42
theory on demand
2.3 Exhibit #1: The Googleplex, or Nimble Capitalism at Work The customary panegyric of Google tells with glee the saga of the firm’s impressive growth, which saw Brin and Page move from their dorm in Stanford to the Menlo Park garage sublet by a friend to the newly founded Google Inc., and then on to the offices on University Avenue, Palo Alto, to culminate in them taking possession of the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, where the firm is now headquartered. Between 1998 and 2000 the pair fleshed up their formula through a company philosophy based on innovation, creativity, and sacrifice. The sort of commitment you see in science, but then applied to commerce, is their key to success. Right from its beginnings, the Googleplex attracted droves of eager collaborators: retrieving the typical environment of an American campus, where study, commitment, sports and games mesh into a whole. The idea behind this environment is that if a comfortable and relaxing environment stimulates the students’ creativity, it obviously will also boost the productivity of workers. The spirit of fraternity and the academic elite mentality of working with total commitment for the very best results, both seem the bread and butter of stories about the Googleplex. Rumor has it that large swatches of the car parks are earmarked twice a week for roller-skates hockey and that masses of gadgets and gizmo’s cramp the offices, with multicolored lava-lamps being favorite. A chummy easy-going atmosphere is the norm, with ‘Larry and Sergey’ chairing the weekly ‘TGIF’ (Thanks God It’s Friday) meetings with dozens of employees assembling in an open space created by pushing the office furniture aside. Right from the beginning, such an informal atmosphere was intended to build-up the community spirit and to encourage the sharing of ideas. Indeed, the Googleplex looks like a place to celebrate one’s passion for research rather than an everyday workplace – which of course it is. But not an ordinary workplace, despite its by now gigantic dimensions. Granted, the ‘campus style’ organization of work had been widespread in the USA for the past thirty years at least: Microsoft and Apple, to take but two examples, have always worked that way. Silicon Valley’s mythology is replete with stories illustrating the paramount role assigned to creativity, and stress the importance of collaboration between co-workers. No better boost to productivity than happy employees who are glad to work for a company whose objectives they hold equal to their own, as opposed to workers oppressed by a rigid hierarchy, enslaved by rules and inflexible schedules in a dreadful environment. Perhaps the novelty of the Googleplex resides in having promoted, deliberately and right from the beginning, the idea of a ‘different’ ‘new-fashioned’, ‘made for the best brains’ place of work. You can’t come into the Googleplex unless you know someone working there. And once in, photography is forbidden – in theory at least – as if to shield it from the mean world outside, full of finance sharks and other malevolent IT predators out to pry on the talents of the ‘Googleboys’. Everybody wants to work in the Googleplex. An unofficial survey of all the fantasies out there would for sure list: company work-out room, swimming pool, free food in the four staff restaurants (one of which vegetarian) free drinks and snacks everywhere (who needs vending machines? Google picks up the tab!), volleyball and basket ball fields and other outdoor sport facilities, buggies to dart