Over the years, I've lauded Google's approach and admonished them. Either way, you've go to credit Google as one of the great American business success stories.
This weekend, there was an excellent article about what small businesses can learn from Google. I encourage you to read it.
The author identifies five key principles that drive Google's culture. I agree that if you live by these five principles you'll be happy with the outcome:
- Launch and iterate.
- Fail fast.
- Focus on the user (customer).
- Ask forgiveness, not permission (internally).
- If you see a void, fill it.
As with most successful philosophies, there's nothing complex here. It's all quite simple; just not common. As the summer months begin, make a commitment to live by these five rules and see what happens.