Why Sergey Brin Should Push Harder to Shake Up Google
When I last checked, Google co-founder Sergey Brin was still one of the two people who between them control the massive tech company. As of last year, at least, Brin had a 25% voting stake, while his co-founder, Larry Page, had a tad more. So why on earth is Brin suggesting people on Google’s Gemini team come into the office every day and in general work harder (like 60 hours a week), as The New York Times reported? If Brin thinks that should happen, why doesn’t he make it happen?
Instead, a Google spokesperson says the official policy mandating that people work in the office just three days a week has not changed. Maybe Brin was simply expressing his views on work habits to the Gemini team—the one under the most pressure at Google—as a way to energize them. We hear that back in 2016 he made the same point to employees about 60 hours a week being the “sweet spot” of productivity. If that’s the case, fair enough. But maybe Brin’s reluctance to push harder is part of Google’s problem.
An iconic co-founder and major shareholder like Brin should be best positioned to effect change at Google, so why doesn’t he try? Is his reluctance to do so one reason why Google’s Gemini is lagging in the increasingly competitive artificial intelligence market? It’s surely not the only reason. My colleague Erin Woo reported last week on the internal divisions that have complicated Google’s AI efforts, a sign of how hard it is for a company as big as Google to work smoothly toward a clear goal.
Conflicting priorities show up in products: On my Google Pixel 9 phone, for instance, I have to choose between deploying Google Assistant or Gemini. I’ve picked Gemini, but, depending on how I ask a question, Google Assistant may answer—responding with less information than Gemini would. It’s not an ideal experience.
All big companies suffer from internal tensions, of course, but those run by strong leaders tend to move more quickly on stuff, as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have demonstrated. Google should be in the same position: Brin and Page have control. They should exercise it.