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Google has an interesting philosophy on this: """ Cosgrove asked them to elaborate on the idea: "exile the knaves, but fight for the divas." Rosenberg said ma
by 1001101 9y ago
Google has an interesting philosophy on this:
"""
Cosgrove asked them to elaborate on the idea: "exile the knaves, but fight for the divas."
Rosenberg said maintaining Google's collaborative culture requires weeding out and getting rid of the knaves: Employees who lack integrity, who are jealous of their peers, take credit for others' work, and think only of themselves. "Nice humble engineers have a way of becoming insufferable when they think they are the sole inventors of the world's next big thing," they write in their book. "This is quite dangerous, as ego creates blind spots... Nip crazy in the bud."
Divas, on the other hand, display "high exceptionalism," Rosenberg said. If the divas are brilliant and doing a good job, they should be valued and allowed to do their jobs. "As long as ... the divas' achievements outweigh the collateral damage caused by their diva ways, you should fight for them."
"They will pay off your investment by doing interesting things," they write. "...Remember that Steve Jobs was one of the greatest business divas the world has ever known!"
""" [1]
[1] http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/10/googles_eric_schmidt_and_jonathan_rosenberg_share_how_google_works_with_cleveland_clinics_dr_toby_cosgrove.html http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/10/googles_...
- exelius 9y agoBy all accounts I've heard from friends working at Google X, Sergey Brin is the textbook definition of a "brilliant jerk". This probably has something to do with it.
- valuearb 9y agoFacebook has open floor plans not because they are effective at collaboration or productive work environments, but because Mark Zuckerberg prefers being able to see everyone at work. Companies tend to be modeled around the strengths and weaknesses of their founders.
- exelius 9y agoNot disagreeing with you at all; simply pointing out there may be a good reason why Google is more tolerant of brilliant jerks than other places. I do have to say that most "brilliant jerks" don't end up being worth the time you put into them because they're usually the first to jump ship when something better comes along...
- draw_down 9y agoSounds like a jerk is just a diva we don't like. Which, you know, that's fine, but starting off with the pejorative "jerk" inherently indicates they are not a person worth valuing.
- RGS1811 9y agoI've been in a non-tech work environment (specifically, publishing) where management followed this philosophy. In that case it yielded a disgruntled workforce with terrible leadership who were variously ignored and exploited by the divas. Ultimately the place would have done better with a boatload of knaves and no more than 2 divas.