A few months back, I wrote a review of How Google Works by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg. That book covered many generalized topics about, well, how Google works. My review of that book was lukewarm, and that was partially because it seemed as if some of the things Google does can't be replicated in other organizations.
Enter Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock, now-former head of People Operations at Google. Where the formerly mentioned book had more of a general focus, Work Rules! focuses on the human resource side of Google, spanning topics ranging from recruiting to performance reviews.
So, how does this book compare to How Google Works? Does its narrower focus help or hinder its content? More importantly, does the content of this book hold weight in companies that aren't Google? Maybe even in your own company? We'll explore all these questions and more in the review below.
LAYING IT ALL OUT ON THE TABLE
Bock leaves no stone unturned in this book. He hits on pretty much every topic you can think of related to human resources. Recruiting, onboarding, performance reviews, compensation, and more. The topics also extend beyond just the regular things most companies do into other issues Bock feels is relevant to this discussion. Namely, he talks about the idea of trust and openness within the book.
The topics are discussed more from a "principles" perspective rather than giving explicit steps to follow within your own organization. Don't get me wrong, though, this was definitely the right approach. For example, instead of encouraging to pay people X% higher for their work, Bock encourages thinking through principles that would pay people to what is fair. (And, yes, fair oftentimes means higher than the norm.)
Bock does a good job illustrating his ideas with relevant, easy-to-understand examples. I would consider myself a dumb reader, and I never found myself having to go back and re-read something I didn't understand before. Where I was critical about Schmidt and Rosenberg's writing voice in How Google Works, I found Bock's voice to be more authentic. It made grasping Bock's ideas more tangible, if that makes sense.
RANDOM BITS OF WISDOM
Whether intentional or unintentional, there were lots of little things I found myself mentally noting down for my own benefit. For example, one of the more intentional bits of wisdom shared by Bock is the use of aided recall when asking current employees for recruiting referrals. Instead of asking the general, "Do you know somebody who would be a good fit at Google?", they would ask more specific questions like "Do you know somebody in the New York state area that would be good at sales?" This helps to narrow a person's thinking, and this narrow thinking is likely to produce better results.
I won't spoil anything else, but there are lots of little things like this sprinkled throughout the book. Don't be surprised if they manifest themselves on this blog in future posts. I honestly wish I would have made more notes to remember some of those things, so I might actually read this book again just to glean that information. The thought of reading this book a second time doesn't make me cringe at all, which hopefully is encouraging to you!
JUST FOR GOOGLE?
Perhaps one of my biggest criticisms of How Google Works is that it didn't feel like it offered much practical advice to help other people in other organizations. So how does this book compare? Much better, thankfully. We'll talk further down about what I feel this book lacked, but I have to give this book its due. There is a lot of great advice in here.
I'll throw one caveat to that previous statement: where there is definitely practicality for people in any role, the people who will benefit most are people in leadership or human resource roles. For example, the stuff about compensation and performance management was interesting, but I know that I have very little influence on those in my position today. (I personally hope to be in a position someday where I do have influence in those areas, so I do not consider this read a loss at all for me.)
Where I think the book lacks some has to do with intrinsic motivation. Bock does bring this idea when talking about trust, but it kind of ends there. My theory as to why has to do with the fact that Google is Google. They attract the best people in the world, and they do some of the most interesting work in the world. If you're looking for ways to motivate average folks in less-than-thrilling environments, this book sadly won't help you there.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Don't let that last paragraph get you down. I liked this book a lot. One thing I neglected to mention before is that I partially read the Kindle version of the book and partially listened to the audiobook version, which happens to be narrated by Bock himself. I don't know why, but there's just something about an author narrating their own book that I appreciate. If you have the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of Work Rules!, definitely go that route. And if you can't get your hands on the audiobook, still pick up a physical (or digital) copy. This book really is worth a read, regardless of your position in your organization.
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