Mid - Level Managers Symposium

Earlier today, I attended the Mid Level Managers Symposium - organized by the ELC. This was my first time at this event and my first time in DC. Truth be told - this has been a week of many firsts. The theme for this event was - Breaking through - Using Adaptive Leadership In our ever changing Corporate Environment. The keynote was delivered by Don Thompson, President of MacDonald's USA. I've decided to dedicate a separate post to put down my thoughts about his speech.

Following his keynote, we broke out into the first of two half-day workshops. Each Workshop centered around the overall theme for the event - Adaptive Leadership. We heard brief speeches from panelists and hosts followed by round table discussions - driven by facilitators at each table. I came away impressed with the depth of knowledge which ELC members have and their devotion to sharing their knowledge with others. This is a great Symposium for any minorities who aspire to take on leadership positions in the Global Corporate World. Below are my key takeaways regarding Adaptive Leadership.

Adaptive Leadership is a mindset. It's a set of strategic practices which an individual consciously implements in order to develop the adaptability to thrive in complex, competitive and challenging environments. It's about strengthening one's own self awareness and tuning your antenna to the behaviors and actions of others. Leadership can be learned, It is not an inherent set of traits such as charisma or charm.
Adaptive leadership teaches individuals how to enhance the effectiveness of their interactions by adapting their approach to people, based on what they want to discuss and how they think people will respond. By better meeting the needs of each individual, leaders create higher levels of engagement and organizational results. In the case of Corporations, much depends on having widespread leadership that can come from anywhere within an organization, not just from those in top positions of authority. Because adaptive change generates resistance, exercising leadership can be both difficult and dangerous.

An Adaptive Leader expects change - even welcomes it. It's important to find ways to make your daily grind as uncomplicated as possible - whether that means breaking down issues and deliverables into pint sized tasks or effectively delegating down to subordinates and managing up to your boss. I re-learnt importance of making meaningful connections and building good and sustainable relationships. These are key focus areas for any adaptive leader. I also leanrt that it's important to leave all your relationships well.

Any visible minority, trying to navigate through the challenges and identify the opportunities which the Corporate world provides, must first learn to adapt to a new environment - whilst remaining true to specific principles and values. That's the key to staying grounded. In the weeks and months ahead, I'll develop these theme further and share more of my insights from the ELC Conference.........

Disecting Google's 3rd Quarter '07 Results

Okay - so I decided to whip whip on my mask and gloves and perform my own brand of Surgery on Google's '07 results. Frankly I'm amazed at how fast this company has grown in terms of revenue, profit and especially manpower - in 5 years. On a worldwide basis, Google employed 15,916 full-time employees as of September 30, 2007, up from 13,786 full time employees as of June 30, 2007. Third Quarter results were impressive - any which way you look.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "Our core search advertising business experienced continued momentum driven by growth in monetization and traffic, and we are creating a wider and deeper ads system through our focus on innovation, bringing more ad formats to our advertisers. Our efforts to offer more products and services in international markets as well as effectively grow our technology infrastructure and add to our deep talent base during the quarter helped to deliver growth by enabling Google to reach more users around the world." I'd say that's a mild understatement - let's get into the numbers.

Q3 Financial Summary Google reported Gross Revenues of $4.23 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, an increase of 57% compared to the third quarter of 2006 and an increase of 9% compared to the second quarter of 2007 (including TAC). In the third quarter of 2007, TAC totaled $1.22 billion, or 29% of advertising revenues Google reports operating income, net income, and earnings per share (EPS) on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. The non-GAAP measures, as well as free cash flow, an alternative non-GAAP measure of liquidity, are described below and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures in the accompanying financial tables.

Operating Income: GAAP operating income for the third quarter of 2007 was $1.32 billion, or 31% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.10 billion, or 29% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2007 Non-GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2007 was $1.52 billion, or 36% of revenues. This compares to non-GAAP operating income of $1.35 billion, or 35% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2007

Net Income
GAAP net income for the third quarter of 2007 was $1.07 billion as compared to $925 million in the second quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter of 2007 was $1.24 billion, compared to $1.12 billion in the second quarter of 2007
GAAP EPS for the third quarter of 2007 was $3.38 on 317 million diluted shares outstanding, compared to $2.93 for the second quarter of 2007 on 315 million diluted shares outstanding. Non-GAAP EPS in the third quarter of 2007 was $3.91, compared to $3.56 in the second quarter of 2007.

Revenues Google reported revenues of $4.23 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, representing a 57% increase over third quarter 2006 revenues of $2.69 billion and a 9% increase over second quarter 2007 revenues of $3.87 billion.
Google Sites Revenues Google-owned sites generated revenues of $2.73 billion, or 65% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2007. This represents a 68% increase over third quarter 2006 revenues of $1.63 billion and a 10% increase over second quarter 2007 revenues of $2.49 billion.
Google Network Revenues: Google's partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.45 billion, or 34% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2007. This represents a 40% increase over network revenues of $1.04 billion generated in the third quarter of 2006 and an 8% increase over second quarter 2007 revenues of $1.35 billion.

International Revenues - from outside of the United States totaled $2.03 billion, representing 48% of total revenues in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 44% in the third quarter of 2006 and 48% in the second quarter of 2007. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the second quarter of 2007 through the third quarter of 2007, our revenues in the third quarter of 2007 would have been $24 million lower. Had foreign exchange rates remained constant from the third quarter of 2006 through the third quarter of 2007, our revenues in the third quarter of 2007 would have been $121 million lower. Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $661 million, representing 16% of revenue in the third quarter of 2007, compared to 16% in the third quarter of 2006 and 15% in the second quarter of 2007.

Paid Clicks - Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 45% over the third quarter of 2006 and approximately 5% over the second quarter of 2007.

TAC - Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners, increased to $1.22 billion in the third quarter of 2007. This compares to TAC of $1.15 billion in the second quarter of 2007. TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 29% in the third quarter, compared to 30% in the second quarter of 2007.

The majority of TAC expense is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.12 billion in the third quarter of 2007. TAC is also related to amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $105 million in the third quarter of 2007.

Other Cost of Revenues - Other cost of revenues, which is comprised primarily of data center operational expenses, credit card processing charges as well as content acquisition costs, increased to $441 million, or 10% of revenues, in the third quarter of 2007, compared to $412 million, or 11% of revenues, in the second quarter of 2007.

Operating Expenses - Operating expenses, other than cost of revenues, were $1.25 billion in the third quarter of 2007, or 30% of revenues, compared to $1.21 billion in the second quarter of 2007, or 31% of revenues. The operating expenses in the third quarter of 2007 included $659 million in payroll-related and facilities expenses, compared to $625 million in the second quarter of 2007.

So there you have it - very strong earnings all round. The only problem with a report like this one is that now the street will expect this type of performance - on the regular. I"m not so sure that's sustainable - but time will tell.....

Google Roars Back........

Google Inc.'s third-quarter profit soared 46 percent to hurdle the enormous expectations that have elevated the Internet search leader's stock price by more $100 during the past month.
The Mountain View-based company said Thursday that it earned $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share, for the three months ended in September, up from net income of $733.4 million, or $2.36 per share, at the same time last year. If not for the cost of awarding stock to its steadily expanding work force, Google said it would have earned $3.91 per share. That topped the average estimate of $3.78 per share among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue for the period totaled $4.23 billion, a 57 percent increase from $2.67 billion last year.

Google, which is growing revenue and profit four to five times faster than rivals Microsoft and Yahoo Inc is expected by Wall Street analysts to generate revenue of $16.6 billion this year, virtually all through online advertising. Apparently, every one of its top 100 advertising accounts was increasing spending with Google and there’s potential for further growth, based on customer’s current spend levels. The Company is trying to convince it’s large customers that Search Advertising can be synonymous with building a corporate brand. together."

After subtracting commissions paid to its thousands of advertising partners, Google's revenue stood at $3.01 billion — about $70 million above the average analyst estimate. The performance represented a return to form for Google after its second-quarter earnings disappointed Wall Street. The company has surpassed analyst estimates in all but two of the 13 quarters since its August 2004 initial public offering. Investors already had been counting on a stellar quarter from Google and their assumptions contributed to a 19 percent increase in Google's stock price during the past month as the shares smashed through $600 for the first time - closing at $668.51 last night.

Google's earnings statement is looking pretty good, in fact it's share price has increased more than sevenfold from the IPO price to create an about $175 billion in additional shareholder wealth. The company is thriving because more advertisers are shifting spending to the Internet, where Google has built the most effective system to connect with prospective customers. There's ample opportunity to display the ads because Google currently fields about 1.2 billion search requests worldwide per day, based on the latest data from Comscore Inc. That's more than quadruple the number of requests handled by its next closest competitor, Yahoo Inc. Nearly two-thirds, or $2.73 billion, of Google's revenue came from searches and other activity on its own Web sites.

And according to data from Comscore released last week, Google's market share lead over Yahoo and other search firms grew in September. Google finished September with market share of 57 percent, according to Comscore, up from 56.5 percent in August. Yahoo's market share also grew, but by a smaller amount, from 23.3 percent in August to 23.7 percent in September. Live Search came in third at 10.3%, ASK.com had 4.7% share and AOL rounded out the group with 4.3% share. It's worthy of note that Live Search, ASK and AOL - all lost share in the quarter.

Blogging From The ELC Summit

I arrived at the ELC summit late on Wednesday October 24th. For those who have never heard of the Executive Leadership Council, it is the foremost Leadership Development Forum for African Americans Leaders, today. I was privileged to be invited to attend their Annual Recognition Dinner on Wednesday night and then participate in the Mid-level Managers forum the next day.

The dinner was a very special event - I've never seen so many black executives in the same place. The ELC Video - produced by lead sponsor - Target, was also pretty cool. For me though, the highlight of the night was a great Live Performance by Jennifer Hudson

The key learning for me was that, though Corporate America has come a long way, in terms of understanding the value of really fostering a truly diverse workforce - there's much work yet to do.

It's great to see Companies such as Target, PepsiCo, Coca-cola, Pfizer and ING, supporting ELC events and actually fostering diversity across their organizations. Truth is that these companies can't afford NOT to do so. They understand the importance of ensuring that their work-force is reflective of the consumer base which they serve.

That said - there are other great companies - like IBM and GE which actively recruit, train and elevate visible minorities to their Management ranks. Corporate America needs to actively strive to promote a diverse workforce - made up of talented men and women from all works of life. We all have something to offer - and the fact that I don't look like you, or have the same background as you do, doesn't mean that I can't be a great asset to your Company.

Organizations such as the ELC provide a good avenue for Blacks to learn about what it takes to succeed in Corporate America, how to navigate the landscape in our ever changing world. I applaud their efforts and look forward to attending this event - next year.

Hey IWON - Can I Win - just once?

I heard that the folks at IAC were keen to give away more prizes, and never being one to miss out on free stuff, I went straig to the iwon site to check things out for myself.

After spinning the wheel 5 times - I came up with "Sorry" 4 times and Try Again once. A little discouraging, but I battled on all the same.

Whose' the fastest Crawler? I asked a question about the fastest Search Engine out there in terms of crawl speed. i also wanted to get Rand's opinion on the impact of Index size on c, rawl speed in general.

His Response:

Historically, although MSN was pretty quick to initiaitve the crawls on major sites regularly. They (MSN) - did a bad job of crawling big sites properly. Yahoo and google are both relatively fast and have good abillity to categorize and organize docs from large sites efficiently, within their index.

Index Size as a relational factor to drive crawl speed???

Index size helps with relevancey = and it also helps with link structure and helps with rankign the right suff i the right order. If a Search engine can't efficiently crawl large sites and classify their content, the Engine is unliely to effectively rank the documents - this has a direct impact on Relevance.

Book Review: The Pyramid Principle

Analyzing The Pyramid Structure

In writing - it's important to state the idea directly implied - by the logic of the grouping. In essense - you need make sure that your ideas are grouped in a logical format. The key to clear writing is to first understand - very clearly, what you want to accomplish. Then group your thoughts/ideas into a pyramidal format in which each level of the pyramid follows a logical seqeunce.

The World Changer's Back & Musing About Google.........

So, I'm back in Seattle - actually, have been back for over a week. The Marketing Conference in the UK went well - Lot's of interesting insights. Google's dominance remains a hot topic on both sides of the Atlantic.

I'll admit that I've found myself using Google more frequently - primarily for directions and maps. Most Googlers however, now use at least 3 or 4 Google features and I see that trend growing. Blogger and You Tube were already popular products - now that Google has an even more impressive line up of engaging tools & features, it has become an essential part of their lives.

I visited the Google Campus recently - and I'll echo the sentiments of Xooglers who claim that Googlers are Cynical and Arrogant. That's probably understandable given the Global Strength of the Google Brand and the very impressive performance of it's stock.

There is no immediate threat to Google's dominance in Search - or it's lucrative revenue model. The small text ads in the sponsored links section are still delivering huge pesos - the company is on track to hit revenues of $16 billion and profits of $4.3 billion this year.

In a recent analysis by Alan Rimm-Kaufman, a marketing consultant, it took a whopping 73% of the budgets of companies that advertise on search engines (versus 21% and 6%, respectively, for Yahoo! and Microsoft). It charged more for each click, thanks to its bigger network of advertisers and more competitive online auctions. And it had far higher “click-through rates”, because it made these ads more relevant and useful, so that web users click on them more often. Perhaps most tellingly, advertisers do better with Google. Mr Rimm-Kaufman found that Google's ads “converted” more often into actual sales, which tended to be larger than those originating from Yahoo! or Microsoft.

This is discouraging for Yahoo, given all the work it put into Panama. Microsoft adCentre has also launched a number of innovative features in an effort to drive the volume required to grow Search Revenue. Recently, Google has also started to experiment with Radio, TV and Newspapers. It is trying (pending an antitrust inquiry) to buy DoubleClick, a firm that specialises in the other big online-advertising market, so-called “branded” display or banner ads (for which each view, rather than each click, is charged for). Sceptics point out that with each such expansion, Google reduces its profit margins, because it must share more of the revenues with others. Yet Google does not look at it that way. Its costs are mostly fixed, so any incremental revenue is profit.

It's worth noting that Google now offers a complete alternative to Microsoft's entrenched Office suite of programs, all accessible through any web browser. A new technology, called Google Gears, will make these applications usable even when there is no Internet connection. And Google is hawking these applications not only to consumers but also to companies.

Beyond its attempts to expand into new markets, the big question is how Google will respond if its stunning success is interrupted. “It's axiomatic that companies eventually have crises,” says Mr Schmidt. And history suggests that “tech companies that are dominant have trouble from within, not from competitors.” In Google's case, he says, “I worry about the scaling of the company.” Google has been hiring “Nooglers” (new Googlers) at a breathtaking rate. In June 2004 it had 2,292 staff; this June the number had reached 13,786. Its ability to get all these people has been a competitive weapon, since Google can afford to hire talent pre-emptively, making it unavailable to Microsoft and Yahoo!.

Google tends to win talent wars because its brand is sexier and its perks are fantastically lavish. Googlers commute on discreet shuttle buses (equipped with wireless broadband and running on biodiesel, naturally) to and from the head office, or “Googleplex”, which is a photogenic playground of lava lamps, volleyball courts, swimming pools, free and good restaurants, massage rooms and so forth.

So, Google continues to dominate the Global Search Landscape, but it's not the big dog in every Market. It faces formidable opposition in China, South Korea,Russia and Japan. In fact, Tokyo, alarmed by the global dominance of Google and other foreign internet services, is spearheading a project to try to seize the lead in new search technologies for electronic devices. The push has been sparked by concerns in Japan that the country’s pre-eminence in consumer electronics has faded and value in the technology industry is moving away from hardware. France and Germany launched a plan of their own to seed development of a “next generation” European search engine nearly two years ago, though Germany pulled out of the plan. It remains to be seen whether any of these initiatives can slow the Google Juggernaut........

A Brief Encounter With Alan Johnston

I'm in London, UK this week - attending a Marketing Conference. I arrived this morning, excited to be back in one of my favourite Cities. My joy was mildly tainted by the ongoing Tube Strike. It seems that the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) has closed two-thirds of the Tube network and affected 10 lines.

Needless to say, It took a few hours to get settled in at my hotel - but no matter, I'm still happy to be here. I decided to go in Search of a popular Thai restaurant called Busaba Eathai. During the meal, my sister, who happened to be with me - spotted someone who looked like Alan Johnston, walking by outside. I had no idea who he is, but by the time dinner was over - I learnt a lot. I found myself thinking that this man must be a really remarkable person - I wondered what it would be like to meet him or even speak with him.

We finished dinner and left the restaurant. Just as we got outside the front entrance - there he was - quietly standing near the street, clearly waiting for someone. My Sister asked if she could go speak with him - I remember asking her if she was sure it was actually Alan Johnston, as she walked up and introduced herself.

Sure enough, it was the man himself. As they spoke, I inched closer and mumbled something about being glad to meet him.

I must say, he was very gracious, quite friendly and repeatedly expressed gratitude to all those who supported him during his ordeal. He mentioned that many people have stopped him in the street (as we did), and said encouraging words to him, and for that he's truly thankful. I waited for him to say something even remotely negative about his captors or the situation he was placed in - but nothing came. Finally, I asked him if he would ever go back again. He paused briefly and responded by saying that the experience was pretty frightening, he loves London and he wasn't sure he could return to that region again.

The Alan Johnston story is not a new one - he was abducted at gun point on March 12th while on his way home from Gaza and arrived back in the UK, in July. The reason, I saw fit to blog about this chance encounter with him, was because I was moved by his grace and humility. He didn't show any bitterness or negativity towards anyone and he certainly didn't need to spend 5 minutes with 2 total strangers on a dark night, outside the Busaba Eathai..........

Thanks Alan.