Employees claim that workplace culture clashes have shaken Google, and that Pichai’s attempts to cool things down have had the opposite effect.
It is frequently stated in the business world that the seeds of a company’s demise are sowed while everything is going well.
It is difficult to disagree that things are going well for Google. Every three months, revenue and earnings reach new highs. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is valued $1.6 trillion. Google has become increasingly ingrained in the lives of ordinary Americans.
However, a vocal group of Google executives is concerned that the business is fraying. They claim that Google’s workforce is becoming more vocal. Personnel issues are leaking into the public eye. Risk aversion and incrementalism have replaced decisive leadership and bold ideas. And some of those execs are departing and telling everyone why.
“I’m often asked why I left now. The better question, I believe, is “Why did I remain for so long?” Noam Bardin, who joined Google in 2013 when it purchased mapping provider Waze, wrote in a blog post two weeks after quitting the business in February.
“The innovation difficulties will only worsen as risk tolerance declines,” he said
Many of Google’s difficulties, according to current and recently departed executives, originate from Sundar Pichai, the company’s amiable, low-key CEO.
Fifteen current and former Google executives told The New York Times that the business was suffering from many of the problems of a large, maturing corporation — a paralysing bureaucracy, a propensity toward inactivity, and a preoccupation on public opinion.
The executives, some of whom had regular interactions with Mr. Pichai, claimed that Google did not move fast on important business and personnel issues because he deliberated and delayed action. They said that Google was still rocked by workplace culture clashes, and that Mr. Pichai’s attempts to cool things down had the opposite effect, enabling issues to fester while avoiding difficult and sometimes controversial views.
According to Sameer Samat, a Google vice president, discussions to purchase the activity tracker Fitbit, which completed in January, took roughly a year as Mr. Pichai struggled with facets of the acquisition, such as how to integrate the business, its product ambitions, and how it intended to secure user data. Mr. Samat, who was pressing for the agreement, stated that Mr. Pichai had recognised possible issues that he had not completely addressed.
“I can see how those many talks may give the impression that we are reluctant to make decisions,” Mr. Samat said. “The fact is that these are significant decisions.”
