原文出自James Altucher对问题
“为何Larry Page及Sergey Brin
从Google中创造出了Alphabet？”的回答
翻译：本地
前几周我去拜访了Google，在快要被抓起来的时候，我的心情简直在风中凌乱。
首先，Claudia游荡到了制造和维修无人驾驶车的车库里，当对方终于意识到她只是闲逛时，她这才被保安请了出去。我们吓坏了，还以为自己陷入了麻烦或者要被扔出去了。然后，我们和一个Google高层的朋友见面了，并了解了现在Google在做的一些事情。
没有一件事是和搜索有关的，所有交谈的有关内容都是和治愈癌症（一个能使你全身癌细胞自动移到其周围的手环），所有自动化的东西（而车只是其中一种），随处可用的Wi-Fi（狂人计划），和解决其他广大人口问题相关的。
一个问题除非能解决数十亿人的问题，否则，它就不值得被考虑。
所以，Alphabet使它面向了这样的一个策略：一个拥有和投资于其他公司并可以解决数亿人问题的控股公司。
这不是由钱分划的，而是被任务。作为我自己也想在我的人生中做这样的事。分析一下Larry Page近几年的言论就可以当做是“数亿人成功”和个人成功的指导手册了。
如下是他部分的格言（粗体）：
“如果你在改变世界，如果你在做有意义的事情，那么每天早上起床你都会充满激情。”
为了能在生活中的幸福，你需要三样东西：A）一种竞争或是成长的感觉。 B）良好的情感关系。 C）选择的自由。
早晨起床充满激情是生活幸福的结果。每当想起你要服务于数亿人的问题就会给你生活幸福的这三个方面。最起码，当我起床的时候我都会试着去问：今天我能帮助到谁？因为我是一个超级英雄，而这就是我秘密的身份证明。
“尤其是科技，我们需要革命性质的改变，而不是渐变式”
我们太常陷入到“足够好”。如果你在建立一个有关资助你的家庭甚至能提供退休政策的商业计划，那么这就是“足够好”。如果你在写一本能卖1000份的书，那么这就是“足够好”。你有想过为什么飞机自从1965年后就开始减速？梦想航线787实际上要比747慢。好了，因为这已经足够让人们穿越这个世界，同时还能够减少能源的消耗。但是只有当有人要克服 “足够好综合症”时，我们才能听到：伊隆·马斯克建设一个太空飞船，拉里·佩奇索引所有的知识，伊丽莎白福尔摩斯诊断潜在的疾病都与针刺。
艾萨克·阿西莫夫写的经典科幻小说，如“基地三部曲”，但这对他还不够。他最后写了500多本书，写得书比历史上任何人都要多。
拉里·佩奇不断推进，所以他每天醒来知道就在这一天他要做的比 “足够好”还好。
你的“足够好”的一天是什么样的？是什么样的动力使得你能不断前进？
“作为一个领导者，我的工作是确保每个人都在公司能有很大的机会，让他们觉得他们是一个有意义的影响，并且能为社会作出贡献。”
每当我管理的公司，并曾很少有机会成为一个领导者，我只会在我的成功上判断一件事：
员工在晚上回家，打电话给他或她的父母说“快猜猜我今天做了什么”！
我不知道这个总是奏效。但我确实认为拉里·佩奇想让他所有员工站在更高处，努力成为更好的自己，要超越他，要试图改变这个世界。如果每个员工都可以说，“我今天帮了谁”，并有一个答案，那么，这才是一个好的领导者。
让他人变得强大，同时也就让自己变得强大。
“很多公司长久都没有成功过一次。他们根本上做错了什么？他们通常错过了未来。”
股市是接近历史高点。然而，每家公司在原有的道琼斯市场指数（除GE）已经歇业。即使是美国钢铁公司，它在整个世纪内在全国的到处建设，也已经破产。
永远不要让现实阻挡可能的道路。现实能让你专注现在做的事情。但是，给自己时间去思考什么是可能的，然后用即使最轻微的动作向那个方向靠拢。
我们很可能在一种可能的1％处。尽管谷歌时刻在变革，相对现有的机会我们仍然前进缓慢。我想了很多，这应该是因为消极......我读的每一个拿Google跟别人做对比的故事都很无聊。我们应该着眼于建设一个不存在的东西。
有时我想放弃一切我工作。因为我并没有服务于数亿人的大问题。
有时我觉得我写的太多了同样的东西。每一天，我都在想，“我今天可以写什么新东西”，然后当我想不出有全新的东西时，我居然感到沮丧。
但是，我现在的工作是做我认为可以帮助人们的事情。如果你不属于常规区域，如果你打破社会的正常规则，人们将试图拉你下来。
拉里·佩奇不想被Google为他的一生定义。他希望通过他所尚完成的事物去定义，而这其中甚至包括他不敢做的。我很好奇如果我开始做我所有不敢做的事情，开始通过所有还没有做的事情定义我的生活，我的生活会是什么样子。
“我认为大组织的许多领导人，不相信改变是可能的，但如果你看看历史，事情是会发生变化的，而如果你的企业是静态的，那么你可能就会有问题了。”
猜测哪个公司有拉里·佩奇在那个基础上创建了他自己的专利（并成就了Google）的最原始专利？
来吧，想一想，猜一下。
这个公司的一名员工创造了专利，并试图让公司用它来编目网络上的信息。
公司拒绝了。
所以，李彦宏，华尔街日报的一名员工，退出资本主义的报纸（拥有他自己的专利），转移到中国，并创建了百度。Larry Page修改了专利，提出了他自己的，并且创造谷歌。而华尔街日报后来被默多克吞噬，并正在逐步死亡。
“我认为，作为技术专家，我们应该有一些安全的地方，在这个地方我们可以尝试新的东西，并找出对社会的影响。”
我的一个朋友是写小说的，但是他不敢发表。“也许结果会很糟糕，”他告诉我。幸运的是，我们生活在一个实验很容易的世界里。你可以做一个30页的小说，随便在亚马逊上发布，使用假名，测试一下，看人们是否喜欢它。
哎呀，我已经做到了。它很有趣。
Mac Lethal是一个在YouTube视频观看量超过200万人的说唱歌手。即便是艾伦，也让他在她的节目来展示自己的技能。我问他：“如果你的影片获得比别人更少的观看量你会感到紧张吗？”他告诉我他宝贵的意见：“没人会记住你的坏的东西，他们只记得你的好东西。”
我依此而活着。
“如果我们被金钱激励，我们将会在很久以前卖掉这个公司，并在海滩结束了”
拉里·佩奇和谢尔盖·布林想成为学者。当他们第一次获得Google的专利，他们试图将它以100万美元（一百万美元啊！）出售给雅虎。雅虎嘲笑了他们，然后把他们扫地出门，他们试图以75万美元出售给Excite。Excite嘲笑了他们，然后把他们扫地出门。现在，一个Google的前雇员是雅虎的CEO。Excite的创始人在谷歌工作。谷歌称王。
金钱是试图帮助别人，试图解决的问题，试图超越“足够好”的副作用。所以很多人问：“我怎么获得好车？”这是一个错误的问题。如果你问每一天，“我怎么帮人今天？”那么你将有的好车和钱会超出你所能想象。
“发明是不够的。特斯拉发明了我们使用的电力，但他挣扎让人们使用他的产品。你必须要结合两件事：发明和创新的焦点，再加上一个公司，可以将商业化的东西传播给更多的人”
每个人都引用托马斯·爱迪生标志性的“失败”10000次获得电灯泡的工作的故事。我把失败打一个引号，因为他在做任何一个科学家都在做的事情。他做了很多的实验，直到一个作品。但他做的真正了不起的事情是说服纽约市几个星期后利用自己的灯光照亮了他们的市中心。有史以来第一次一个城市晚上用电被照亮了。这就是创新。这就是整个世界变得明亮了起来的原因。
“人是否正在产生清洁能源或改善交通或使互联网更好地工作等等一系列事情真的很重要。一个小团体的人真的可以有非常巨大的影响。”
我喜欢这句话是因为他把大的问题和小团体结合到了一起。
一小群人创建的谷歌。不是宝洁，也不是AT＆T。甚至在苹果，当史蒂夫·乔布斯希望创建的Macintosh，他把他的小组聚集到一个单独的建筑，这样他们就不会在苹果正在成为的大企业的官僚机构中越陷越深。
最终，他们解雇了他，因为他们和企业的信息距离太远了。多年以后，当苹果公司失败了，他们把他带回来。 他做了什么？他砍大部分产品，并把人分成小组，以解决大问题。他去世之前，他彻底改变了电影行业，计算机行业，音乐行业，电视，现在连手表（苹果手表发布后手表销售业一落千丈）。所有这一切都来自于一个只完成了一学期的大学书法学习的辍学的家伙。
研究苹果的历史就像是学习如何创建大的思想史的一个缩影。而拉里·佩奇与他的新公司结构正在重新创造这一切。
- 英文原文 -
▼
I visited Google a few weeks ago and, after almost getting arrested, my mind was blown.
First, Claudia wandered into the garage where they were actually making or fixing the driverless cars. When they finally realized she was wandering around, security had to escort her out.
We got scared and we thought we were going to get in trouble or thrown out.
Then we met with a friend high up at Google and learned some of the things Google was working on.
Nothing was related to search. Everything was related to curing cancer (a bracelet that can make all the cancer cells in your body move towards the bracelet), automating everything (cars just one of those things), Wi-Fi eveywhere (Project Loon) and solving other 'billion person problems'.
A problem wasn't considered worthy unless it could solve a problem for a billion people.So now Alphabet is aligning itself towards this strategy: a holding company that owns and invests in other companies that can solve billion person problems.
It's not divided up by money. It's divided up by mission.I want to do this in my personal life also.Just analyzing Larry Page's quotes from the past ten years is a guidebook for 'billion person success' and for personal success.
Here are some of his quotes (in bold):
'If you're changing the world, you're working on important things. You're excited to get up in the morning.'
To have well-being in life you need three things: A) a feeling of competence or growth. B) good emotional relationships. C) freedom of choice.
Being able to wake up excited in the morning is an outcome of well-being.
Feeling like every day you are working on a billion-person problem will give you those three aspects of well-being.At the very least, when I wake up I try to remember to ask: Who can I help today?Because I'm a superhero and this is my secret identity.
'Especially in technology, we need revolutionary change, not incremental change.'
Too often we get stuck in 'good enough'. If you build a business that supports your family and maybe provides for retirement then that is 'good enough'.
If you write a book that sells 1000 copies then that is 'good enough'
You ever wonder why planes have gotten slower since 1965? The Dreamliner 787 is actually slower than the 747.
That's ok. It's good enough to get people across the world and save on fuel costs.
It's only the people who push past the 'good enough syndrome' that we hear about: Elon Musk building a space ship. Larry Page indexing all knowledge. Elizabeth Holmes potentially diagnosing all diseases with a pin prick.
Isaac Asimov wrote classic science fiction like 'The Foundation Series' but it wasn't good enough for him. He ended up writing 500 more books, writing more books than anyone in history.
Larry Page keeps pushing so that every day he wakes up knowing he's going to go past 'good enough' that day.
What does your 'good enough' day look like. What's one thing that moves you past that?
My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society.
Whenever I've managed companies and have had the small opportunity to be a leader I've judged my success on only one thing:
Does the employee at night go home and call his or her parents and say, 'guess what I did today!'
I'm not sure this always worked. But I do think Larry Page lifts all his employees to try to be better versions of themselves, to try to surpass him, to try and change the world.
If each employee can say, 'who did I help today' and have an answer, then that is a good leader.
Empowering others, empowers you.
'Lots of companies don't succeed over time. What do they fundamentally do wrong? They usually miss the future.'
The stock market is near all time highs. And yet every company in the original Dow Jones market index (except for GE) has gone out of business.
Even US Steel, which built every building in the country for an entire century, has gone bankrupt.
Never let the practical get in the way of the possible.
It's practical to focus on what you can do right now.
But give yourself time in your life to wonder what is possible and to make even
the slightest moves in that direction.
We're at maybe 1% of what is possible. Despite the faster change, we're still moving slow relative to the opportunities we have. I think a lot of that is because of the negativity... Every story I read is Google vs someone else. That's boring. We should be focusing on building the things that don't exist.
Sometimes I want to give up on whatever I'm working on. I'm not working on major billion person problems.
And sometimes I think I write too much about the same thing. Every day I try to think, 'What new thing can I write today' and I actually get depressed when I can't think of something totally new.
But I am working on things that I think can help people. And if you are out side of people's comfort zones, if you are breaking the normal rules of society, people will try to pull you down.
Larry Page didn't want to be defined by Google for his entire life. He wants to be defined by what he hasn't yet done. What he might even be afraid to do.
I wonder what my life would be like if I started doing all the things I was afraid to do. If I started defining my life by all the things I have yet to do.
'Many leaders of big organizations, I think, don't believe that change is possible. But if you look at history, things do change, and if your business is static, you're likely to have issues.'
Guess which company had the original patent that ultimately Larry Page derived his own patent (that created google) from?
Go ahead. Think a second. Guess.
An employee of this company created the patent and tried to get them to use it to catalog information on the web.
They refused.
So Robin Li, an employee of The Wall Street Journal, quit the newspaper of capitalism (who owned his patent), moved to China (a communist country), and created Baidu.
And Larry Page modified the patent, filed his own, and created Google.
And the Wall Street Journal got swallowed up by Rupert Murdoch and is dying a slow death.
'I think as technologists we should have some safe places where we can try out new things and figure out the effect on society.'
A friend of mine is writing a novel but is afraid to publish it. 'Maybe it will be bad,' he told me.
Fortunately we live in a world where experimentation is easy. You can make a 30 page novel, publish it on Amazon for nothing, use an assumed name, and test to see if people like it.
Heck, I've done it. And it was fun.
Mac Lethal is a rapper who has gotten over 200 million views on his YouTube videos. Even Ellen had him on her show to demonstrate his skills.
I asked him, 'do you get nervous if one of your videos gets less views than others?'
He told me valuable advice: 'Nobody remembers your bad stuff. They only remember your good stuff.'
I live by that
'If we were motivated by money, we would have sold the company a long time ago and ended up on a beach'
Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to be academics. When they first patented Google, they tried to sell to Yahoo for $1 million (ONE MILLION DOLLARS).
When Yahoo laughed them out the door, they tried to sell to Excite for $750,000.
Excite laughed them out the door. Now an ex-employee of Google is the CEO of Yahoo. And the founder of Excite works at Google. Google dominates.
Money is a side effect of trying to help others, trying to solve problems, trying to move beyond the 'good enough'.
So many people ask: 'how do I get traffic?' That's the wrong question.
If you ask every day, 'How did I help people today?' then you will have more traffic and money than you could have imagined.
'Invention is not enough. Tesla invented the electric power we use, but he struggled to get it out to people. You have to combine both things: invention and innovation focus, plus the company that can commercialize things and get them to people.'
Everyone quotes the iconic story of Thomas Edison 'failing' 10,000 times to get the electric light bulb working.
I put failing in quotes because he was doing what any scientist does. He does many experiments until one works.
But what he did that was truly remarkable was convince New York City a few weeks later to light up their downtown using his lights.
The first time ever a city was lit up at night with electricity
That's innovation. That's how the entire world got lit up.
'If you say you want to automate cars and save people's lives, the skills you need for that aren't taught in any particular discipline. I know - I was interested in working on automating cars when I was a Ph.D. student in 1995.'
Too often we get labeled by our degree and our job titles. Larry Page and Elon Musk were computer science majors. Now they build cars and space ships.
David Chang was a competitive golfer as a kid, majored in religious studies in college, and then had random gopher jobs in his 20s.
The gopher jobs all happened to be in restaurants so he became familiar with how the business was run.
Then he started probably the most popular restaurant in NYC, momofoku. A dozen or so restaurants later, he is one of the most successful restauranteurs in history.
Peter Thiel worked as a lawyer in one of the top law firms in NY. When he quit in order to become an entrepreneur, he told me that many of his colleagues came up to him and said, 'I can't believe you are escaping'.
Escaping the labels and titles and hopes that everyone else has for us is one of the first steps in Choosing Ourselves for the success we are meant to have.
We define our lives from our imagination and the things we create with our hands.
'It really matters whether people are working on generating clean energy or improving transportation or making the Internet work better and all those things. And small groups of people can have a really huge impact.'
What I love about this quote is that he combines big problems with small groups.
A small group of people created Google. Not Procter & Gamble. Or AT&T.
Even at Apple, when Steve Jobs wanted to create the Macintosh, he moved his small group to a separate building so they wouldn't get bogged down in the big corporate bureaucracy that Apple was becoming.
Ultimately, they fired him for being too far from the corporate message.
Years later, when Apple was failing, they brought him back. What did he do? He cut most of the products and put people into small groups to solve big problems.
Before his death he revolutionized the movie industry, the computer industry, the music industry, TVs, and now even watches (watch sales have plummeted after the release of the Apple Watch).
All of this comes from a guy who finished one semester of studying calligraphy in college before dropping out.
Studying the history of Apple is like studying a microcosm of the history of how to create big ideas. Larry Page is recreating this with his new corporate structure.
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