Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page raised eyebrows in their SEC filing with sections called DON’T BE EVIL and MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE:
DON’T BE EVIL
Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains. This is an important aspect of our culture and is broadly shared within the company.
MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE:
We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place. With our products, Google connects people and information all around the world for free. We are adding other powerful services such as Gmail that provides an efficient one gigabyte [now over two gigabytes and climbing] Gmail account for free. By releasing services for free, we hope to help bridge the digital divide. Adwords connects users and advertisers efficiently, helping both. AdSense helps fund a huge variety of online web sites and enables authors who could not otherwise publish. Last year we created Google Grants — a growing program in which hundreds of non-profits addressing issues, including the environment, poverty and human rights, receive free advertising. And now, we are in the process of establishing the Google Foundation. We intend to contribute significant resources to the foundation, including employee time and approximately 1% of Google’s equity and profits in some form. We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems.
Among the skeptics was Robert Barker who wrote in Business Week:
As every Googologist knows, avoiding evil plus "making the world a better place" are two management precepts Sergey and Larry swear by. How might you apply them at home? Unless you consider Powerball a sound portfolio strategy, shun the IPO. Instead, as my friend George would have done, look on it as a chance to have a ball: Throw a Google IPO party. Invite friends over, tune in CNBC, mix up some Google Cocktails. Start a pool to bet on Google’s ultimate IPO price. Agree that the winner must give the pot to his or her favorite charity. Now, how’s that for making the world a better place?
Less than a year after the initial public offering at $85, Google is pushing $300 a share with an $80 billion market capitalization against just $3.2 billion in sales. Compare this with Time Warner’s valuation of $78 billion with $42 billion in sales.
There are plenty of others trying to do more or less what Google does in the search business. Almost no one is betting against Google today – least of all consumers who turn to Google 200 million times a day, more than all the others combined.
What’s interesting is that, since it’s founding in 1998, Google has emerged as the most valuable media company in the world (the Big Three a year ago: Time Warner [now at $78 billion], Viacom and Disney [both near 55 billion]). “We began as a technology company,” Google’s SEC filing said, “and have evolved into a software, technology, Internet, advertising and media company all rolled into one.” Indeed, most of Google’s $3 billion dollars in sales reportedly comes from advertising – long the domain of traditional media companies.
At the risk of stating the obvious, reports of the Internet’s death a couple of years ago were overstated. It’s clear now that a cohort of trusted retailers, service providers and media companies are paving the way for successful commerce along the information super highway — and Google is leading the way.
"Don’t be evil" and "Make the world a better place" have long been part of Google culture — the yin and yang of do and do not, like the confession in the Book of Common Prayer that asks mercy for what we have done what we have failed to do:
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
Is it possible to account for Google’s performance so simply: Doing the right good at the right time and repudiating evil?
Who knows? But it’s worth noting the instruction from the apostle Paul to his spiritual protégé Timothy:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19
It might be worth taking a long lunch to dialogue with others your company:
- If we were filing with the SEC this summer could we, convincing and in good conscience, include sections called Don’t Be Evil and Making the World a Better Place?
- What would it take to sustain those ideals in our company?
- Are we self-limited by our business model? Is there a bigger arena in which we could compete? How would we find that out?
