Google’s metamorphosis into Alphabet has caught my attention, but not for the same reason that has pundits in an uproar. Business school professors and reporters are criticising the world’s second most valuable brand for stepping away from its “googleness”.
But perhaps, this is the very need for the name change. Maybe it’s time for Google to lose the “Google effect” — the meaning that we associate with the brand.
Eleven years ago, its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote: “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.”
By setting a standard that so many copied, Google actually ended up creating a “new” form of conventional from what was once considered unconventional. And now they are living up to their decade old words and breaking away from conventionality by birthing a new company — Alphabet.
Reading Google’s announcement reminded me of a column I wrote last November asking, ‘Does a new mission require a new culture?’. At that time, Larry Page was thinking it was time for Google to rewrite their mission, arguing they fulfilled their previous one — to “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.
Realising they had become who they said they would be and effectively accomplished almost all they could, Page wondered, “How does Google use all their resources and have a much more positive impact on the world?”
He wanted Google to do something on a bigger scale than they are now. And, they did!
Actually, they did much more than rewrite a mission statement. Now, they are Alphabet …
Alphabet is mostly a collection of companies, the largest of which is a slimmed down version of the one the world knows as Google. It’s the cash cow that is being milked to fund its existing Life Sciences (that works on the glucose-sensing contact lens), Calico (focused on longevity) and their other new bets.
Remember Google has done many crazy things that now count over a billion users, such as Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and Android. And Alphabet is here to take more crazy bets to change the way more people live and work.
This may seem risky, but again they told us over a decade ago that they would make bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to their current businesses. From the start, Google has always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources they have.
I just can’t jump on the bandwagon of those who are criticising Google for this decision as I think it demonstrates brazen courage. Rather than making a seismic change when things are bad (trying to hide from them), Google did the opposite.
It put change at the top of the charts. This is one of the corporate world’s great experiments that we should watch with anticipation.
But what does this mean for us? Not just for Google employees, investors or the search engine users — this change made me wonder, “What does the Alphabet world mean for everyday business?”
I’ve long believed that companies tend to get comfortable doing the same thing, just making incremental changes. A name change, new mission and break from the confinements of the past will free Google from the culture that is locked up in its name.
I am so intrigued by this because too many companies have copied a culture from a company that is partially disappearing before their eyes. This new company is going to behave differently.
They can’t walk a new path, the same way they charted the old course. They’ll need a new culture.
The question from my November article remains pertinent for you today. Since Google is becoming something new, “Can you?”
Maybe, just maybe, this can free all of the copycats who have tried to copy any of Google’s ways in hopes of getting their results. Now, you are free. You don’t have to be like Google anymore!
— The writer is a CEO Coach and author, including of the ‘10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East’ and other leadership writings. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com