I have often wondered, why some companies thrive and others don’t. Why companies like Google within 17 years manage to be so involved in people’s everyday life while others are struggling to stay afloat. What is the secret ingredient those companies possess? Through my observation I have come to a conclusion that the more diverse the workplace is, the more innovative the companies tend to be. In this post, I will try to be politically correct and not provide negative opinion on failing companies.
If we look back in the history, in the 16th century we can see that the one of the richest countries in Europe was The Netherlands. How can such a small country surrounded by such powerful neighbors such as Germany, Britain, and France, hold on its own and not become the victim of of their neighbors’ ambitions? William I, Prince of Orange of The Netherlands, understood very well the dutch power and its enemy, the ambitious France under the King Louis Sun. In order to create wealth to develop its strength over the water, William I used the advantage of access to the sea and opened the country’s border to trading and commerce. In order for the country to flourish as well as to develop alliance to protect itself from ambitious France, William I adopted tolerant position towards people from different cultures, religions, and backgrounds. Influx of people from all over the world brought knowledge and technologies to The Netherlands, helping to create one of the richest and most powerful country in the European empire.
On the other side Russia, possessing both vast land and natural resources, with the majority of population working in agriculture, produced only enough to feed its landowner. Muscovites, detesting western cultures, preferred to live in the old fashion way, in which women had no voice in the family. Their technology fell far behind the West. Although Russians were smart and possessed undeniable endurance strength, their family ties-based promotion left the government with an mediocre army unable to defend themselves against neighboring Turks and Cassacks.
Now, moving from world history to specific cities in the US, we wonder: why do some cities like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago are so rich while so many other cities fall far behind? Don’t they all operate in the same country, speak the same language, and have freedom to human rights? If we observe these rich cities carefully, we will see a huge variation in the population. We will see all kind of cultures such as bohemians, hippies, gays and lesbians, and geeks smashed all together in one place. In fact, 2007 censure showed that Chicago has the fifth highest foreign-born population in the United States. The 2010 censure of San Francisco population showed that 38% of the city’s residents were born in California, while 25% were born in a different U.S. state, and 36% were born outside the United States. In New York, a city where over 200 languages are spoken, around 40% of the population is foreign born*. As Richard Florida, the author of The Rise of Creative Class said, “It’s not that gays and diversity equal high technology. But if your culture is not such that it can accept difference, and uniqueness and oddity and eccentricity, you will not get high tech industry.”
Now going back to the companies, why do some companies such as Google do so well? Not only its stock performance has increased by whooping 280% over the past 5 years (April 2011 to December 2015), but it has been consistently ranked as best company to work for by Fortune and other reputable ranking sites. One of the ten Google’s guiding principles is:
You can be serious without a suit
What does that mean? Suits have been developed from the medieval Europe to mark the distinction in class between the wealthy and powerful and the peasants. It slowly evolved to represent a corporate culture in the US, where the processes were designed to keep the company run in perpetuity even when the CEOs or the owners changed. In the Google’s culture, there is no separation between work and life and one can have a creative idea while running in the gym. There is no set hierarchy in the company’s culture and everybody’s opinion matters. The culture is fast paced and the company promotes a creative approach to work, play, and life. I do not claim to know a lot about the company and if you have anything to add, please comment below. I will gladly welcome them and incorporate in my blog.
What does it mean to the companies in the modern world? In order to stay ahead of the competition, you need passionate coworkers who have different views from your own to challenge you everyday. Having international people from different background in the office would provide that out of the box challenge. It is not about the race of proving someone else right or wrong. It’s about coming to the third alternative, a better idea born from two existing ideas. In short, creativity and innovation cannot be born from close-mindedness and strict processes.
Note: A lot of ideas are developed from logical construction of the existing knowledge.
Sources:
Richard Florida “The Rise of Creative Class”
Robert Massie “Peter the Great”
Stephen Harvey “The 3rd Alternative”
New York Demographics: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/pop_facts.shtml
Google’s culture: http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/im_guiding_principles_google.html
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