Google’s CEO just clarified what ‘Googleyness’ means in 2024

Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, California.

“Googleyness” has long been a vague word for the search giant Google. Once used to determine whether a candidate would be a good fit for hiring, it has evolved in definition over the years.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai just attempted to clarify what the word means for Googlers now.

In a company all-hands meeting on Wednesday, Pichai told staffers that the definition of Googleyness had become too broad and that he felt obliged to clarify it, according to two employees who heard the remarks. They asked to remain anonymous because they’re not authorized to talk to the press.

Pichai defined Googleyness as the following, per one of those sources:

“Mission First”

“Make Helpful Things”

“Be Bold & Responsible”

“Stay Scrappy”

“Hustle & Have Fun”

“Team Google”

A Google spokesperson declined to comment.

The term Googleyness has always been amorphous. In his 2015 book, “Work Rules,” Google’s head of people operations at the time, Laszlo Bock, listed certain attributes that he considered Googleyness, such as “intellectual humility,” “enjoying fun,” and “comfort with ambiguity.”

The company previously changed its hiring guidelines to “avoid confusing Googleyness with culture fit,” The Information reported in 2019. The change came after the company had been criticized for its lack of diversity in its workplace.