Google Management Method: Hive Mind, SEAL Approach
January 31, 2018
In the most unlikely source, I noted an insight about Google’s management style. The article which caught my attention appeared in the New York Post. Yep, the one with the big headlines and interesting photographs.
Titled “Why Bosses Should Let Their Employees Call the Shots” is ostensibly a book review. Navy SEAL Dave Cooper explains the key to management success in “The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. The book is apparently authored by Daniel Coyle, but the New York Post is probably not into the bibliographic minutia.
According to the New York Post’s understanding of the book by either Cooper or Coyle:
The advantage of a hive-mind culture can be seen as simple math. Encouraging risks and participation from all allows for a greater knowledge base and a stronger chance of someone presenting a non-traditional solution that otherwise might have been missed. Organizations that can successfully establish this sort of culture are best positioned to change the world.
Changing the world triggers the association with Google, the online advertising search giant, the solver of death, the creator of the Loon balloon, and the magnet which attracts the regulatory attention of the European Union. Yep, that Google.
I learned: that ads were not good. An engineer named Jeff Dean did not wait for a boss to tell him what to do. Nope, he innovated and solved the problem, noting “By 2014,” the AdWords engine was producing $160 million per day and advertising was providing 90 percent of Google’s revenues.”
The article states:
Authoritarian leadership has shown its limits. By calling on the intelligence and creativity of a select few, rather than employing every resource, these companies reduce their pool of ideas — and their potential for success. Organizations that encourage participation and creativity from their entire workforce will be the ones that succeed in an increasingly competitive and complex world.
Are their other approaches to management? Interesting question to which the answer is, “There’s no other choice.”
I would point out that the ad engine was inspired by GoTo.com, Overture.com, and Yahoo.com. I recall that Google settled a legal spat about the “inspiration” for about $1 billion.
Also, Jeff Dean, a former Alta Vista engineer, is a sharp cookie, but I am not sure he resolved the issues with ads in a short period of time. There were, I recall perhaps incorrectly, the need to figure out Chubby and other assorted problems.
Finally, the notion of a boss or bosses who distance themselves is an interesting one. However, when there is a question of responsibility, what’s a hive mind approach do to resolve the problem? Promote another person to be the boss.
Ah, the New York Post, tomorrow’s answer to management theory and organizational behavior. Now about those SEALs?
Stephen E Arnold, January 31, 2018
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