Technology

Google's Darren Thayre on the human side of innovation—and what often goes wrong

By Anjum Khan

“At Google, there are many ways to innovate, everyone is expected to be an innovator — it’s baked into the DNA” said Darren Thayre, Director of Innovation and AI Pursuit Lead at Google. 

This conversation played out in the latest episode of Humanscope Podcast by People Matters, where our CEO and co-founder, Pushkaraj Bidwai, delved deeper into how innovation happens at Google and where most companies fail, with Thayre.

How Innovation happens..

“Google has a strong belief (deeply resonated by our CEO Sundar) that we have a responsibility as Google to give back, to help industries evolve and transform,” said Thayre as he shared the secret sauce of Google’s transformation journey. 

Adding, “And I want to be clear: we’re not perfect. We’ve learned a lot from things that didn’t work and had to adapt. We’re never complacent. Much of our work starts with acknowledging what we got wrong or what we thought was true but had to pivot away from — and we share that openly.”

Supporting innovation through people

He also shared the projects and well-known publications at Google, studying high-performance teams and other dynamics. “We study what works, what doesn’t, and we’re open about sharing that. On the technology side, we’ve always championed open-source. We apply the same philosophy on the people and learning side: share what works, what doesn’t, and how we’re structured.”

“We’re not a consulting firm, but we believe we can offer something distinct and valuable.”

Getting hired by Google is hard, but if one is successful, the first thing you learn is the company’s heritage — how Google has built products used by billions of people. “You’re told upfront: we must constantly disrupt — ourselves, our products, our business. We have to remain humble, and we must respect the opportunity, the end customer, and each other.”

“There’s a huge focus on the human element. If we focus on great teaming, set big, audacious goals, and think 10x — not just 1x, 2x, or 3x — the ideas might sound outrageous at first. But the greatest innovations often did,” he added. “There’s a strong focus on diversity and serving everyone — not just a narrow slice of the world. And we stay humble, because if we don’t disrupt ourselves, someone else will.”

Innovation needs great work‘space’ 

“When you’re truly trying to innovate, there’s something powerful about human beings being in a room together. I’ve learned this even more since I’ve been in Asia. Before this, I spent a decade in the Middle East, so I’ve been fortunate to work with diverse cultures—it’s been an incredible learning experience,”

“When you’re (working) physically together, you pick up on subtle human elements that just don’t come through on a video call. People open up more…But if you have a high-trust team, you absolutely can work from anywhere for certain tasks. The key is figuring out the right cadence for coming back together.”

“Office design also plays a huge role now. Google, perhaps more than most, has been ahead of the curve here. You want people to want to come to the office—take pride in it. You need great spaces for formal, informal, and impromptu interactions.”

Google is often pointed out for its lavish offices, “but there’s a purpose behind that. It’s about giving people pride in where they work, and creating many ways to engage.”

That said, “employers need to be careful about forcing people back—it can feel draconian. Those that get the messaging right will win, especially in a talent-driven market. It’s important that the messaging doesn’t feel like it’s just coming from HR—it needs to feel like it comes from the CEO's vision and spirit.”

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Watch the video for the wholehearted conversation on new ways of working, Gen Z workers, CEOs role in innovation, and common pitfalls of innovation journey.

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