Color Bars

Google Gets Sh*t Done

I pace during conference calls, fidget on airplanes, struggle not to finish people’s sentences, and slow walkers make my temperature rise a bit. I have only recently stopped biting my nails … it’s still a constant struggle. I know, I know, I’ve heard it a million times that patience is a virtue. While I agree wholeheartedly, and I admire those who can remain cool as a cucumber during three-hour pontification conference calls, I can’t deny my innate desire to focus less on talking and more on doing. I like to get sh*t done.

That’s why – despite the slight anxiety of wasting 30 seconds – I always watch and smile at Google’s new TV commercial. Evidently, Google and I have a shared affinity for action. The commercial is filled with ubiquitous references to “following up,” “re-grouping” and “next steps.” The commercial makes my heart warm, and I actually take my eye off the second hand of my watch.

I know I’m not alone in my quest for increased productivity and efficiency, and before the rest of you suggest I take a Xanax and espouse the value of thoroughness, talking it out, doing your homework, soliciting input, blah, blah, blah, let me be clear: you are right … but I am too. There is a time for talking and a time for doing.  It’s a balance, but at the end of the day most of us want to feel we are actually making a difference or solving a problem – the proverbial “moving the needle.”  That’s why last year, NST adopted the notion of taking action as company value.

Kudos Google. I may actually even try your meeting tool.

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