Google: Character

Character can be defined as the mental and moral qualities the defines an individual,

which can be largely influenced by who you associate and surround yourself with. What better

way to characterize Google than to examine who they hire and how that affects the individuality

of Google. The company hires its employees based on four characteristics. Googliness, role-

related knowledge, emergent leadership, and high cognitive ability. Holly Finn best describes

googliness as a mashup of passion and drive thats hard to find but easy to spot(Finn,

Missions that Matter). Role-related knowledge is best defined as being able to work in a

variety of different areas of a field. Emergent Leadership is the ability to adapt and become a

leader when no one else wants to. Lastly, high cognitive ability is simply someone who is

curious and eager to learn and be a part of something that is always growing and adapting.

Googles character and reputation match PACE perfectly. From understanding leadership as a

gateway to interconnectedness, to the diversity in thinking the company hires. These

characteristics show exactly how Google has been so successful and that the character of the

employees mirror the character of the business. From their multiple markets in the tech industry

to their ideals as a company, it all fall back to the employees who keep everything going

smoothly and successfully.

Another way Googles character is represented is through their philanthropic work.

Almost all of Googles philanthropic work circumvents around the ideology of innovation and

focusing on humans. According to Google, one of their critical components in its recipe for

success [ ] is [its] embrace of a corporate philosophy that reaches beyond profits. [Google]

articulates this philosophy as a simple claim in [their] mission statement: You can make money

without doing evil. (Rana, 87). Googles human-focused philanthropy concentrates on three
basic components: economic opportunity, education, and inclusion. To give back to the

economy, Google.org is putting $10M and 1,000 Google volunteers behind Goodwill to enable

1.2M opportunity youth, formerly incarcerated and displaced workers, and veterans to access

digital skills and career opportunities (https://www.google.org/). Giving individuals like those

listed above access to digital skills and career opportunities will help them get jobs, and thus

stimulate the economy. From an educational standpoint, Google.org is supporting Pratham

Books to rapidly expand the reach of their translation platform

StoryWeaver(https://www.google.org). By doing so, Google is helping translate books

published in India that are either written in only Hindi or English, leaving other languag98c5cxes

out, and thus useless for students with different languages. Finally, to combat racism and support

inclusion, is working to prevent the loss of records and stories of racial injustice. They are doing

so by working with Bryan Stevensons Equal Justice Initiative, which is building a national

memorial to lynching victims and a museum that examines African American

history(https://www.google.org). They have put forth $2.4 million in grant funding.

Rana, Shruit. "From making money without doing evil to doing good without handouts: The

Google. org experiment in philanthropy." J. Bus. & Tech. L. 3 (2008): 87.

About Google.Org. Google.org, www.google.org/our-work/.

Baer, Drake. 13 Qualities Google Looks for in Job Candidates. Business Insider, Business Insider, 27

Apr. 2015, www.businessinsider.com/what-google-looks-for-in-employess-2015-4

Finn, Holly. Missions That Matter. Think with Google, ThinkWithGoogle, 12 Apr. 2017,

www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/missions-that-matter/.