It’s the Boss, Stupid
by Miki Saxon
It’s said that people don’t leave companies, they leave bosses, but now and then it’s the top bosses, the ones who control the culture, who create the circumstances that incite an exodus, as opposed to an immediate manager.
That’s what’s going on at Google, according to James Whittaker, who left Microsoft for Google and then left Google to return there.
The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus.
Googlers have left because of harassment, retaliation, various governments’ contracts/projects, treatment of contractors, and other ethical considerations.
Google’s bosses are also some of the biggest hypocrites in tech. Worse even than Zuckerberg at saying one thing while doing the opposite covertly — especially something that negatively affects the entire planet, not just people’s privacy.
Despite making noises about becoming more environmentally friendly, Google has been quietly funding organizations which say climate change isn’t real [emphasis mine].
Fortunately, all the clandestine stuff keeps surfacing and people are coming to the realization that Google is anything but benevolent.
All these things fall under the culture umbrella.
A culture controlled by Google bosses.
Image credit: Nguyen Hung Vu
