Larry Page is a local guy born in East Lansing. He is the son of two MSU professors. Page attended the University of Michigan and Stanford. Google was born as his Ph.D. dissertation, originally called ‘BackRub’.
Do you think Larry Page manages Google like a Family Business?
In a recent Fast Company feature it shares a few key Leadership skills Larry Page brings to Google management and discusses some powerful tracks by other entrepreneurs/leaders he may want to trace.
Four Key points on Google/Page’s approach are:
• A little top down leadership goes a long way
• Spur on Your Frenemies
• When in doubt, check the data
• When in a creative mode, don’t start with data”
A little bit goes a long way, depending on the level in an organization the leader is to create an image or vision:
• Plant it in the minds of your team and continue to affirm it. They should see the same picture
• Hold that image in your head regardless of the economic, supply, labor conditions or any of a myriad of storms you will encounter. Your success does not come from circumstance. It comes from influence and actions
Some firms are tied to the ‘hands on’ involvement of a leader; the article suggests Apple has this situation with Steve Jobs.
Competition makes you better; Magic vs. Byrd, Russell vs. Chamberlain, Lincoln vs. Bryant and Bryan vs. Darrow all great rivals. In every case the game, the election and the legal argument was better because of the struggle. Google’s development of the Druid technology was spurred by the I-Phone.
Data driven and just the facts- Google – uses data like Wal-Mart manages supply chain.
A fifth point not mentioned in Fast Company might be a scoreboard.
Scoreboards:
• permit understanding
• are essential in evaluating
• required for decision making
• vital for making adjustments
• critical to winning
In addition, Fast Company offers the following advice,
Things Google might learn from Facebook, Apple, GE and others.
• “Do a little media”- Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg did well on 60 Minutes and on SNL
• “Run a conglomerate”-today Google other businesses you tube and android are independent- maybe they need t be more like GE-leveraging what we can and being quasi independent.
• “Admit that advertizing is not evil” Apple has embraced PR, ‘there’s an App. for that” Google could do a better job of communicating some of their ‘cool’ innovations.
In the end leadership is about leading not doing, challenging us all to be better, using data to drive decisions and taking time to be inventive. Remember we all need metrics and scorecards.
Remember all the runners in the race compete, only one wins-Run to Win.
Larry Page’s grandfather, an assembly line worker at General Motors in Flint, Michigan insisted that Larry Page’s father, a survivor of childhood polio, attend school at the University of Michigan. All of his family members went to school there and his dad ended up being on faculty at Michigan State University.
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