3 ms·
back in 2006 when i first moved into the "game changing strategies" role at Microsoft, we spent a lot of time analyzing Google's culture. one of the things we
by jdp23 16y ago
back in 2006 when i first moved into the "game changing strategies" role at Microsoft, we spent a lot of time analyzing Google's culture. one of the things we spotted was that "Don't be evil" isn't sustainable. there are a lot of situations where any option is at least somewhat evil; and business pressures have a way of forcing you to do evil things.
Of course I was very careful about saying this around Microsoft. People there are very competitive, and being evil used to be a core competency. I didn't want to get into a situation where folks were saying "hey we have an opportunity to can be more evil than Google!"
- jinushaun 16y agoI agree. At some point, when your company gets so big and entrenched, it becomes necessary to make decisions to do what ever it takes to keep the machine running. Some may interpret this as being "evil", but I see it as a natural instinct to survive. Self preservation is not inherently evil. It's one thing to be the underdog fighting a giant, but it's another thing to become the giant yourself and having to defend against new underdogs. The Animal Farm analogy is apropos.