With Alphabet Parent Company, Google Tries to Shift from “ADD” to ABC

Google has been an incubator for clever ideas for many years. A better search engine soon led to innovative advertising, new business applications and email. Then the company got really ambitious with Android, self-driving cars, glucose detecting contact lenses, remote home thermostats, virtual reality devices, hover boards, an elevator to space and teleportation technology. Is your head spinning yet?

F is for Focus

Nucleus Research has long noted that Google suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder. The whiz kids come up with a very good idea, get the project going then seem to get distracted by the next big concept. The promising product flounders. Case in point, Google Apps. There was no shortage of people seeking an alternative to Microsoft Office. In fact, there was tremendous enthusiasm around Google Apps when it first launched. Sadly, early users quickly realized that Google Apps was pushed dawn in priority as the company gravitated to a shinier, new project. Google Glass is an even better example.

E is for Execution, Not Entrepreneurism

While Google officially says it is still developing Google Glass, with space elevators, cancer drugs and robots in the works, how can we expect the ADD company to focus on it? You can’t knock Google for entrepreneurialism. In fact, the company is too entrepreneurial, always launching new concepts and even wildly jumping into diverse new markets. That wouldn’t be a bad thing if Google finished what it started. All companies cut bait on projects that don’t show enough ROI, but Google passes on some of the most promising R&D investments in the industry. Anyone using Google+?

Back to ABC?

At face value, reorganizing the company is a step in the right direction. Google will now be part of Alphabet, with a new CEO tasked to keep the company focused on its core Internet business. Which in turn allows co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to continue their quest for the next outrageous big idea. The real challenge is to transform Google’s culture from its top-heavy focus on ideation and bold concepts to one that fully develops those big ideas and takes them across the commercial finish line. I for one think Google has tremendous untapped potential in simply finishing what they’ve started. Time will tell.