"Oh my God, can you stop with the 'Googliness'? Like, what does that even mean", Graham Hawtrey asked. "The fact that you don't know what it means is why you will never work here", Mr Anderson answered.
"...but to excel at this internship, you are going to need far more than brainpower. What you are going to need is Googliness", Roger Chetty said. "Googliness - the intangible stuff that made a search engine into an engine of change", he further said.
If you are familiar with a 2013 lovely movie - The Internship, you will understand the quotes above pretty well. If you are not, you might be wondering what Googliness means and why it is a good attribute. I have been wondering what it is too.
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| credits: Dirk's Turf |
This is why I went to uncover lots of definitions that apply to this 'mystical' word.
Well, ThinkWithGoogle in an article written by Holly Finn titled: "Missions that matter" defined Googliness as a mashup of passion and drive that’s hard to define but easy to spot.
It is truly hard to define. Jens Meiert, a googler as presumed also defined googliness in her article titled: "The Meanings of Googliness" as:
- Doing the right thing. That obviously includes not doing anything that harms someone else, or that puts somebody at a disadvantage.
- Striving for excellence. Mediocrity is not googley. At Google, unsurprisingly, you find the desire for excellence right at the core, reflected by the goal to “do one thing really, really well.”
- Keeping an eye on the goals. Googliness means being focused, and striking a balance between short-term and long-term objectives.
- Being proactive. Google’s Code of Conduct says “if something is broken, fix it.” But being proactive also means anticipating moves ahead of time so to take action preemptively. And, of course, being proactive also applies to the business itself—how can we go further, what can we do to get there? Seen from another angle, then, what being proactive doesn’t mean is waiting (beyond reason) for others to make something happen.
- Going the extra mile. This is mostly found in the detail. It’s my favorite googley skill. Take the following example: Someone emails you for a project change. Such updates may normally be filed through a request management system. One response: asking the requester to file the request through said system. Another, more googley response: filing the request himself, and sending the requester a status update at the earliest convenience. The difference this makes is huge, yet it’s easily overlooked
- Doing something nice for others, with no strings attached. Being googley means thinking about and doing something for others, and not necessarily expecting something in return.
- Being friendly and approachable. Google is famous for being friendly and open; it’s googley to be friendly and open. This account dates back before my time but I believe Googlers were at some point explicitly encouraged to just join co-workers they didn’t know for lunch, to talk to and get to know them. That certainly rings googley. Similarly, the most successful managers at Google maintain “open door” policies; it’s googley to be that approachable.
- Valuing users and colleagues. It’s googley (and something Google “knows to be true”) to put the user first, and similarly to help a co-worker. It’s not googley to let either down.
- Rewarding great performance. Hard work, though not listed here, is googley. But hard work, and good work as mentioned, should also be rewarded. Rewards can (and do at Google) take many forms: endorsing notes to managers, kudos, shout-outs in meetings, monetary rewards, &c.
- Being humble, and letting go of the ego (at least sometimes). It’s okay to talk about achievements, but it’s not googley to boast (which can be a fine line). Being googley means thinking of the users, the company, the team, and then oneself. That’s accompanied by the belief that everything else, including rewards and promotions, will follow.
- Being transparent, honest, and fair. Non-transparency, dishonesty, unfairness, also secrecy are inherently ungoogley.
- Having a sense of humor. It’s not googley to oppose play. (Notice the number of and great efforts behind Google’s hoaxes, jokes, and easter eggs in this regard.)
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| credits: Google Doodle |
Even
Urban Dictionary has the word in its archive. It defines googliness as "having a distinct quality that makes you suitable for working at Google"
SFGate quoted Prasad Setty, Google's vice president of people analytics and compensation as defining googliness as: "being comfortable with ambiguity"
To me, all the definitions are correct. With this, you can see Googliness is somewhat an attribute that goes beyond the norms. It goes beyond working for Google or having anything to do with Google. It is personal. It is a unique attribute for any human. Think of having this cool attribute, effecting a change and making a difference in your community will be so easy. I wanna be googley to the fullest!!! :-D
P.S: I'm dedicating this blog post to a lady who surpassed all odds to create an opportunity where there is none; a hope to the coming generations; she possess googliness. Her name is
+Raquel Jacobs and she is a progressive Nigerian youth.
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