Work Rules! audiobook cover - Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

Work Rules!

Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

Laszlo Bock

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Management & LeadershipCorporate Culture

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Work Rules!
Company Culture+
Hiring Strategy+
Management & Autonomy+
Performance & Training+
Compensation & Rewards+
Handling Challenges+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 10
Why is Google's mission ('to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful') considered more effective than a typical corporate mission?
  • A. It focuses heavily on dominating market share and eliminating competitors.
  • B. It gives moral meaning to the work and has no ceiling, ensuring employees are constantly motivated.
  • C. It is vague enough to allow the company to pivot into any industry without changing its brand.
  • D. It guarantees high commercial returns for investors and shareholders.
Question 2 of 10
According to Google's philosophy, how should a company allocate its resources between hiring and training?
  • A. Invest heavily in training average candidates to mold them into the specific company culture.
  • B. Spend equally on hiring and training to ensure a perfectly balanced workforce.
  • C. Invest the majority of resources in hiring the best people to avoid wasting money trying to train average performers.
  • D. Outsource hiring completely to focus internal resources exclusively on continuous employee training.
Question 3 of 10
How has Google's ideal candidate profile evolved since its early days?
  • A. They shifted from requiring Ivy League degrees to valuing resilience and the ability to overcome obstacles.
  • B. They stopped hiring specialists entirely and now only look for generalist managers.
  • C. They now exclusively hire candidates with at least ten years of specific industry experience.
  • D. They transitioned from hiring based on technical skills to hiring based entirely on standardized personality tests.
Question 4 of 10
How does Google recommend companies resolve internal debates and make important decisions?
  • A. By deferring to the highest-ranking manager's intuition and experience.
  • B. By holding a company-wide vote for every major strategic shift.
  • C. By relying on objective data rather than managerial opinion or politics.
  • D. By hiring external consultants to provide an unbiased perspective on internal issues.
Question 5 of 10
What does Google do with the employees who make up the two 'tails' of the performance curve (the very best and the very worst)?
  • A. They quickly promote the best to executive roles and immediately fire the worst.
  • B. They study the best to understand internal best practices and offer training or new roles to the worst.
  • C. They pair the best and the worst together on all projects to balance the overall team output.
  • D. They ignore both extremes and focus all HR resources on the average performers in the middle.
Question 6 of 10
Who does Google believe makes the most effective teachers for employee training programs?
  • A. Prestigious university professors.
  • B. Specialized external corporate training firms.
  • C. Human Resources personnel who specialize in pedagogy.
  • D. The company's own top-performing employees.
Question 7 of 10
Why does Google advocate for paying employees 'unfairly' (having massive salary variances for people in the same position)?
  • A. Because outstanding performers can have an exponentially greater impact and value than average performers.
  • B. To create a highly competitive and cutthroat internal environment that drives productivity.
  • C. To encourage average employees to quit voluntarily, thereby saving on severance costs.
  • D. Because it is a legal strategy used to reduce the company's overall payroll tax burden.
Question 8 of 10
What did Google discover about rewarding top-performing teams with large cash bonuses, such as the Founders Award?
  • A. It was the absolute most effective way to retain top engineering talent.
  • B. It encouraged employees to invest their bonus money back into company stock.
  • C. It made employees unhappy and led them to look for jobs with even higher cash payouts.
  • D. It created an overly relaxed environment where employees stopped working hard.
Question 9 of 10
Why did Google reward the team behind the failed real-time collaboration tool, Google Wave?
  • A. To prevent the disappointed team from leaking company secrets to competitors.
  • B. Because the team threatened to file a class-action lawsuit over lost stock options.
  • C. To encourage a culture of innovation where employees are praised for taking calculated risks, even if they fail.
  • D. Because the product was actually a massive financial success despite being canceled by management.
Question 10 of 10
According to the book's actionable advice, why should companies conduct hiring decisions in teams rather than having a single manager decide?
  • A. To distribute the blame evenly if the new hire performs poorly.
  • B. To mitigate confirmation bias and build a more diverse workforce.
  • C. To speed up the hiring process by conducting multiple interviews simultaneously.
  • D. To intimidate candidates and test how they handle high-pressure social situations.

Work Rules! — Full Chapter Overview

Work Rules! Summary & Overview

Work Rules! (2015) takes us through the inner workings of Google, one of the most powerful and successful companies in the world. Bock tells us precisely how Google pulls off this feat while consistently being ranked as the best employer in the world.

Who Should Listen to Work Rules!?

  • HR managers
  • Managers looking for the balance between creativity and structure
  • Anyone interested in how Google became so successful

About the Author: Laszlo Bock

Laszlo Bock is the senior vice president of People Operations at Google. He is responsible for attracting, developing and retaining more than 50,000 “Googlers” based around the world. During his time there, Google has been recognized as an outstanding employer over 100 times, holding a number one spot in rankings in the United States and 16 other countries.

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