Eric Schmidt
In our case, we focus on quality, and we have a very simple model. If we show fewer ads that are more targeted, those ads are worth more. So we're in this strange situation where we show a smaller number of ads and we make more money because we show better ads. And that's the secret of Google.
A lot of the Google inventions came from engineers just screwing around with ideas. And then management would see them, and we'd say, 'Boy, that's interesting. Let's add some more engineers.'
Google is very much a not-invented-here, build-it-ourselves culture.
I think to some degree one of the strengths of the high tech industry is that people are actually willing to tell you things. When I went to Novell, I didn't know how to be a CEO, so I went in and I called all sorts of CEOs I knew. I called in a favor. I wanted to come by and listen to them tell me what it's like to be a CEO.
Google was founded to get information to everybody. A by-product of that strategy is that we invented an advertising business which has provided great economics that allows us to build the servers, hire the employees, create value.
Amazon has well passed any expectations of its ability to change distribution and marketing.
I think of Google as a set of overlapping things. It's a consumer platform, consumer phenomenon of which search is its fundamental activity, but there are many other things you can do than search... I think of Google as an advertising company who services the broader advertising industry in the ways that you know.
The funny thing about advertising is that it's not a zero-sum game... Historically, in the digital ad world, pie has gotten larger and it's possible for everyone to win, and it's perfectly possible that will continue to be true for quite some time.
The policy of America to deny visas to technically trained people in the U.S. and shipped to other countries, where they create companies that compete with America, has to be the stupidest policy of all the U.S. government policies.
Washington is an incumbent protection machine. Technology is fundamentally disruptive.
People who bet against the Internet, who think that somehow this change is just a generational shift, miss that it is a fundamental reorganizing of the power of the end user. The Internet brings tremendous tools to the end user, and that end user is going to use them.
One of the unintended negative consequences of online advertising has been the loss of value in traditional classifieds. It's simply quicker, simply easier for an end user who's online, on a broadband connection, to look things up and to figure out what they want to buy.
Even though Google may do very well, there will always be an alternative to what Google is doing, and people will always have the free choice... because there's no way for us to prevent them from exercising that choice. That is one of the key aspects of why the Internet has been so successful. No technologies can dominate.
It's very difficult for governments to dominate the Internet because it's so difficult to control. People want to be free. People want to hear multiple voices. They want to make their own decisions. And people who see things will report things.
Silicon Valley's involvement with Washington dates from one event, which was John Scully - who was the CEO of Apple - had dinner with President Clinton and Vice President Gore in 1993. And we're all going, like, 'What's going on? Why would we have dinner with the president?'
I use Google+, and I find the quality of the comments are very sophisticated because there is more trust inside of Google+ than there is inside of Twitter and Facebook, for example.
Since I have access to every, every crisis in the world because it's always blaring at me on cable television, that doesn't mean I have to worry about every one of them. This is also known as knowing where the off button is.
I think it's pretty clear that the Internet as a whole has not had a strong notion of identity. And identity means, 'Who am I?' Fundamentally, what Facebook has done has built a way to figure out who people are.
Google's architectural model around broadband and services and so forth plays very well to the powerful devices and services Apple is doing. We're a perfect back end to the problems that they're trying to solve.
YouTube's traffic continues to grow very quickly. Video is something that we think is going to be embedded everywhere. And it makes sense, from Google's perspective, to be the operator of the largest site that contains all that video.
Do not be afraid to fail, but also, do not be afraid to succeed.Collection: Succeed
We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less know what you're thinking about.Collection: Thinking
In a networked world, trust is the most important currency.Collection: Important
For those who say you're thinking too big... be smart enough not to listen. For those who say the odds are too small ... be dumb enough to give it a shot. And for those who ask, how can you do that?... look them in the eyes and say, I'll figure it out.Collection: Leadership
Technology will move faster than governments, so don't legislate before you understand the consequences.Collection: Moving
Success is really about being ready for the good opportunities that come before you. It's not to have a detailed plan of everything that you're going to do. You can't plan innovation or inspiration, but you can be ready for it, and when you see it, you can jump on it.Collection: Success
We run the company by questions, not by answers.Collection: Running
Just remember when you post something, the computers remember forever.Collection: Forever
There were 5 Exabytes of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003, but that much information is now created every 2 days.Collection: Data
Even if is a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference in your life, and likely in others' lives as well... Yes is what keeps us all young. Yes is a tiny word that can do big things. Say it often.Collection: Inspirational
One person's definition of evil is another person's different definition.Collection: Evil
The biggest mistake that I made was not anticipating the rise of the social networking phenomenon.Collection: Mistake
When companies are growing quickly and they are having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves.... If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.Collection: Impact
There's been spying for years, there's been surveillance for years, and so forth, I'm not going to pass judgement on that, it's the nature of our society.Collection: Years
It looks like the thing that separates out the capable students from the really successful ones is not so much their knowledge...but their persistence at something.Collection: Successful
If you have a child, you'll notice they have two states: asleep or online.Collection: Children
Show us 14 photos of yourself and we can identify who you are.Collection: Privacy
The solution to government surveillance is to encrypt everything.Collection: Government
Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous valueCollection: Achievement
The average American doesnt realize how much of the laws are written by lobbyists.Collection: Average
Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool.Collection: Problem
We don't have a traditional strategy process, planning process like you'd find in traditional technical companies. It allows Google to innovate very, very quickly, which I think is a real strength of the company.Collection: Real
In a world where everything is remembered and everything is kept forever, you need to live for the future and things you really care about.Collection: Forever
In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you. We need a [verified] name service for people. Governments will demand it.Collection: Government
A mind set in its ways is wasted. Don't do it.Collection: Perception
Find a way to say yes to things. Say yes to invitations to a new country, say yes to meet new friends, say yes to learning a new language, picking up a new sport. Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job, and your spouse, and even your kids. Even if it's a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means that you will do something new, meet someone new, and make a difference in your life. Yes lets you stand out in a crowd, be the optimist, to stay positive, be the one everyone comes to. Yes is what keeps us all young.Collection: Country
If you forgo your plan, you also have to forgo fear.Collection: Plans
The Internet of things will augment your brain.Collection: Brain
At Google, operations are not just an afterthought: they are critical to the company's success, and we want to have just as much effort and creativity in this domain as in new product development.Collection: Creativity