Probably the biggest industry story this past month was the announcement that Eric Schmidt is being kicked upstairs at Google, with Larry Page taking the wheel. The triumvirate (along with Sergey Brin) that has managed Google throughout its life as a public company has always been a bit shadowy, in terms of how the decisions have been made. Sergey and Larry are the majority owners of the company and it stands to reason that they would sign off on any important decision, but investors insisted on “adult supervision” for “the boys” and Eric Schmidt provided it. What now?
Well, first off, Larry and Sergey are now well into their 30s, which means calling them boys and insisting they need adult supervision is so 2002. Second, for all we know, Sergey and Larry have been calling the shots all along, which means you shouldn’t see much change in direction.
Still, the trade press has been awash in rumors that this leadership change was made because the founders feel that Google has been losing its edge, ceding its reputation for innovation to the new darlings of Silicon Valley, Facebook and Twitter. I’m not sure what power Larry now wields that being the owner of the company did not afford him, but I guess we will see.
To me, the real issue is not over how the company will go in new directions (or not), but it’s how well-suited Larry is to the new role he is taking on. Page is by all turns a brilliant man, but he has not been a stirring public speaker, nor someone who has seemed all that interested in being the public face of Google. I have felt all along that the founders would rather be the people calling the shots rather than making loads of public appearances and taking the brunt of criticism for every erroneous syllable.
Perhaps I underestimate the founders—after all, Bill Gates was the top dog at Microsoft and somehow made it work for many years. But I think that the minutiae that dogs a CEO of a large company makes it very difficult for that person to be the visionary, too. Perhaps Steve jobs puts a lie to that, but I think generally it is true. That same Mr. Gates stepped away from the CEO role when he thought Microsoft was losing its edge, so it is curious to see Larry jump into the role for the same reason.
Not that Eric Schmidt was doing such a hot job of being Google’s public voice. His recent gaffes have been well-documented, so perhaps the founder decided that they don’t need him any more because they can’t do any worse.
What does it mean for digital marketers? Despite all the punditry over this issue, I suspect that it will mainly be fodder for people deciding whether to buy or sell Google’s stock than for any other reason. This leadership change may prove in a few years to have made a big difference (good or bad) to Google’s fortunes, but it is unlikely to have a big impact on yours—which is true of most of the industry comings and goings that we all like to focus on. Keep working on what works for you and let Google sort itself out.
