The secret to working at Google and design thinking tips with Greg Petroff.
#TwelveDaysofISDI: Career advice, interviewing tips, and Silicon Valley secrets to make your 2018 the best it can be.
Are you curious about Design Thinking? You’ve come to the right place.
Have you ever wanted to work at Google? It helps to have insider insight — you’ve come to the right place.
You want to spend a little bit of time with the Research Director of Google Cloud? It’s the fourth day of ISDI — and you’ve come to the right place.
Today, we welcome Greg Petroff, former Chief Experiential Officer at GE and current Research Director of Google Cloud, to show us behind the curtain of Design Thinking, Google, and who his favorite people in history are.
Greg is best known for his ability to use design skills to solve real business problems. His background combines formal training in architecture with extensive experience in designing interactive products. Let’s get started.
What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systematic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be — and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user. It is really about unlocking possibility from the eyes of actual users.
Tell us about a mistake you made in your career and what you learned from it.
We make mistakes all the time. It’s what you do when they happen that matters. Are you willing to look at the issues and understand it?
My biggest career mistakes usually occur when I am unclear of the next course of action and I spend too much time thinking about what needs to happen for the course to become clear.
In those situations it’s better to make something then analyze and use the artifact as a tool toward a new path.
What top qualities do you look for when building a team?
Multi-disciplinary in nature.
Each member has depth and also breadth… so called T-shaped people. It depends on the nature of the project/product. Teams for established products need to focus on execution and project discipline. Teams involved with developing a new product need to focus on learning quickly. So before looking for qualities, I assess the problem at hand.
There are of course some “must have” qualities regardless of the type of work that needs to be done which include: a curious nature, depth in a domain critical to the project/program at hand, ability to collaborate well with others, and compassion for users.
You can have a five minute coffee, one hour dinner, and a crazy night out with any three separate people in history (living or dead) — who are they, for which meeting, and why?
Coffee: Alvar Aalto (Modernist Architect): talk about materials and light.
Dinner: Barack Obama… because he is Barack Obama. I would ask a million questions!
Crazy night out: Jim Carrey… it would just be weird. Not sure what we would do and whether I would want to be the early version of me for the night out. My latest incarnation might not make it past midnight!
What is the best way someone could approach working for Google?
Be great at a very specific topic. Google hires experts not generalists for the most part. The hiring process at Google looks for referrals so it’s good to know a Googler who can introduce you to the company. But for the most part Google is looking for great talent. Make sure to showcase what YOU do well and be prepared to tell stories about your superpowers.
Want more? We’re offering a FREE Webinar on “Careers in the Digital Age” with Steve Cadigan, former VP of Talent at LinkedIn and Cofounder of ISDI Digital University.
CLICK HERE TO SAVE A SPOT.
Day 1: Former VP of Talent at LinkedIn and a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Day 2: Director of Digital and Social of the 49ers and Two Turtle Doves
Day 3: Three-time Author @britopian and Three French Hens
To learn more about ISDI Digital University and the 9-month master’s degree in digital business program, visit us at www.isdidigital.university.
