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Ricardo TrejoDoes Larry Page have what it takes to be Google's Steve Jobs?
Does Larry Page have what it takes to be Google's Steve Jobs?
I reckon that 5 out of 5 times, if you asked random people on the street which search engine they use they’d tell you Google. But immediately after, if you asked them to name one single employee, let alone its creators or CEO, they’d be dumbfounded. That soon may change however, with today’s news that long time Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, will be stepping down and handing over control to Larry Page, one half of Google’s original co-founders.
Larry (top), Eric (Center), Sergey (Bottom)Why is this a big deal?
What makes this changing of the guard more than just your average, run of the mill CEO switch is that Larry Page originally was Google’s CEO back in 2001. But this was during Google’s toddler years in which investors were afraid that the “Google guys” would run the company into the ground. This was a crucial period as the company had a bright future ahead of it, but those pumping in the cash didn’t want it to end up like so many of the casualities seen in the dot-com bubble burst. Against Larry and Sergey’s wishes, Eric Schmidt was put into the position in which he stepped down from today.
Fast forward a decade and we’re now back to where we started with Larry, however there are now a few key differences: Google is the dominant player in the search game, the “Google guys” are much older, mature, and wiser, and finally, there have been necessary mistakes made in which the company has learned from — we’re looking at you Google Buzz.
Google faces rising challenges
That being said, Larry has a lot on his plate coming into the head honcho’s position. His new role consists of not just making sure Bing stays at a far off distance, but also having to make some tough decisions concerning Google’s rivalry with The Social Network, a.k.a. Facebook. Which is an interesting topic in it of itself, considering that Facebook is a social network and has no aspirations to challenge Google in the search engine world. But that’s the thing — Facebook doesn’t need that kind of strategy to be making billions of dollars hosting advertisements on their own site, which is now gaining more page views than even Google, making them currently the most visited site in the world.
It’d be an understatement to say that Google feels threatened, and perhaps a little concerned that the wells of ad revenue may soon one day dry up, or at least not be enough to compete; why else would Google branch off into such other technologies as the Android platform, the Chrome browser and operating system, and acquisition of Youtube? The landscape of the internet and the tools in which we interact and communicate with each other is ever evolving, and Google knows that. And it’s perhaps for that reason that Schmidt no longer was cut out for the job at hand.
Why now?
One reason for his departure may have been his demeanor and personality. Face it, Eric wasn’t the most charming or charismatic person in the world. Sure, he led the company out of the depths of uncertainty and was able to form it into the corporate giant it is today, but he’s no Steve Jobs. Maybe the spark that Google needs to work on is the way in which it communicates with its users.
Steve Jobs and Eric SchmidtThe reason I say this is because everyone Googles, but hardly anyone realizes that they’re doing so — they aren’t aware that Google is a product, a service, and so in effect aren’t aware of its value. Having someone to give people a face to associate the company with could help Google in the long run immensely. Not to mention that Larry Page is the kind of guy who fits right in with other notable young and hip minds, like Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Digg’s Kevin Rose. It’s this generation of youth that is now at the helms of running Silicon Valley.
Google needs charm
It’s interesting how the personalties that run companies nowadays seem to be just as important as the products in which they produce. Google has long since been associated with free spiritedness, despite their enormous growth and continued grasp of responsibility in caring for the world’s searching needs and privacy. And now that Eric has tweeted himself that the company no longer requires “day-to-day adult supervision”, this might be the opportunity that Google needs to prove itself at being able to run itself. But does Larry Page have what it takes to guide the company in the right direction? To do so, he’s going to need to channel some of that zen energy that Steve Jobs brought to Apple when he rejoined the company as its CEO in 1996.
Since Jobs’ return, Apple jumped from being nearly irrelevant to the modern standard for products that just work. Steve’s influence was felt not only in the confines of Apple, but throughout the entire world. People walking their dogs could be seen sporting the white earbuds, and in every college campus there are thousands of students with a glowing white apple on the backs of their laptop. Surely this is evidence enough that whoever is steering the car has to have a clear map in their head of where they want to go. It’s Google’s turn to get another chance at reinventing itself, but they have to manage this transition correctly, or otherwise it’ll be like just another day at the office.
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