How much of the ability to have the company culture like the early Google is being described in the article is due to the ability not to worry too much about growth, competition and margins? If your business is growing 30-100% YoY with high margins, you can afford to throw money around and spin all the narratives you want. Some companies who are lucky to be in that position still don't choose to prioritize employees but it is not a tough decision.
Now Google is coming close to the ceiling of its ads market expansion, which fueled growth for 2 decades. Hard to maintain 20+% YoY growth, so the range of possible options and narratives is shrinking.
Can one sustain the same perks and culture narratives when their budget is suddenly cut by 20+%? That's the reality most companies face often but Google didn't have to worry about for a long time.
It's a vicious part of the cycle and it takes good leadership to pull out of the spiral. Killing off perks and curbing pay to account for the loss of budget growth also has the effect of making the top performers look elsewhere, which in turn curbs the rockstars and moonshots that Google was known for. They need to shed the dead weight and make accountability possible and a point of pride. Unfortunately it's usually the dead weight that hangs on the hardest.
Now Google is coming close to the ceiling of its ads market expansion, which fueled growth for 2 decades. Hard to maintain 20+% YoY growth, so the range of possible options and narratives is shrinking.
Can one sustain the same perks and culture narratives when their budget is suddenly cut by 20+%? That's the reality most companies face often but Google didn't have to worry about for a long time.
Disclaimer: worked at Google in 2010s.