees who combine technical know-how with a curious and ambitious personality. Managing headstrong creatives, not known for following standard marching orders, isn’t easy; but the results – as Google’s success proves – are worth it.

In the following blinks, you’ll also discover:

how to fix a thorny technical problem just by putting a note up on the wall;
why making one decision can take up to six weeks, and why that’s a good thing; and
why giving employees time to goof off might help your company create the next Gmail.

Great products developed by phenomenal employees are crucial for business success.

Over the past few decades, sweeping technological advancements have totally changed our lives and our world. Today, we can store limitless amounts of information online and effortlessly connect to the internet through practically any mobile device.

In the business world, these innovations have shifted everyone’s attention to product development. This has happened in two ways.

First, the internet has pushed consumers to demand better products by giving them more information and more choice. If customers don’t like your app, for example, they can simply download another.

In this new consumer market, winning and retaining customers is all about having the best possible product.

Second, technological advances have changed the business world by enabling companies to develop products quickly and cheaply. Even a small team of engineers, for instance, can develop a new product in mere months and then release it to millions of people online for free.

Because of these developments, good products now trump fancy marketing strategies. And this crucial insight has been Google’s guiding principle since its very beginnings.

Google’s founders from the start concentrated solely on developing the greatest search engine possible, confident that if they succeeded, money would follow. (And it did!)

Google’s search engine algorithm is an example of the kind of game-changing product that can only be created by skilled employees called smart creatives.

Smart creatives combine conventional business savvy and technical expertise with a creative sensibility. They are competitive, ambitious and curious – the kind of people who will pull all-nighters to solve a thorny problem or even ignore your direct orders just to prove a point.

Smart creatives are the very essence of Google, and in fact, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are exemplary specimens of this sort of worker.

They’ve approached hiring simply by bringing in the very best engineers and giving them as much freedom as possible to develop amazing products.

Make hiring and retaining smart creatives a top priority in your company.

As we’ve seen, smart creatives are the key to developing great products. So how can your business attract employees that fit this description?

To start, make hiring one of your top priorities. In most organizations, hiring new employees falls to the supervising manager. Yet the opinions of just one person are highly subjective. Focus instead on creating a hiring committee to represent your company’s different viewpoints and roles (for example: an engineer, a salesperson and a manager).

Build a creative, free-thinking company culture that attracts excellence-driven employees.

What can you do to make your company more attractive to smart creatives? The answer lies in your company’s culture – that is, the values on which your company is built.

So what kind of culture attracts smart creatives? Such employees thrive in environments that encourage creativity. Here are the three key aspects of a creative company culture:

To prepare for unexpected challenges, create a strategic foundation that leaves room for change.

Most CEOs may think their company needs a business plan, but they’re wrong. In fact, most traditional plans inevitably lead to failure.

That’s because a typical plan doesn’t leave room for change. And yet, running a business requires that you respond to new challenges whenever they arise.

If you’re leading smart creatives, it’s your job to enforce a lively discussion, not a decision.

In traditional companies, decision making tends to be hierarchical. Senior management makes the big calls, while everyone else nods in agreement.

However, if you’re lucky enough to manage a company staffed by smart creatives, things work differently. The decision-making process becomes as important as the decision itself, because if employees don’t support the decision, they simply won’t follow it.

Smart creatives thrive in open and collaborative working environments.

Information is a valuable currency. This might explain why so many managers maintain a Scrooge-like mentality when it comes to sharing what they know. But that’s simply not an option for those who oversee smart creatives.

When you’re managing creatives, you need to have an open approach to information to foster a more creative, collaborative working environment.

You can’t artificially enforce innovation, but you can create a climate that encourages it.

Why did you hire smart creatives in the first place? To innovate, of course. But can you actually force people to be innovative?

Well, many companies do try to artificially enforce innovation, for example by appointing a “Chief Innovation Officer.” But this is rarely effective.

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What is How Google Works about?

How Google Works shares business insights from one of the most successful technology start-ups in history. Written by the former top executives at the company, the book lays out, step by step, Google’s path to success; a roadmap that your company can follow, too.

How Google Works Review

How Google Works (2014) is an insightful exploration of the inner workings of one of the most innovative and successful tech companies in the world. Here's why this book is worth reading:

With insider knowledge from Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, the book offers valuable insights into Google's unique approach to business and management.
The authors share practical tips and strategies that can be applied to any organization, regardless of its size or industry.
Combining humor, anecdotes, and real-life examples, the book is engaging and entertaining, making the topic of technology and business accessible to all.

Best quote from How Google Works

The most important skill any business person can develop is interviewing.

—Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

Who should read How Google Works?

CEOs or managers at start-up companies
Anyone with a start-up idea looking for the fast path to success
Anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look at Google

About the Author

Eric Schmidt is the former CEO of Google, and Jonathan Rosenberg was Google’s Head of Products.

Categories with How Google Works

Entrepreneurship Management & Leadership

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