December 15, 2021 • 24 mins
On the latest episode of Bloomberg Studio 1.0., Emily Chang speaks with Ruth Porat, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Office of Alphabet and Google, about Google's office expansion plans & hybrid work model, antitrust scrutiny, investing for the future, and managing work life balance.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so you built this, so this is all this
is new since the pandemic, we've assumed Google Googlers would
want more indoor outdoor options. I mean, it's so exciting,
it's such a fun it is it is, But I
would say the thing we're really excited about are these
new buildings, because we were building sustainability and to everything
we do so really forward looking for good. Okay, Hi everyone,
(00:23):
I'm Emily Chang, and you're listening to Bloomberg Studio one
point out. Today we are taking you to the Googleplex
in Mountain View, California, where I'm sitting down with Alphabet
CFO Ruth poor At. We're in one of Google's new
outdoor pandemic workspaces, and we're not far from her childhood home.
Her father was a physicist at Stanford, her mother a psychologist.
(00:44):
After graduating from Stanford herself and then earning a couple
more advanced degrees, poor At landed her first job on
Wall Street in nineteen seven, where she would spend almost
three decades until Google's co founders lured her to Silicon Valley.
It's wonderful to be here with you. It's great to
have you here at the Google plot. Thank you for
(01:06):
having us. So we are at Google headquarters in Mountain View,
and at this very same time, you are making massive
investments in New York office real estate. You're expanding head
count in Atlanta and Chicago and Washington, d C. What's
the strategy behind all of this. Well, at the core,
we believe in hybrid work, so we do want to
bring people back on campuses, but not full time. We're
(01:30):
thinking would probably be a three to work week. But
we think coming together is just such a core part
of innovation, serendipity, culture, every element of it. And we're
growing in a really rapid clip. So we are excited
to be expanding our real estate footprint. And then we
also wanted to make sure that we're meeting people where
they want to be and so enlarging the number of
(01:50):
sites that we have available for people in particular sites
where you have great diverse populations. Soon, Dar just told
me that Googlers will have this option to work in
a hybrid mode forever, like literally forever. Obviously you're embracing
this massive cultural shift. But what are the risks? You know,
what do you worry about? So the positive we've seen
is there's a productivity uplift. We believe in giving people
(02:13):
the opportunity to be at home some of the time,
not do the commute, be able to deal with everything
else in their life and coming into the office. So
the risk is I think about my career, and so
much of the benefit in my career was the informal coaching,
being pot brought into meetings, all of the touch points
that you have. And so I think that one of
(02:35):
the most important things for all of us as leaders
is we need to evolve the way we lead. We
need to make sure that we're thinking about this hybrid
work life and why that's the way to be the
best magnet for talent, and make sure that we're continuing
to reinforce all of those great practices while opening up
new great practices. Speaking of your career before your CFO
of Alphabet, you are CFO of Morgan Stanley and you
(02:57):
started your career on Wall Street in nineteen eighties seven.
Talk to us about the journey of going from big
banks to big tech. Why did you make that leap
and what impact did you want to have? Well, I
love being at Morgan Stanley and I became CFO the
day James Gorman became CEO, ysked me to join him
in that in that journey, and that was January, and
(03:21):
we were still recovering coming out of the financial crisis.
There were still some pretty rocky days and a lot
of decisions that needed to be made. And then I
got to a point where I felt like we were
in a great spot at Morgan Stanley, and obviously it's
continued to do really well, and I just wanted that
next chapter. My view, in my career, I've always been
focused on kind of continually learning, and I feel like
(03:41):
when you hit a plateau, the right questions what's my
highest and best use? And uh, it's been it's been
an extraordinary time. You also survived Wall Street in the
eighties and nine daies, which is you know, notorious boys club,
and Silicon Valley has sort of come to be known
as a boys club of its own. How would you
compare those two cultures. Well, when I was in you know,
(04:03):
starting my career um many decades ago, it was much
it was tough and much worse than it is now.
And it evolved, no question about it, not where it
needs to be, but certainly evolved. And I saw it
through my career. UM, I would say the biggest difference
out here is the level of impatience, and I love it.
It's the view is, if you can do some of
(04:24):
the extraordinary breakthroughs that we have out here, if you
can do natural language translation, everything we do with AI,
with VR, with self driving cars, why can't you fix
this now? And that level of impatience I think is fantastic.
Legend has it that when you got to Google, you
were going to rain in the spending, tighten up on
(04:45):
the moonshots. Your nickname, I believe, was Ruth Vader. Was
that a tough job to take on? So I think
that the narrative was written before I got here. And
what I find most interesting about that is I firmly
believe the single most important thing in capital allocation is
investing for long term growth. I think if you don't,
(05:07):
you're sowing the seeds of your long term decline. And
I learned that really early on in my career. Now,
if you're investing in an industry like this and trying
to do truly transformative things, by definition everything can't succeed,
and so by definition you should have the metrics and
data and milestones to assess is it working or is
(05:30):
it not? Because if everything's working, or if you think
everything is working, I would say one or two things
are wrong. Either you're not reaching high enough or you're
not being honest enough with yourself about the pace of
breakthrough whether you're going to get there. So, to me,
a really natural part, you know, kind of a sister
(05:50):
organization to investing for long term growth is actually thinking
about how are you doing with the risk that you're taking.
Stack rack them and figure out what's at the bottom
so you can redeploy those resources to the top. They
go together, actually, and so I find the narrative it's
a false choice to think that it's either about growth
or it's about pruning, stack ranking. They go together, and
(06:12):
you have to think of them as actually empowering one another.
You advised the Treasury Department during the Great Recession. What
lessons did you take away from that? What struck me
is a lot of the lessons from the financial crisis
are relevant in good times and bad times. So the
most important is it's easier to prevent than to fix.
And and so you know, there was that was really
(06:34):
clear during the financial crisis. The financial crisis was about liquidity,
and it dried up quickly, and it would have been
really easy six to twelve months prior to build in
durable liquidity. You couldn't do it in the moment. And
so this notion about really building a solid foundation on
which you operate, you need to do that ahead of time.
It needs to be all of the work we do
on trust and safety and content moderation, security, That is
(06:57):
the foundation on which you can build everything else. Hand
Calls at one point said to me, you have to
have the will and the means, and too often by
the time you have the will, you no longer have
the means. His comment was, be decisive, act early, even
in the absence of information. I think that's true in
this whole notion of investing for long term growth, because
(07:18):
if you're not actually assessing progress along the way and
you just assume you know what, we can keep investing
in everything, at some point down the road you'll say,
I wish I had made those tough calls to double
down on the things that really matters. What times are
we in now. What's your read on the economy today,
especially with rising inflation. Well, I look, I think back
(07:40):
to March of and where we were, and I think
of all of the intervention and steps that have been
taken since then, and you've certainly seen the recovery coming
out the back end, and it's been really gratifying from
those those painful days to see the breakthroughs that we've had,
not just on the medical front, but we've also seen
the improvement across business. Is I think one of the
(08:01):
biggest concerns in particulars you're seeing us go through a
digital transformation and the acceleration of it is ensuring that
everyone has the skills, the digital training and skills to
thrive in this new economy. You're listening to Bloomberg Studio
one Point Oh with Alphabet CFO Ruth poor At coming up.
(08:24):
Google now reaches more than half the people on the
planet and is battling regulators around the world. Is Google
a monopoly? We'll put that question to pour At. I'm
Emily Chang. Stay with us. I want to talk a
little bit about regulation. You were drawn to M and
(08:46):
A in your early days at Morgan Stanley. Microsoft is
making some big acquisitions deals that some think Google maybe
would have wanted to win in a former life. Is
antitrust scrutiny constraining any of your business plans and your
ability to compete. So the main thing that we've done
throughout the life of Google is really invest in innovation,
(09:10):
is organic growth, and we're continuing to do that at
a really rapid clip. We have then layered onto it
tuck in acquisitions and larger acquisitions, and we're continuing to
be active more in the smaller ones in the add
ons to be fair, um, but we think there's a
lot of opportunity still ahead of us, and so we're
continuing to invest in partnerships in in some acquisitions. UM.
(09:33):
And do think that there's there's still upside in a
lot of different areas. So would you say this regulatory
scrutiny isn't slowing you down. It's really important for those
of us in certain leadership positions to be very focused
on constructively engaging and working with regulators on what are
the issues, what is it they're trying to solve, and
how can we constructively engage with them. At the same time,
(09:54):
our engineers should focus on innovation and continuing to kind
of up the bar and everything we're doing a rest
what is most helpful for our users? Google is facing
more serious legal threats at this time in the United
States than the other big tech companies. How are those
conversations with regulators going. Are they frustrating at this point? Well,
(10:14):
there's certain elements that that are frustrating because I listened
to the outline of some of the proposed legislation and
I think it's inconsistent with some of the priorities for
public policy. So as an example, UM, there are there's
a lot of focus on what what is called self preferencing.
(10:36):
Are you putting too many of your own products together?
But during the pandemic, one and three small businesses said
they would have failed without digital skills. Why because what
they were able to do is connect with their users
in different ways. So if you go search for a
small business, you can then go to a map and
you can get directed to the small business. That's a
good thing. We have six thousand small businesses who wrote
(10:57):
in and said, you know what, we need these digital
tools and els same with a number of things on
racial equity, real surge in searches about where can I
wears a black owned business near me? And the ability
to direct people through search and maps. So I think
that what's really important, And that's why I said it's
about constructive engagement. Let's make sure we understand what they're
(11:18):
trying to solve and work with them on what is
it that we're trying to address through products, so that
the products are helpful in the ways that they want.
Facebook has taken a serious reputational hit. Has that had
ripple effects or created collateral damage for Google? Well, I
think that whenever there's a backdrop that's that's UM challenging,
(11:41):
it has ripple effects. But what we're really underscoring is
all of the steps and investments that we are making
to really protect the ecosystem the way we our commitment
to our users, so we know how sacrosanct that trust is.
And it's all about privacy, and what are the steps
that we're taking to make privacy UM could protect it
(12:04):
for our users. What is it that we're looking at
to protect content and content moderations? Google now reaches more
than half the people on the planet. Why shouldn't we
view Google as a monopoly? So you know, I go
back to the earliest days when Google. I first learned
about Google back in and in those earliest days when
(12:26):
I heard about this like eighth search engine. The question
is why do you actually need it? And back at
Morgan Stanley's working with our research Anne Listinary Meeker, she
actually had her team put up white pages all around
the conference room and was doing this comparison what provided
the most um responsive results, most rapidly, and all of
(12:46):
a sudden you could see a way of this Google thing. Actually,
maybe we do need something new. And that's been the
ethos at Google since inception is just continued to innovate
to make this eight and ever better experience for users.
And so if we can, if we can deliver on that,
which is what drives people here, it's really opening the
world for for so many people. So that's that's the intent.
(13:08):
Facebook and Twitter are exploring digital currency. What is your
thought on the crypto market and is there a play
for Google? So we look at it, Um, there's nothing
to to comment on now. UM, I think we're much
more interested in blockchain and the underlying technology and the
implications for the business and also for the way we
can support our cloud customers. So certainly a lot of
(13:31):
effort there. There's considerable chatter in the crypto universe that
Web three and the blockchain could circumvent the power of
Facebook and Google and more. What do you think about
the next frontier of the Internet at this point, I
think there are a lot of different things ahead of
us that are actually studyingly exciting that enable us to
actually continue to address different needs and requirements like I
(13:54):
look at, for example, in something like health, where I
think blockchain will be very valuable when you think about
health and health records. They're also a whole host of
other areas where the data analytics that we provide are
absolutely critical. This is Bloomberg Studio at one point, Oh
with Alphabet CFO Ruth Poor at up next for all
(14:17):
the parents out there, Poor tells us her philosophy to
managing work, family and mom guilt. She talks about surviving
breast cancer not once, but twice, and also her favorite
vacation getaway stay with us. You survived breast cancer twice.
(14:42):
What was your biggest fear at that time and how
did you overcome it? Well, the biggest fear was I
wouldn't make it, and um, I remember when some someone
had some interview while I was going through chemo, said
where do you want to be in five years? And
I froze because it was want to be alive UM,
and I learned a couple of really important things. UM. One,
(15:07):
given breakthroughs in medical technology, I learned to love the
word manageable. These this journey does become manageable, not for
all cancers, but for many more cancers. And that gave
me a lot of confidence talking with other survivors about
it is manageable, get the best care, and just plow
(15:29):
through it. I was just very grateful and grateful for
all of the investments people have made over the years.
But for anybody out there, and I think everybody sadly
will be touched by cancer, either themselves or someone they
know and love, many of these cancers are manageable and
just go at it with gusto. So that's what I did.
You're a mom of three sons, and I find that
especially remarkable because I also have three sons. How have
(15:53):
you managed that over the course of this, you know,
incredible career. How do you find that right mix of
focus and free time to spend time with your family
and doing the things that you love? So my kids, UM,
My kids give me energy. They're remarkable and I think
one of the important things for me is this notion
(16:13):
that you do have to have a mix. It's not
about trying to find balance, the physics of which is
really challenging. I think when people try for balance, they
always feel they're failing on something because something's out of whack.
So this metaphor that life is like a kaleidoscope and
you need to have different shaped pieces of glass and
different color and sometimes one is larger than the other.
(16:36):
And what's beautiful about life is when it's constantly moving around.
And so to me, that metaphor has actually been sort
of an anchoring principle. The other is you have to
put the kids first, so like they know that I'm
I'm there, you know when they need always and um
And I think that just making sure that you're setting
(16:58):
the boundaries the way you need to. I would say
it's much easier today than when I was growing up
in banking, you know, and we had a cubicle, there
was a there was a computer room. You were anchored
to the computer room. One of the many beautiful things
about going through this evolution in work is understanding that
hybrid works. So how do we get rid of mom guilt?
(17:20):
Especially in this new work world. I want to shake
my mom guilt. How do I do that? Okay, So
even when you feel it, to say, you know what,
it's an investment in my career because I can stay
in this longer and be operating at a higher level
if I'm really getting the stimulus from all parts of
my life. So you've got to drop the mom guilt.
(17:42):
And when on the other side mom guilt with kids,
I think they get it. I think they understand what
we're doing, and you know, I'll never forget. During the
financial crisis, at one point I was working on a
I G. We went around the clock. I came home
to shower that one like right as we were landing
a i G, and my three kids had each written
me a yellow sticky note with a message on it,
(18:04):
and one of them was based you know. They the
essence of which was I get why you're doing this
and it and they saw it as the right thing
for the country. I don't need to overdramatize what it was,
but that's what it felt like at the time and
that level of pride. I still have those three stickies
right by my bedside because I get it. I get
(18:25):
the mom guilt. I wish there were certain elements like
it could have done differently, But I also see the
relationship we have and they understand what it means to
actually be engaged in society and doing something you care about.
No mom gilt, mom gil, thank you, It's not allowed.
Should we make excuses to our employers? Should we tell her,
like if I have to head to a parent teacher
conference or take a kid to the doctor, do I
(18:47):
tell my boss? You don't tell your boss. You don't
tell your boss. Guys don't tell their boss, so I
don't think you say anything. I actually made this point
at an event at Morgan Stanley. I'm like, do not
tell your boss. Got to get over the guilt. The
only way to move on from it is realized. I'm
a professional. I do things when I when I can,
and it makes sense and I get it all done.
(19:08):
I just do it on my own timeline. And I
actually had a woman who emailed me afterwards and said,
I know you said I'm not supposed to tell my boss,
so I won't, but I can't not tell somebody, so
I'm going to email you. And I'm like, okay, that's
step one of a five step attorney. Do not tell
your boss, your tell your boss, you know what, I
need to do certain things for myself and I it's
(19:30):
I'm getting I feel guilty doing it, but I get
everything done. There's no question you are so beyond having
to check in with people. Well, so do not. We're
in the middle of this so called Great Resignation and
people are reflecting and changing and making big decisions. What's
your advice two people in this you know, big evolution,
(19:53):
you know, huge choices ahead. Well, I think you framed
it really well. I don't think it's the Great resignation.
I think it's the great reshuffle. And people are reflecting
on what do they want and how do they want
to work and how do they want to live their life.
So I think for all of us thinking about what
does that mean for our institutions. It is about evolving
the way we we we work, the way we interact,
(20:14):
the expectations that we have to say. But I grew
up in a cubicle on the twenty floor of a
sky rise. Doesn't work anymore, and so what should we
do as leaders? And I think that our this generation,
appropriately and it's very exciting, expects more from all of us.
And so it's not just in how we work. But
it is in what we do, and I think all
(20:35):
elements of what's the mission? Are you delivering on the mission?
Is really important? Okay, So if you rapid fire questions
someone you'd love to have dinner with, Well, I'd love
to say my parents because they passed away in over
of years ago. Favorite family ritual. We do this crazy
thing that we've done for years, which is everybody gets
(20:55):
to pick where we travel. We come up with the
five the five different low patients, and then we all vote,
and then we get the grid and that's where we go.
What's your favorite getaway? Um? Probably I would say maybe
Iceland was the best. That's an amazing one. New York
or California so unfair. Well, sitting here outdoors right now
(21:18):
and knowing I can do that for the rest of
the years, pretty nice with the energy from New York.
So I'm not gonna It's like I don't pick amongst children.
So in closing, Google is a massive company, multiple divisions,
many bets. Where are you spending most of your time now?
I'm spending most of my time on your very more
in question about capital allocation because if it really goes
(21:39):
to this core point, you've got to invest for long
term growth and making sure that you're investing with the
right intensity. I often say I don't want to get
to the two yard line, but not score. So you
need to make sure you're investing with the right intensity
to support long term growth. That's the most important area
where I would say I spend the ball my time,
(22:00):
and then of course you have to prioritize in order
to recycle to support those apploms. What kind of discussions
are you having with Larry and Sergey now about this
next phase of Google? So when they made the announcement
about the role change, they really they were very serious
about moving to this board role and they've been there
(22:21):
amazing board members. UM Sandars of course relies on them
for counsel wherever, whenever, But most of the interaction is
really around what are we doing at the board level.
It's been great and you have your freedom to allocate
capital as you like. UM. I work closely with Sandar
and Philip and Taz. Yes, we work as a great team.
(22:43):
So where what's the vision for Google? Then ten years
from now? You know it's fascinating too. Was I think
I had the same reaction you do when I heard
Cinders say searches the biggest moon shot, and I think
that continuing to find ways to be helpful to users
to solve what they need. Where so many people are
coming online and it you know, is video going to
(23:03):
be the first the way they understand It's going to
be about you know, search is going to be a
different type of experience. So much of it's going to
be about voice first and language translation. So there's gonna
it's going to continue to evolve. And what about for
you personally? Like where will you know? It's been so
amazing to hear about your journey, and I'm just curious
(23:23):
about your personal growth, like what you feel you've accomplished
in the last you know, since you've been here, and
what you hope to accomplish. I find that that the
opportunity to try new things and to invest in new things,
and as we think about, well what does that mean
for each one of our areas, there's I think that
intellectual curiosity keeps you young. And I think that continuing
(23:47):
to learn is like your brain is like silly putty
getting pulled in a lot of directions, So to me,
it's continuous learning. Report. Thank you so much, for its
great to have you on camp. Come back any time.
Bloomberg Studio One point Oh was produced by Lauren Ellis,
edited by Brian Carton Gayner. Our managing editor is Danielle Culbertson,
(24:09):
with special thanks to Alex Soto and Tiffany Perez. If
you like Bloomberg Studio one point oh, please subscribe and
leave us a review. We love hearing from you. I'm
Emily Changing, your host and executive producer.
Okay, so you built this, so this is all this
is new since the pandemic, we've assumed Google Googlers would
want more indoor outdoor options. I mean, it's so exciting,
it's such a fun it is it is, But I
would say the thing we're really excited about are these
new buildings, because we were building sustainability and to everything
we do so really forward looking for good. Okay, Hi everyone,
(00:23):
I'm Emily Chang, and you're listening to Bloomberg Studio one
point out. Today we are taking you to the Googleplex
in Mountain View, California, where I'm sitting down with Alphabet
CFO Ruth poor At. We're in one of Google's new
outdoor pandemic workspaces, and we're not far from her childhood home.
Her father was a physicist at Stanford, her mother a psychologist.
(00:44):
After graduating from Stanford herself and then earning a couple
more advanced degrees, poor At landed her first job on
Wall Street in nineteen seven, where she would spend almost
three decades until Google's co founders lured her to Silicon Valley.
It's wonderful to be here with you. It's great to
have you here at the Google plot. Thank you for
(01:06):
having us. So we are at Google headquarters in Mountain View,
and at this very same time, you are making massive
investments in New York office real estate. You're expanding head
count in Atlanta and Chicago and Washington, d C. What's
the strategy behind all of this. Well, at the core,
we believe in hybrid work, so we do want to
bring people back on campuses, but not full time. We're
(01:30):
thinking would probably be a three to work week. But
we think coming together is just such a core part
of innovation, serendipity, culture, every element of it. And we're
growing in a really rapid clip. So we are excited
to be expanding our real estate footprint. And then we
also wanted to make sure that we're meeting people where
they want to be and so enlarging the number of
(01:50):
sites that we have available for people in particular sites
where you have great diverse populations. Soon, Dar just told
me that Googlers will have this option to work in
a hybrid mode forever, like literally forever. Obviously you're embracing
this massive cultural shift. But what are the risks? You know,
what do you worry about? So the positive we've seen
is there's a productivity uplift. We believe in giving people
(02:13):
the opportunity to be at home some of the time,
not do the commute, be able to deal with everything
else in their life and coming into the office. So
the risk is I think about my career, and so
much of the benefit in my career was the informal coaching,
being pot brought into meetings, all of the touch points
that you have. And so I think that one of
(02:35):
the most important things for all of us as leaders
is we need to evolve the way we lead. We
need to make sure that we're thinking about this hybrid
work life and why that's the way to be the
best magnet for talent, and make sure that we're continuing
to reinforce all of those great practices while opening up
new great practices. Speaking of your career before your CFO
of Alphabet, you are CFO of Morgan Stanley and you
(02:57):
started your career on Wall Street in nineteen eighties seven.
Talk to us about the journey of going from big
banks to big tech. Why did you make that leap
and what impact did you want to have? Well, I
love being at Morgan Stanley and I became CFO the
day James Gorman became CEO, ysked me to join him
in that in that journey, and that was January, and
(03:21):
we were still recovering coming out of the financial crisis.
There were still some pretty rocky days and a lot
of decisions that needed to be made. And then I
got to a point where I felt like we were
in a great spot at Morgan Stanley, and obviously it's
continued to do really well, and I just wanted that
next chapter. My view, in my career, I've always been
focused on kind of continually learning, and I feel like
(03:41):
when you hit a plateau, the right questions what's my
highest and best use? And uh, it's been it's been
an extraordinary time. You also survived Wall Street in the
eighties and nine daies, which is you know, notorious boys club,
and Silicon Valley has sort of come to be known
as a boys club of its own. How would you
compare those two cultures. Well, when I was in you know,
(04:03):
starting my career um many decades ago, it was much
it was tough and much worse than it is now.
And it evolved, no question about it, not where it
needs to be, but certainly evolved. And I saw it
through my career. UM, I would say the biggest difference
out here is the level of impatience, and I love it.
It's the view is, if you can do some of
(04:24):
the extraordinary breakthroughs that we have out here, if you
can do natural language translation, everything we do with AI,
with VR, with self driving cars, why can't you fix
this now? And that level of impatience I think is fantastic.
Legend has it that when you got to Google, you
were going to rain in the spending, tighten up on
(04:45):
the moonshots. Your nickname, I believe, was Ruth Vader. Was
that a tough job to take on? So I think
that the narrative was written before I got here. And
what I find most interesting about that is I firmly
believe the single most important thing in capital allocation is
investing for long term growth. I think if you don't,
(05:07):
you're sowing the seeds of your long term decline. And
I learned that really early on in my career. Now,
if you're investing in an industry like this and trying
to do truly transformative things, by definition everything can't succeed,
and so by definition you should have the metrics and
data and milestones to assess is it working or is
(05:30):
it not? Because if everything's working, or if you think
everything is working, I would say one or two things
are wrong. Either you're not reaching high enough or you're
not being honest enough with yourself about the pace of
breakthrough whether you're going to get there. So, to me,
a really natural part, you know, kind of a sister
(05:50):
organization to investing for long term growth is actually thinking
about how are you doing with the risk that you're taking.
Stack rack them and figure out what's at the bottom
so you can redeploy those resources to the top. They
go together, actually, and so I find the narrative it's
a false choice to think that it's either about growth
or it's about pruning, stack ranking. They go together, and
(06:12):
you have to think of them as actually empowering one another.
You advised the Treasury Department during the Great Recession. What
lessons did you take away from that? What struck me
is a lot of the lessons from the financial crisis
are relevant in good times and bad times. So the
most important is it's easier to prevent than to fix.
And and so you know, there was that was really
(06:34):
clear during the financial crisis. The financial crisis was about liquidity,
and it dried up quickly, and it would have been
really easy six to twelve months prior to build in
durable liquidity. You couldn't do it in the moment. And
so this notion about really building a solid foundation on
which you operate, you need to do that ahead of time.
It needs to be all of the work we do
on trust and safety and content moderation, security, That is
(06:57):
the foundation on which you can build everything else. Hand
Calls at one point said to me, you have to
have the will and the means, and too often by
the time you have the will, you no longer have
the means. His comment was, be decisive, act early, even
in the absence of information. I think that's true in
this whole notion of investing for long term growth, because
(07:18):
if you're not actually assessing progress along the way and
you just assume you know what, we can keep investing
in everything, at some point down the road you'll say,
I wish I had made those tough calls to double
down on the things that really matters. What times are
we in now. What's your read on the economy today,
especially with rising inflation. Well, I look, I think back
(07:40):
to March of and where we were, and I think
of all of the intervention and steps that have been
taken since then, and you've certainly seen the recovery coming
out the back end, and it's been really gratifying from
those those painful days to see the breakthroughs that we've had,
not just on the medical front, but we've also seen
the improvement across business. Is I think one of the
(08:01):
biggest concerns in particulars you're seeing us go through a
digital transformation and the acceleration of it is ensuring that
everyone has the skills, the digital training and skills to
thrive in this new economy. You're listening to Bloomberg Studio
one Point Oh with Alphabet CFO Ruth poor At coming up.
(08:24):
Google now reaches more than half the people on the
planet and is battling regulators around the world. Is Google
a monopoly? We'll put that question to pour At. I'm
Emily Chang. Stay with us. I want to talk a
little bit about regulation. You were drawn to M and
(08:46):
A in your early days at Morgan Stanley. Microsoft is
making some big acquisitions deals that some think Google maybe
would have wanted to win in a former life. Is
antitrust scrutiny constraining any of your business plans and your
ability to compete. So the main thing that we've done
throughout the life of Google is really invest in innovation,
(09:10):
is organic growth, and we're continuing to do that at
a really rapid clip. We have then layered onto it
tuck in acquisitions and larger acquisitions, and we're continuing to
be active more in the smaller ones in the add
ons to be fair, um, but we think there's a
lot of opportunity still ahead of us, and so we're
continuing to invest in partnerships in in some acquisitions. UM.
(09:33):
And do think that there's there's still upside in a
lot of different areas. So would you say this regulatory
scrutiny isn't slowing you down. It's really important for those
of us in certain leadership positions to be very focused
on constructively engaging and working with regulators on what are
the issues, what is it they're trying to solve, and
how can we constructively engage with them. At the same time,
(09:54):
our engineers should focus on innovation and continuing to kind
of up the bar and everything we're doing a rest
what is most helpful for our users? Google is facing
more serious legal threats at this time in the United
States than the other big tech companies. How are those
conversations with regulators going. Are they frustrating at this point? Well,
(10:14):
there's certain elements that that are frustrating because I listened
to the outline of some of the proposed legislation and
I think it's inconsistent with some of the priorities for
public policy. So as an example, UM, there are there's
a lot of focus on what what is called self preferencing.
(10:36):
Are you putting too many of your own products together?
But during the pandemic, one and three small businesses said
they would have failed without digital skills. Why because what
they were able to do is connect with their users
in different ways. So if you go search for a
small business, you can then go to a map and
you can get directed to the small business. That's a
good thing. We have six thousand small businesses who wrote
(10:57):
in and said, you know what, we need these digital
tools and els same with a number of things on
racial equity, real surge in searches about where can I
wears a black owned business near me? And the ability
to direct people through search and maps. So I think
that what's really important, And that's why I said it's
about constructive engagement. Let's make sure we understand what they're
(11:18):
trying to solve and work with them on what is
it that we're trying to address through products, so that
the products are helpful in the ways that they want.
Facebook has taken a serious reputational hit. Has that had
ripple effects or created collateral damage for Google? Well, I
think that whenever there's a backdrop that's that's UM challenging,
(11:41):
it has ripple effects. But what we're really underscoring is
all of the steps and investments that we are making
to really protect the ecosystem the way we our commitment
to our users, so we know how sacrosanct that trust is.
And it's all about privacy, and what are the steps
that we're taking to make privacy UM could protect it
(12:04):
for our users. What is it that we're looking at
to protect content and content moderations? Google now reaches more
than half the people on the planet. Why shouldn't we
view Google as a monopoly? So you know, I go
back to the earliest days when Google. I first learned
about Google back in and in those earliest days when
(12:26):
I heard about this like eighth search engine. The question
is why do you actually need it? And back at
Morgan Stanley's working with our research Anne Listinary Meeker, she
actually had her team put up white pages all around
the conference room and was doing this comparison what provided
the most um responsive results, most rapidly, and all of
(12:46):
a sudden you could see a way of this Google thing. Actually,
maybe we do need something new. And that's been the
ethos at Google since inception is just continued to innovate
to make this eight and ever better experience for users.
And so if we can, if we can deliver on that,
which is what drives people here, it's really opening the
world for for so many people. So that's that's the intent.
(13:08):
Facebook and Twitter are exploring digital currency. What is your
thought on the crypto market and is there a play
for Google? So we look at it, Um, there's nothing
to to comment on now. UM, I think we're much
more interested in blockchain and the underlying technology and the
implications for the business and also for the way we
can support our cloud customers. So certainly a lot of
(13:31):
effort there. There's considerable chatter in the crypto universe that
Web three and the blockchain could circumvent the power of
Facebook and Google and more. What do you think about
the next frontier of the Internet at this point, I
think there are a lot of different things ahead of
us that are actually studyingly exciting that enable us to
actually continue to address different needs and requirements like I
(13:54):
look at, for example, in something like health, where I
think blockchain will be very valuable when you think about
health and health records. They're also a whole host of
other areas where the data analytics that we provide are
absolutely critical. This is Bloomberg Studio at one point, Oh
with Alphabet CFO Ruth Poor at up next for all
(14:17):
the parents out there, Poor tells us her philosophy to
managing work, family and mom guilt. She talks about surviving
breast cancer not once, but twice, and also her favorite
vacation getaway stay with us. You survived breast cancer twice.
(14:42):
What was your biggest fear at that time and how
did you overcome it? Well, the biggest fear was I
wouldn't make it, and um, I remember when some someone
had some interview while I was going through chemo, said
where do you want to be in five years? And
I froze because it was want to be alive UM,
and I learned a couple of really important things. UM. One,
(15:07):
given breakthroughs in medical technology, I learned to love the
word manageable. These this journey does become manageable, not for
all cancers, but for many more cancers. And that gave
me a lot of confidence talking with other survivors about
it is manageable, get the best care, and just plow
(15:29):
through it. I was just very grateful and grateful for
all of the investments people have made over the years.
But for anybody out there, and I think everybody sadly
will be touched by cancer, either themselves or someone they
know and love, many of these cancers are manageable and
just go at it with gusto. So that's what I did.
You're a mom of three sons, and I find that
especially remarkable because I also have three sons. How have
(15:53):
you managed that over the course of this, you know,
incredible career. How do you find that right mix of
focus and free time to spend time with your family
and doing the things that you love? So my kids, UM,
My kids give me energy. They're remarkable and I think
one of the important things for me is this notion
(16:13):
that you do have to have a mix. It's not
about trying to find balance, the physics of which is
really challenging. I think when people try for balance, they
always feel they're failing on something because something's out of whack.
So this metaphor that life is like a kaleidoscope and
you need to have different shaped pieces of glass and
different color and sometimes one is larger than the other.
(16:36):
And what's beautiful about life is when it's constantly moving around.
And so to me, that metaphor has actually been sort
of an anchoring principle. The other is you have to
put the kids first, so like they know that I'm
I'm there, you know when they need always and um
And I think that just making sure that you're setting
(16:58):
the boundaries the way you need to. I would say
it's much easier today than when I was growing up
in banking, you know, and we had a cubicle, there
was a there was a computer room. You were anchored
to the computer room. One of the many beautiful things
about going through this evolution in work is understanding that
hybrid works. So how do we get rid of mom guilt?
(17:20):
Especially in this new work world. I want to shake
my mom guilt. How do I do that? Okay, So
even when you feel it, to say, you know what,
it's an investment in my career because I can stay
in this longer and be operating at a higher level
if I'm really getting the stimulus from all parts of
my life. So you've got to drop the mom guilt.
(17:42):
And when on the other side mom guilt with kids,
I think they get it. I think they understand what
we're doing, and you know, I'll never forget. During the
financial crisis, at one point I was working on a
I G. We went around the clock. I came home
to shower that one like right as we were landing
a i G, and my three kids had each written
me a yellow sticky note with a message on it,
(18:04):
and one of them was based you know. They the
essence of which was I get why you're doing this
and it and they saw it as the right thing
for the country. I don't need to overdramatize what it was,
but that's what it felt like at the time and
that level of pride. I still have those three stickies
right by my bedside because I get it. I get
(18:25):
the mom guilt. I wish there were certain elements like
it could have done differently, But I also see the
relationship we have and they understand what it means to
actually be engaged in society and doing something you care about.
No mom gilt, mom gil, thank you, It's not allowed.
Should we make excuses to our employers? Should we tell her,
like if I have to head to a parent teacher
conference or take a kid to the doctor, do I
(18:47):
tell my boss? You don't tell your boss. You don't
tell your boss. Guys don't tell their boss, so I
don't think you say anything. I actually made this point
at an event at Morgan Stanley. I'm like, do not
tell your boss. Got to get over the guilt. The
only way to move on from it is realized. I'm
a professional. I do things when I when I can,
and it makes sense and I get it all done.
(19:08):
I just do it on my own timeline. And I
actually had a woman who emailed me afterwards and said,
I know you said I'm not supposed to tell my boss,
so I won't, but I can't not tell somebody, so
I'm going to email you. And I'm like, okay, that's
step one of a five step attorney. Do not tell
your boss, your tell your boss, you know what, I
need to do certain things for myself and I it's
(19:30):
I'm getting I feel guilty doing it, but I get
everything done. There's no question you are so beyond having
to check in with people. Well, so do not. We're
in the middle of this so called Great Resignation and
people are reflecting and changing and making big decisions. What's
your advice two people in this you know, big evolution,
(19:53):
you know, huge choices ahead. Well, I think you framed
it really well. I don't think it's the Great resignation.
I think it's the great reshuffle. And people are reflecting
on what do they want and how do they want
to work and how do they want to live their life.
So I think for all of us thinking about what
does that mean for our institutions. It is about evolving
the way we we we work, the way we interact,
(20:14):
the expectations that we have to say. But I grew
up in a cubicle on the twenty floor of a
sky rise. Doesn't work anymore, and so what should we
do as leaders? And I think that our this generation,
appropriately and it's very exciting, expects more from all of us.
And so it's not just in how we work. But
it is in what we do, and I think all
(20:35):
elements of what's the mission? Are you delivering on the mission?
Is really important? Okay, So if you rapid fire questions
someone you'd love to have dinner with, Well, I'd love
to say my parents because they passed away in over
of years ago. Favorite family ritual. We do this crazy
thing that we've done for years, which is everybody gets
(20:55):
to pick where we travel. We come up with the
five the five different low patients, and then we all vote,
and then we get the grid and that's where we go.
What's your favorite getaway? Um? Probably I would say maybe
Iceland was the best. That's an amazing one. New York
or California so unfair. Well, sitting here outdoors right now
(21:18):
and knowing I can do that for the rest of
the years, pretty nice with the energy from New York.
So I'm not gonna It's like I don't pick amongst children.
So in closing, Google is a massive company, multiple divisions,
many bets. Where are you spending most of your time now?
I'm spending most of my time on your very more
in question about capital allocation because if it really goes
(21:39):
to this core point, you've got to invest for long
term growth and making sure that you're investing with the
right intensity. I often say I don't want to get
to the two yard line, but not score. So you
need to make sure you're investing with the right intensity
to support long term growth. That's the most important area
where I would say I spend the ball my time,
(22:00):
and then of course you have to prioritize in order
to recycle to support those apploms. What kind of discussions
are you having with Larry and Sergey now about this
next phase of Google? So when they made the announcement
about the role change, they really they were very serious
about moving to this board role and they've been there
(22:21):
amazing board members. UM Sandars of course relies on them
for counsel wherever, whenever, But most of the interaction is
really around what are we doing at the board level.
It's been great and you have your freedom to allocate
capital as you like. UM. I work closely with Sandar
and Philip and Taz. Yes, we work as a great team.
(22:43):
So where what's the vision for Google? Then ten years
from now? You know it's fascinating too. Was I think
I had the same reaction you do when I heard
Cinders say searches the biggest moon shot, and I think
that continuing to find ways to be helpful to users
to solve what they need. Where so many people are
coming online and it you know, is video going to
(23:03):
be the first the way they understand It's going to
be about you know, search is going to be a
different type of experience. So much of it's going to
be about voice first and language translation. So there's gonna
it's going to continue to evolve. And what about for
you personally? Like where will you know? It's been so
amazing to hear about your journey, and I'm just curious
(23:23):
about your personal growth, like what you feel you've accomplished
in the last you know, since you've been here, and
what you hope to accomplish. I find that that the
opportunity to try new things and to invest in new things,
and as we think about, well what does that mean
for each one of our areas, there's I think that
intellectual curiosity keeps you young. And I think that continuing
(23:47):
to learn is like your brain is like silly putty
getting pulled in a lot of directions, So to me,
it's continuous learning. Report. Thank you so much, for its
great to have you on camp. Come back any time.
Bloomberg Studio One point Oh was produced by Lauren Ellis,
edited by Brian Carton Gayner. Our managing editor is Danielle Culbertson,
(24:09):
with special thanks to Alex Soto and Tiffany Perez. If
you like Bloomberg Studio one point oh, please subscribe and
leave us a review. We love hearing from you. I'm
Emily Changing, your host and executive producer.
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