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181 " This is a common refrain you hear in Silicon Valley: the CEO who picks up the stack of newspapers outside the front door, the founder who wipes the counters. With these actions, the leaders demonstrate their egalitarian natures—we’re all in this together and none of us are above the menial tasks that need to get done. "
― Eric Schmidt , How Google Works
182 " In the Internet Century, a product manager’s job is to work together with the people who design, engineer, and develop things to make great products. "
183 " Working from home during normal working hours, which to many represents the height of enlightened culture, is a problem that—as Jonathan frequently says—can spread throughout a company and suck the life out of its workplace. "
184 " Give the wrong people a big challenge, and you’ll induce anxiety. But give it to the right people, and you’ll induce joy. "
185 " Be very generous with the resources they need to do their work. Be stingy with the stuff that doesn’t matter, like fancy furniture and big offices, but invest in the stuff that does. "
186 " How many meetings have you been in where the first dozen or so slides are full of words, and the person stands up there and repeats the words? "
187 " Android’s great Sky Map is an astronomy application that turns a phone into a star chart. It was built by a team of Googlers in their spare time (what we call “20 percent time”—more on that later), not because they love to program computers, but because they were enthusiastic amateur "
188 " When Jonathan was in business school, one of his finance professors used to say that “money is the lifeblood of any company.” This is only partially true. In the Internet Century money is obviously critical, but information is the true lifeblood of the business. Attracting smart creatives and leading them to do amazing things is the key to building a twenty-first-century business, but none of that happens if they aren’t flush with information. "
189 " And if you, our critics, still persist in believing that elitism in hiring is wrong, well, we have just one question for you: If you have twelve coins, one of which is counterfeit and a different weight than the others, and a balance, how do you identify the counterfeit coin in just three weighings? "
190 " For a meritocracy to work, it needs to engender a culture where there is an “obligation to dissent”. "
191 " Our colleague Ellen West related a story to us that was told to her by a member of the Gayglers (Google’s diversity group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees). He told Ellen that the Gayglers had discussed whether or not Google could be considered the first “post-gay” company at which they had worked. The consensus was that it was close, since at Google “it doesn’t matter who you are, just what you do.” Bingo. "
192 " Establishing a successful hiring culture that delivers a steady stream of outstanding people starts with understanding the role of recruiters in sourcing candidates. Hint: It isn’t their exclusive realm. "
193 " Creating a meritocracy requires equal participation by both the hippo, who could rule the day by fiat, and the brave smart creative, who risks getting trampled as she stands up for quality and merit. "
194 " (A frequent Eric aphorism during financial discussions: “Revenue solves all known problems.”) "
195 " There’s nothing wrong with continuous improvement and smart business tactics, but the tail is wagging the dog when market research becomes more important than technical innovation. "
196 " At the most senior level, the people with the greatest impact—the ones who are running the company—should be product people. "
197 " creativity loves constraints. "
198 " When companies get big, they devote most of their care and feeding to the business that got them big. This is as it should be, but it makes things much harder for new businesses that aren’t tied to the core. "
199 " If you are in a position of responsibility but are overwhelmed by the job, it’s easier to try to bluster your way through with a “because I said so” approach. You need to have confidence in your people, and enough self-confidence to let them identify a better way. "
200 " (Tom Peters: “There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.”) "