Less than 24 hours after the blast across the bow of GM and Chrsler by President Obama, newsmania and blogmania has devoured this event, licking its chops for more. One blog refered to GM as Government Motors. Some profess that GM will go to Chapter 11 as a means to find its new footing. Maybe most interesting, Ford under the helm of Mulally is receiving high praise for the deep restructuring they underwent over the past 2-years. Ford is suddenly the strongest, best managed and best run domestic auto manufacturer. That’s an interesting story unto itself.
So what does GM, Ford and Chrysler have to do with Google?
Jeff Jarvis, a journalist of traditional roots recently wrote the book What Would Google Do (WWGD). It’s one of those questions that could be asked of just about anything. You see, since Google’s meagar start in this world less than 10-years past, it has become a behemoth, with 20,000+ employees. They’ve been a pioneer and a disruptor, taking on Microsoft, Yahoo and others. And along the way, it has created a pretty impressive resume, including phenomenal employee relations. I’m convinced that Google regards their employees as their number one asset. Yet if I were lucky enough to spend a week inside Google and a second week inside GM, I’m certain there would be little similarity. Google has a plan to move forward. GM has a plan to step backwards slowly. Google embraces entreprenuership. GM has a well defined hierarchy that protects the status quo. Google is a disruptor. GM is a protector. Google hires the brightest talent available. GM use to hire the brightest talent available. The list could go on and on.
The comparison of Google to GM is not the point of this blog post. In the March 30th edition of Fortune magazine, the article, “Growing Pains - The Axman Comes to Google - New finance chief Pichette gets tough” by Adam Sashinsky caught my attention. It states:
That’s right: Google, among the most chaotic, prolifigate, unfocused, engineering oriented, and self-proclaimed recession-resistant of organizations, had reached outside the Googleplex for a real business executive and charged him with ensuring that Google’s freewheeling culture wouldn’t become its own worst enemy.
It’s the last phrase “wouldn’t become its own worst enemy” that resonates with me, whether discussing, Google, GM, Ford, Motorola, and millions of other companies. Because this is what so often happens. We become our own worst enemy. Its as if we play Darwin unto ourselves. To prevent Google from a similar fate, Pichette has shut numerous projects, facilities and perks. Layoffs were announced. Hiring has been curtailed. The impact, expenditures have declined and free cash flow has increased.
So what would Google do at GM? My guess is, Google would have the Axman come, and then watch out. And in the end, GM would look significantly different. And I wonder if GM really has the guts to do what it knows it needs to do. Welcome to the world of Darwin.
