Google is widely considered, by both the general public and business experts, to be one of the most innovative companies in the world. So how does Google promote a culture of innovation and ensure that principles of innovation are properly implemented, creating profitable new products that position the company for long-term success? Google’s “recipe” for driving innovation is no carefully guarded secret sauce. Rather, Google has openly shared this information with the public.
In 2013, Google codified a new set of “Nine Principles of Innovation,” which updated the version first unveiled by former Google executive Marissa Mayer in 2008.
The innovation book Robert’s Rules of Innovation II: The Art of Implementation discusses each of Google’s Nine Principles of Innovation and suggests that we all think about them, in the context of our own companies. Implementing relevant parts of Google’s Nine Principles of Innovation at your company is not “cheating”; but rather, it’s smart and efficient to use the Principles as a framework for fostering innovation in business—after all, innovation doesn’t have to be about reinventing the wheel.
This blog will cover the first four principles from Google’s Nine Principles of Innovation.
From the Mind of Google: Google’s Nine Principles of Innovation (Principles 1–4) Innovation comes from anywhere.
At Google, this principle emphasizes that innovation is in nobody’s job title, but is everyone’s responsibility. Moreover, ideas can come from anyone in the organization, regardless if they are top-level executives, employees who work in roles or departments not typically associated with innovation, or employees on the “bottom” of the company’s totem pole
Focus on the user. A long-standing Google principle is that the company encourages its employees to build products with the user, not profits, in mind..”
Think 10x, not 10 percent
This Google principle is about striving to improve something by a tenfold difference rather than just improving it by 10 percent. In other words, making a revolutionary change rather than an evolutionary change. This innovation driver comes from Google co-founder Larry Page’s preference for radical innovation over incremental innovation.
Keep in mind that whereas this lofty think 10x principle may be appropriate for mega-companies such as Google, it’s not necessarily appropriate for all companies. Revolutionary innovation is a great thing to strive for, but it’s not the only successful type of innovation. As discussed in a previously published blog on this site, innovation doesn’t always have to be about reinventing the wheel, it can also be about simply improving the wheel. Incremental innovation—small-scale improvements that make a product better or more marketable—can drive successful, profitable innovation at your company.
Also, incremental innovation—as opposed to revolutionary innovation and massive step-change innovation—makes the idea of innovation considerably less daunting and more accessible to a wider range of people.
Bet on technical insights
Every organization has its unique insights—and betting on these unique insights can lead to major innovation. It was Google—not the automotive industry—that came up with the idea of the self-driving car. Google was able to make this major innovation because they already had the unique insights and building blocks in place to engineer a self-driving car. Google was able to tie its various information assets (data gleaned from its existing Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View cars programs) to create the all new product entity of the self-driving car. At your business, think about whether your business has any unique insights or information assets that can be used and combined to innovate something new.
Ship and iterate
This innovation principle is the updated version of former Google executive Marissa Mayer’s 2008 “innovation, not instant perfection” innovation principle. “Ship and iterate” means to ship your products out to market early and often rather than waiting until they are absolutely perfect to take them to market. Your product’s users will help you “iterate” it by providing you with feedback to make the product better. Google first launched its Internet browser Chrome in 2008 and then every six weeks, launched improved versions of Chrome based on user feedback. “Today, using that approach, Chrome is the Number One browser in many countries,” said Gopi Kallayil, Google’s Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing,
Twenty percent time
Twenty percent time refers to Google’s long-standing principle where employees are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their work time pursuing projects they are passionate about, even if these projects are outside the scope of their job description or the company’s core mission. If you give your employees this twenty percent time, Kallayil promises that “They will delight you with their creative thinking.”
At Google, the results of their “20 percent time” program include Google News, Google Alerts, and off-road Google Maps Street View.
While your company may not be able to offer its employees Google’s “20 percent time”, it should strive to offer employees more freedom to choose projects that interest them and do what they love as well as more autonomy to experiment and make decisions.
Default to open
Back in 2008, it was Marissa Mayer’s original goal to promote innovation at Google by sharing information on Google’s intranet and facilitate collaboration among Google employees. Now, the updated version of this principle incorporates Google pulling ideas from the general public. As Kallayil said, “There are seven billion people…. The smartest people will always be outside Google.
Fail well
Google believes that there should be no negativity or stigma attached with failing. According to Kallayil, failure at Google is a “badge of honor.” Moreover, Kallayil said, “There is a belief in the company that if you don’t fail often enough, you’re not trying hard enough. Once we realize a product is not working out, we kill it, but the thing with products is they morph—we take all the best ideas and redeploy them.”
Have a mission that matters This new principle for Google is, according to Kallayil, “the most important one.” Kallayil says, “Everybody at Google has a very strong sense of mission and purpose. We seriously believe that the work we do has a huge impact on millions of people in a positive way.” What is your company’s mission? Is everyone on the same page? Do your employees care about the mission?