CNN Opines about Alleged Gates-Page Parallels
September 4, 2011
Quote to note: I am not doing too many of the trade show carnivals these days. I am a bit tired and 20 somethings give me a headache. However, I do keep a quotes file, and every once in a while I find a quote that looks like a keeper. Here’s a candidate from the CNN story “The New Bill Gates: Google’s Larry Page.” The passage:
Like Gates, Page is often described in otherworldly terms, a near-genius with autistic tendencies like counting the seconds out loud while you’re explaining something too slowly to him. Like Gates, he has run his own company for his entire adult life and has had uninterrupted success. Like Gates, he has an engineer’s soul and is obsessive about cutting waste — one of his first acts after taking over as CEO in April was to send an all-hands e-mail describing how to run meetings more efficiently. Like Gates, he is hugely ambitious — he once suggested that Google hire a million engineers and told early investors that he saw Google as a $100 billion company. That’s $100 billion in annual revenue, not just stock value. (It’s about one-third of the way there.) And like Gates, Page may have a blind spot about the intersection of business and the Beltway.
Whether one agrees or not, I find the public position regarding a powerful, feisty company like Google interesting. The use of the word “autistic” is fascinating. I wonder if the author knows Mr. Page or any person afflicted with autism? What will CNN do if its referral traffic slows? Come up with more snappy quotes or just buy Adwords? CNN may find itself doing some fresh thinking after this story with the “autistic” word and the clumsy parallels drawn between Bill Gates and Larry Page. Honk.
Stephen E Arnold, September 4, 2011
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