Fair enough. I 100% concede that the onus is on you to sell your ideas and rationally respond to criticism, even when the criticism seems irrational. That said

Fair enough. I 100% concede that the onus is on you to sell your ideas and rationally respond to criticism, even when the criticism seems irrational. That said, my point was simply that it's a myth that to be successful at Google is to just have good ideas. You have to play the social game as well, as it's an environment where reputation plays just as much a role as innovation. For what it's worth, I didn't mean to attach this specifically to Google. It happens at every large company, almost by default. It's just that many folks are surprised to find that Google is so "corporate", especially many Googlers that started straight from graduation.