Devoted to branding and building and protecting brands

When you think about it, shooting one percent of your headcount in the midst of the worst recession most of us can remember, as Google did yesterday, isn’t exactly draconian.  Indeed, when you consider that a good chunk of that 200 was contractor-types, it’s barely a nick.  Yes, for the folks let go it’s no fun.  Most of us have been there, including yours truly. But the “news” here is that the unthinkable, the thing whose name we dare not speak, the dreaded “L” word, has befallen the Valley’s brand of brilliance.  Its economic Shangri-La.  Which only goes to show that there is no flaw and no dysfunction that an ever-swelling revenue line can’t conceal. It was my dentist, no less, who told me two years ago that the headcount at Google was absurdly robust.  He had been invited to lunch at the Google-plex.  He was astonished by the hordes of Googlers who were just wandering around, schmoozing, flirting, contemplating the essential order of the universe.  Playing volleyball.  “ For several hours, I didn’t see a single person doing anything that looked like actual work,” he laughed.  So how many of these people are/were at their best when the going is/was good?  Time will tell.  In the meantime, I wish all of them well.  It’s no fun being canned for any reason.