Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
How Google Works cover art

How Google Works

By: Eric Schmidt,Jonathan Rosenberg
Narrated by: Holter Graham,Jonathan Rosenberg
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Power Moves cover art
The Establishment cover art
In the Plex cover art
A World Gone Social cover art
Alibaba cover art
The Hard Thing About Hard Things cover art
Inspired cover art
Accelerated Startup cover art
Customer Relationship Marketing cover art
Simply Brilliant cover art
Hack Your Bureaucracy cover art
Principles cover art
Kaizen for Small Business Startup cover art
The Phoenix Project cover art
Data Analytics, Data Visualization & Communicating Data: 3 books in 1 cover art
The CIO Paradox cover art

Summary

Both Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg came to Google as seasoned Silicon Valley business executives, but over the course of a decade they came to see the wisdom in Coach John Wooden's observation that 'it's what you learn after you know it all that counts'.

As they helped grow Google from a young start-up to a global icon, they relearned everything they knew about management. How Google Works is the sum of those experiences distilled into a fun, easy-to-read primer on corporate culture, strategy, talent, decision-making, communication, innovation, and dealing with disruption.

The authors explain how the confluence of three seismic changes - the internet, mobile, and cloud computing - has shifted the balance of power from companies to consumers. The companies that will thrive in this ever-changing landscape will be the ones that create superior products and attract a new breed of multifaceted employees whom the authors dub 'smart creatives'. The management maxims ('Consensus requires dissension', 'Exile knaves but fight for divas', 'Think 10X, not 10%') are illustrated with previously unreported anecdotes from Google's corporate history.

'Back in 2010, Eric and I created an internal class for Google managers,' says Rosenberg. 'The class slides all read 'Google confidential' until an employee suggested we uphold the spirit of openness and share them with the world. This book codifies the recipe for our secret sauce: how Google innovates and how it empowers employees to succeed.'

Read by award-winning narrator Holter Graham, with the foreword and introduction read by Jonathan Rosenberg.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2014 Eric,Jonathan Schmidt,Rosenberg (P)2014 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about How Google Works

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    377
  • 4 Stars
    158
  • 3 Stars
    46
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    340
  • 4 Stars
    127
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    11
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    323
  • 4 Stars
    140
  • 3 Stars
    40
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • AJ
  • 12-02-20

could be a bit shorter

Outstanding company, interesting book, but could not find any new or revolutionary management concept. in general, the book could be a bit less poetical or more laconic. main message is that to achieve this level of success you need to hire talented and capable people and than maintain atmosphere to encourage enthusiasm and creativity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good read

Where does How Google Works rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Provides a good understanding of how Google works and the management approach. Interesting to see how they can be adapted for use in smaller software houses.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It gets better as it goes

The intro is a bit over the top but once it gets going there is plenty covered. Narration is good as well easy to listen to him talking and it makes some very relevant points. Though you do think it must have been hard on all those ways of working with the remote nature of what goes on now. It would be interesting to get a refresh and has the culture changes from everyone together.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing book for creatives

A very good insight into how Google became and continues to grow and innovate.
Highly inspiring.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Not that good

Underqhelming. If you want to learn about how google works, I recommend Work Rules instead.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very informative

Really enjoyed listening to this book, it is very informative and offers advice that can be used in any business discipline,

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

very insightful and highly recommend it

very interesting book and found it very fascinating on how these ideas came together and the general structure of the right culture needed to drive vision. helps you understand the success behind google and why the success was so strong

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great to listen to as a scientist

You might think a book on the ins and outs of google won’t be relevant to academia and the industry of science. But you’ll be very wrong.

This book explicates how their business is modelled, how they hire people, how they foster innovation and break ground, and how they focus solely on the user.

There are tons of excellent advice that could well help a modern scientist run their lab or research group, and how to ensure they foster a healthy environment to allow for nov discoveries and to build great people.

Read this now!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Typical American BS

Five years from now: Google avoiding paying tax and helped ferment social division that let to the second American civil war.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Inspiring

Feeling motivated and hopeful after listening to this book. Highly recommended for those who does not want to follow standards MBA way of working.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!