Being Googly

At Google, we have our own internal version of the principles of “humility, respect, and trust” when it comes to behavior and human interactions.

From the earliest days of our culture, we often referred to actions as being “Googley” or “not Googley.” The word was never explicitly defined; rather, everyone just sort of took it to mean “don’t be evil” or “do the right thing” or “be good to each other.” Over time, people also started using the term “Googley” as an informal test for culture-fit whenever we would interview a candidate for an engineering job, or when writing internal performance reviews of one another. People would often express opinions about others using the term; for example, “the person coded well, but didn’t seem to have a very Googley attitude.”

Of course, we eventually realized that the term “Googley” was being overloaded with meaning; worse yet, it could become a source of unconscious bias in hiring or evaluations. If “Googley” means something different to every employee, we run the risk of the term starting to mean “is just like me.” Obviously, that’s not a good test for hiring — we don’t want to hire people “just like me,” but people from a diverse set of backgrounds and with different opinions and experiences. An interviewer’s personal desire to have a beer with a candidate (or coworker) should never be considered a valid signal about somebody else’s performance or ability to thrive at Google.

Google eventually fixed the problem by explicitly defining a rubric for what we mean by “Googleyness” — a set of attributes and behaviors that we look for that represent strong leadership and exemplify “humility, respect, and trust”:

Thrives in ambiguity

Can deal with conflicting messages or directions, build consensus, and make progress against a problem, even when the environment is constantly shifting.

Values feedback

Has humility to both receive and give feedback gracefully and understands how valuable feedback is for personal (and team) development.

Challenges status quo

Is able to set ambitious goals and pursue them even when there might be resistance or inertia from others.

Puts the user first

Has empathy and respect for users of Google’s products and pursues actions that are in their best interests.

Cares about the team

Has empathy and respect for coworkers and actively works to help them without being asked, improving team cohesion.

Does the right thing

Has a strong sense of ethics about everything they do; willing to make difficult or inconvenient decisions to protect the integrity of the team and product.

Now that we have these best-practice behaviors better defined, we’ve begun to shy away from using the term “Googley.” It’s always better to be specific about expectations!