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Google’s ex-CEO blames remote working on the company’s AI woes (fortune.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

https://archive.li/O1cSJ

‘Google decided that work-life balance was more important than winning’

OK Eric, but how do you win without employees?

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[–] [email protected] 126 points 3 months ago (3 children)

“I’m sorry to be so blunt,” Schmidt continued in the video posted on Stanford’s YouTube channel on Tuesday. “But the fact of the matter is, if you all leave the university and go found a company, you’re not gonna let people work from home and only come in one day a week if you want to compete against the other startups.”

If I were going to found a company I'd make it remote only because I'd have access to a global labor pool, often in places with lower cost of living, and I won't have to pay for an office. Seems like a win-win.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

if you want to compete against the other startups

i'm guessing he offered approximately zero data to support the claim that WFH startups always lose against office-only startups?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 3 months ago

I absolutely would do that, in point of fact. And, like, tons of successful startups started in a founder’s (or even founder’s parent’s) basement or garage. So I don’t know what this C-suite dipshit thinks he’s on about.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What an absurd statement. Absolute lunacy on his part to compare Google to a startup.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

He's speaking to a bunch of Standford students and giving advice, so it's not that absurd. But it is pretty absurd to tell potential entrepreneurs "Make sure you pay as much as possible for real estate in a big city, and then overpay for talent because your office is in a big city."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

If his goal is for his company to win I wouldn't be taking his advice.he has a financial incentive to sabotage future competition

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Talking to students at Stanford about startups is fine. Projecting his concerns about WFH employees for his own company onto them is nonsense and disingenuous, as Google is about the furthest they could possibly be from a startup nowadays.

[–] [email protected] 102 points 3 months ago

Working from home will always be my priority over commuting for two hours. Get fucked, ex-CEO.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Google's ex-CEO blames remote working for (insert anything wrong with his business).

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago

Well let's hope the FTC follows through and goes full Baby Bell on their asses

[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago

An ex-CEO dipshit who got ran off because he fucked around too much, and he pretends that his old stodgy ethically bankrupt perspectives mean shit. That's hilarious.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago

Huh could have thought it was because they have been making everything a turd if they aren't killing it. How does the #1 search engine turn into junk over years? Oh right they hired a dude that killed yhoo to helm the responsibility...

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago

The same asshole who said that you shouldn’t mind the privacy concerns if you’ve got nothing to hide. That’s how you know his opinions are valuable.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago

Google decided that work-life balance was more important than winning

Yes. Work-life balance is quite literally the most important aspect of any job, arguably second only to pay. If an employer doesn't agree, then they're not my employer.

Sorry, you psychopathic oligarch fuck, but people have better things to do than work themselves to death to buy you a 54th yacht. Maybe try moving to an apartheid state if that's what you want. It worked for the Musks.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

As a remote worker, I blame leadership that lacks talent and skill.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (2 children)

To my ears the headline gets it backwards. He blamed remote working for the company's AI woes, or blamed the company's AI woes on remote working. Not sure if this is a typo or a legitimate different use of language.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Agreed, the "on" should be "for"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

No no, he is blaming AI for the remote working. He wants the AIs to come work from the office. /s

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago

This guy is a complete tool who sounds angry at Google for personal reasons.

I have worked for several successful startups with remote work policies. The employees don't "work like hell" because they are in an office. They do it because THEY HAVE EQUITY. If the startup prospers and does well then so do the employees. I've never had a coworker decide to stay late because of access to a communal fridge and public bathroom. I have, however, known them to work harder to improve their chances of an early retirement.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

I mean he has a point. When I want to find information, do I do that from my home via the browser, or do I go to the Google headquarters to have a look at the servers myself? Of course I would never do that from my browser.

The thought alone... How inconvenient that would be. Start up my computer, open the browser, TYPE IN my query like some medieval peon. Laughable!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is the guy that worked directly for Hillary’s campaign in 2016 (and Obama’s campaign in 2012 and anyone in the DNC other than Bernie in 2020), I personally witnessed them scrubbing inconvenient links about her corruption from search results.

corruption

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

What's Google created in a garage? Seems like working from home works. 😜

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Yes daddy 🤡

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Fuck off

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Is there some grammatical conflation going on in the title or am I confused?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Billionaire doesn't give a shit about the working class. News at 11.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Just taking a chance to get his wants enforced