An intriguing profile of an innovative company that continues to shake up the world.
The head of “People Operations” at Google discusses how the company grew into a world leader in its field and why economics was not necessarily the primary driver of its development.
Bock’s account of the company's origin and growth challenges traditional top-down business models based on monetary incentives and bonuses to mobilize and motivate employees in pursuit of corporate goals. As the author tells it, “Googlers” have built a self-replicating culture of continuous innovation and improvement, from the eponymous search engine to Android phones and operating system and self-driving cars. Trust is at the company's core. Each of their highly qualified employees is free to contribute their best and help others solve problems, transparently, with research supported by rigorously tested data. “Inside Google,” writes the author, “we don't have a lot of rule books and policy manuals.” Nonetheless, Bock offers his own interpretation in the form of 10 work rules that can help transform a workplace into a “high freedom environment.” These include giving your own work meaning, focusing on turning overperformers into teachers and working with underachievers to do better, not confusing development with managing performance, and being both frugal and generous. Bock insists that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and he dismisses the “up or out model of management” associated with former GE head Jack Welch—this scheme rigorously ranks workers annually and dumps the bottom 10 percent. As Bock shows, Google couldn't afford the luxury of wasting one of its largest investments: the associates. Compensation, promotion policy, management practices and performance management are all designed to foster associates' contributions to building a “learning institution.” A perfect example is Google, writes the author, which is “twenty five times” more exclusive than Harvard and “profoundly suspicious of power.”
An intriguing profile of an innovative company that continues to shake up the world.Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-5479-9
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection...
A Dumpster diver–turned-CEO details her rise to success and her business philosophy.
In this memoir/business book, Amoruso, CEO of the Internet clothing store Nasty Gal, offers advice to young women entrepreneurs who seek an alternative path to fame and fortune. Beginning with a lengthy discussion of her suburban childhood and rebellious teen years, the author describes her experiences living hand to mouth, hitchhiking, shoplifting and dropping out of school. Her life turned around when, bored at work one night, she decided to sell a few pieces of vintage clothing on eBay. Fast-forward seven years, and Amoruso was running a $100 million company with 350 employees. While her success is admirable, most of her advice is based on her own limited experiences and includes such hackneyed lines as, “When you accept yourself, it’s surprising how much other people will accept you, too.” At more than 200 pages, the book is overlong, and much of what the author discusses could be summarized in a few tweets. In fact, much of it probably has been: One of the most interesting sections in the book is her description of how she uses social media. Amoruso has a spiritual side, as well, and she describes her belief in “chaos magic” and “sigils,” a kind of wishful-thinking exercise involving abstract words. The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success. Some of the guidance Amoruso offers for interviews (don’t dress like you’re going to a nightclub), getting fired (don’t call anyone names) and finding your fashion style (be careful which trends you follow) will be helpful to her readers, including the sage advice, “You’re not special.”
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection or insight.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16927-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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