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Latest Read: The Four

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway. Scott is a Professor of Marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business. He led startups at Prophet, Red Envelope and L2, which was acquired by Gartner.

The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway

Scott has also served on the boards of media companies including The New York Times, Dex Media, Advanstar, Gateway, Urban Outfitters and Eddie Bauer. He joined the faculty of NYU’s Stern School of Business in 2014.

So Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are deemed by Scott as the Four Horsemen. The data Scott provides is rich at the time of publication. It would be well worth hit time to release a second edition: The Four Horsemen of the Pandemic, as their metrics will be even more amazing to understand how they have grown from 2017. This is amazingly, just four years from the release as well.

Throughout the book Scott addresses his move from private business to teaching at NYU, where the cost of education is $500 per minute.
While reading Scott’s book at the close of 2021, the omicron variant is surging and according to Scott in 2017 their reach (and profits) should be soaring to new gigantic heights.

Surprisingly, Scott not only portions each company in the marketplace they dominate, but also how they are now digging in to complete with one another.

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Latest Read: Algorithms of Oppression

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism
by Safiya Umoja Noble. Safiya is an associate professor at UCLA and is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry. Safiya’s research as a result, considers how bias has been embedded into search engines.

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble

Clearly, search engine algorithms are not neutral by any means. This was indeed proving to be a very disturbing issue at the time of publication in 2018.

So, how did this happen in the first place? It is rather shocking to understand that a seemingly simple search term “black girls” results in such disgusting results.

Safiya certainly reveals this unforgiving gap and Google has made efforts to fix their errors. The result of her work has brought about the term algorithmic oppression.

Safiya explores how racism, especially anti-blackness, is generated and maintained across the internet, yet is focused squarely on Google.

In addition, Safiya reveals the impact of AdWords, Google’s advertising tool. I found it interesting that since search results are altered by paid advertising, Google is more of an advertising company than a search engine company.

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Design Education Google Innovation Reading Technology

Latest Read: Work Rules

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock. Laszlo was the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google.

Work Rules!

Bock’s audience is threefold: Managers, HR professionals, and Employees. For example, Bock is suggesting as managers, hire people smarter than you. Obviously, for HR teams insights on hiring, interviewing and keeping talented people should not be overlooked. Regardless of your organization’s mission or size. Above all, Laszlo’s “be a founder” sums up the type of hire every company strives to achieve, an employee who makes a meaningful impact across the organization.

Above all, I was looking to develop insights to Google’s Objectives and Key Results that impact their operations. Laszlo shares Google’s OKRs (as the general rule) must be specific, measurable, and verifiable. Surprisingly, they indeed push a high level of OKR transparency across the company.

Google OKRs are achievable, relevant, and timed. Data mining is why Google was shifting away from SMART goals. For instance, revising OKRs each quarter proves you need to run lean. Googlers certainly expect to set OKRs that far exceed their teams’ performance. Of course, with any data driven company, all project teams are focusing to aim for the moon. Even failing to achieve, they are still delivering a very good achievement.

Work Rules certainly illustrates a very deep look at the company’s evolution. Learning how they were stumbling offers key insights. For example, adopting benefits like on campus laundry services and nail salons that seems simply over the top for any legacy, old school company.

It’s enjoyable to see how a large tech company grew up so fast. Their practices in People Operations show the world how change is possible. They are stumbling from time to time. It helps to see the luster has worn off the company.

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Latest Read: Trillion Dollar Coach

Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle. This is one of a few books that I recommend without hesitation to anyone. In addition, you do not need to be a manager to benefit from Bill’s coaching others to wild success.

Trillion Dollar Coach

Surprisingly Bill Campbell spent five years coaching football at Columbia. Then he coached many of the most successful technology teams driving innovation across Silicon Valley.

This book was written by three Google leaders in other words, based upon their coaching relationship with Bill over many years.

Eric Schmidt is the former Executive Chairman of Alphabet and ex-Google CEO. Jonathan Rosenberg was a Senior Vice President at Google. Today he is an advisor to the Alphabet management team. In addition, he ran the Google product team from 2002 to 2011. Alan Eagle is Director of Executive Communications at Google. He has been working at Google since 2007. As a result, all three grew as leaders via Bill’s wisdom.

Similarly Bill was a driving success for several prominent companies including Apple, and Intuit.

Bill’s relationships with Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt and many more CEOs throughout the book reveal Bill’s coaching mantra.

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Design Education Google Innovation Reading Technology TED

Latest Read: Measure What Matters

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr. It is easier to understand during a pandemic how organizations should embrace OKRs in a time of dramatic change.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr

Firstly, Measure What Matters begins with John’s story of landing an engineering internship at Intel. Andy Grove is credited by Doerr as the father of OKRs. John was able to work alongside Andy and his team. Certainly this benefitted John in his career. Above all, Grove served as Doerr’s mentor at Intel and left a lifetime impression on the delivery of goals.

Above all, this offers new views against smartgoals or annual performance reviews. Doerr also shares how Adobe, upon viewing OKRs decided to completely shut down legacy annual performance reviews. COVID is a game changer that also helps move away from year long reviews.

At first glance, I have to admit that I was somewhat dismayed to see the name of U2’s Bono on the cover. That is to say many interview of musicians go off the rails. But Bono’s contribution will surprise any reader. His ability to convey his non-profit’s OKRs is very revealing that speaks to the depth and grounding of a business plan that you may not initially attribute to a world famous rock and roll singer.

Similarly there is an inspirational story is Nuna. John shares the story of Jini Kim. Her brother, Kimong was diagnosed with severe autism. While vacationing at Disneyworld, he suffered a severe seizure. At nine years of age Jini enrolled her family into Medicaid. Jini was a product manager at Google Health. Moreover Jini helped launch Google Public Data. When Jini left Google to launch her own startup, Nuna (Korean for big sister) her application of OKRs helped her company win the bid to fix healthcare.gov in 2013.

Likewise there is simplicity to OKRs. But a foundation of solid objectives is key:

  1. Exceptional Focus
  2. High degree of alignment
  3. Uncommon degree of commitment
  4. Tracking progress
  5. Transparent goal system
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