Google and the One Dollar Salary Club

Founding fathers of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, should be nothing short of social and technological archetypes; conquering the vast invisible spectrum of technology and its complex encryptions, mastering the unspeakable act of humility within the selfish human race and serving - like ingenious butlers - decadent  information to the starving and ungrateful masses. These role models, archetypes, or simply, men are worth billions upon billions of dollars. Yet, it is one miniscule dollar that is taken their absolute income.

The ‘one dollar salary club’ was initiated by a variety of CEOs and magnates, such as the late Steve Jobs (Apple), the retired Jerry Yang (Yahoo), and up until recently even Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) has joined. Sergey Brin and Larry Page started with the $1 annual salary when Google went public in 2004. Showing the world that passion is the greatest driving force behind success, the Google heroes adopt and display a particularly clean philosophy which echoes through the minds of their rivals and competition. These men should be respected and seen as a benchmark in which to strive for in order to better the lives of people and to create a desire for passion and purpose within society.

Larry Page is a 41-year old internet entrepreneur and computer scientist, he is also married with two children – he is a social hermit. Sergey Brin is a 40-year old computer scientist and internet entrepreneur, he is divorced and has two children – he too is a social hermit. These two reclusive men would come together to create one of America’s, as well as the one of the World’s, most exciting enterprises that internet and technology has ever had to offer. Surely there are specific values that shape or mold these individuals and thus the organization as a whole. If Forbes would go on to declare that “Google isn’t just a technology innovator. It is a business model innovator,” then these two brilliant men should inspire success within people of nearly all occupations.

Success is in the statistics

Google makes its revenue mainly through online advertisements, apps and media, and has never been shy of attracting billions of dollars to its name. According to The Verge, Google had made 15.4 billion dollars in the 1^st quarter of 2014 and that since 2004 they have had a gradual increase of up to 10% every year.

Business Wire, a website based on global press release distribution, released statistics describing that the Android Operating System is the most sought after, thus leaving rival companies like iOS, Blackberry and Windows far behind. The website included that of the 96.7% of major smartphones shipped (Android and iOS), nearly 80% were all Android-based smartphones.

Google’s Values

The organization itself is more representative of who these individuals truly are and what they hope to achieve on a global scale.  According to Google, there are ten specific things that they “know to be true” with regard to the values, goals and objectives of the organization. Three of these goals are described as follows:

Focus on the User and all else will follow

The user, client or audience is everything. Tweaks, updates and changes are all made with the user in mind. Every feature is made to ensure that the consumer does not need to give feedback, as everything should be as user-friendly as possible. This value should be recognized in order to succeed, as it is through people that most, if not all, objectives become possible. 

Fast is better than Slow.

As time is a valuable commodity in our day-to-day lives, efficiency through speed becomes the best possible solution. Google says that they might be the only company in the world that attempts to get the user off their website as quickly as possible; this is due to the speed and reaction time at which they apply in order to get the user to the desired information. Being punctual, concise and efficient can always count in your favor in making the customer more comfortable. Again, this proves how the user, consumer, or viewer is always seen as the motivation behind the success of the organization.

Great just isn't good enough.

The founding fathers can be firmly distinguished from other CEO’s through this value and driving force behind their success. Google’s values webpage had this to say: “We see being great at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected.” They identify a user problem, in this case the search for particular information, and make it their goal to ensure it becomes a problem of their own, guaranteeing that the user is always satisfied. An example of the way in which Google attempts to excel on a smaller scale is the introduction of Gmail and its greater storage capacity, which resulted in the setting of a new standard for all online e-mail storage. The values and goals that Google portray are significant in that they aim to create a more user-friendly and stable environment on the internet for all information- and communication-based access.

Conclusion

Google’s values page offers the following statement of inspiration: “Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are becomes the driving force behind everything we do.”

The future will see many more future innovations come from the men and women working behind Google’s fame. This will introduce a new shift in the current perspectives we hold about technology and the way that we embrace it. With the values and direction that Google strives for, there seems to be a positive future for bonding society through technology and information.