Week $6$: Discussion B $>$ Video Case $-$ Google Extends to Charitable Giving

Assignment

After watching the video, please read the following case and post answers to the questions below on the discussions area.

Case

Read the following and post answer to questions below on the discussions area.

Google Extends to Charitable Giving

After helping to revolutionize the world of information technology, Google wants to spur a new revolution. The company aims to use its wealth, technical knowledge, creativity, and global reach to tackle some of the world's biggest problems. Since Google, ranked number one on lists of best companies to work for, sees itself as a different sort of company, its philanthropy will be different too.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin started google.orgLinks to an external site., with three million shares of the company stock, worth about $$2$ billion, and a pledge to contribute one percent of profits each year. After a long search, they appointed Larry Brilliant to lead this charitable entity. A physician and epidemiologist in his sixties, Brilliant had led the World Health Organization's efforts to eradicate smallpox, worked to prevent blindness in developing countries, managed two Silicon Valley technology firms, and co$-$founded The Well, an online service.

Brilliant took two years to develop the strategy for google.orgLinks to an external site.. He created a different structure than that of traditional charities. Google's "hybrid philanthropy" would invest in for$-$profit ventures as well as make charitable grants. To determine what google.orgLinks to an external site. would pursue, Brilliant and his team compiled a list of $1,000$ ideas from Google employees and others around the world. They narrowed them down to $11,$ with a team member assigned to each to further study the idea and advocate for it with Dr$.$ Brilliant and the rest of the team. The focus came down to initiatives in three areas: poverty, climate change, and global health.

To battle poverty, google.org plans to invest in small and medium$-$sized start$-$ups to create jobs and spur economic growth in developing countries. These would be for$-$profit ventures, but Brilliant emphasizes that google.orgLinks to an external site.$\text{'}$s underlying goal is not to make a profits but to improve lives. To foster climate change, the goals are to make electricity from renewable energy at a price lower than coal and to increase market acceptance of electric cars and plug$-$in hybrids. One company in which Google has invested is Brightsource Energy, a solar thermal technology developer. In the area of global health, google.orgLinks to an external site. is working on an initiative called "predict and prevent" to develop early warning systems to identify and report outbreaks of pandemic diseases, such as bird flu. Google has partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to form a surveillance network in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia.

While the challenges are daunting, Brilliant believes that companies can play a big part in solving the world's problems. With his leadership and Google's resources, google.orgLinks to an external site. may become what Page and Brin had in mind from the beginning. They hope their company's philanthropy will someday surpass Google itself in impact in the world.

Sources:

Yuliya Chernova, "Brightsource Gets New Funding," Wall Street Journal, May $15,2008,$ p$.$ C$5$;

Gideon Rachman, "America's Optimism Can Benefit All," Financial Times, February $5,2008,$ p$.13$;

"Google's Guru of Giving," The Economist, January $19,2008,$ p$.69.$

Discussion Questions

Please share your thoughts about these questions on the discussion area.

Are Google co$-$founders Brin and Page servant leaders? How about Larry Brilliant?

What would you say is the biggest source of Larry Brilliant's power as a leader?

How does google.orgLinks to an external site. illustrate empowerment at Google?

ask the class a question related to something observed$/$learned