And now for my next trick, I’ll turn Google into the Alphabet / Hong Kong radio 3
Today’s announcement by Google that its changing its holding company’s name to Alphabet is an inspired decision and one that all innovators and companies should take a lesson from.
I know there are pragmatic reason for it, Larry Page and Sergey Brin seem to want to get out of full-time search engine mode and thinking and concentrate full-time on invention; some projects and new thinking conflict or cannibilise Google search, some projects lack of progress or expensive overheads impact on Google proper, the investment marketplace wants more clarity around Google search and Google’s myriad of other projects and the list goes on.
As radio Hong Kong 3’s Phil Whelan and I chatted about this week in our regular catch up, to me its more about sending a statement that we are damn good at search engines and have been for a long time, to the point where Google is a verb not just a noun, but the reality is that search will not be around for ever and we are positing ourselves today in a time of strength to explore the future and branch out.
This type of thinking often prevents a company from becoming like Nokia the biggest global mobile brand 9 years ago and today gone and forgotten.
When our kids think of Google 20 years from now they will ask if it’s true that were once a search engine and that’s why we need to make sure that our company, brand and products don’t rest on the laurels of past success, but rather use them to catapult from and evolve.
Take a listen to this segment now (14 minutes 54 seconds)
Today’s announcement by Google that its changing its holding company’s name to Alphabet is an inspired decision and one that all innovators and companies should take a lesson from. I know there are pragmatic reason for it, Larry Page and Sergey Brin seem to want to get out of ful.
When signals like And now for my next trick, I’ll turn Google into the emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.
The most important question is not whether And now for my next trick, I’ll turn Google into the will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
