I know it’s hard to run a large company. I know that organizations can get too deep into their own visions to imagine conflicting values.
I realized yesterday, though, that:
- Microsoft ruined their brand for me by holding too tightly to things that they considered theirs. (Software.)
- Google is ruining their brand for me by holding too tightly to things that I consider mine. (Identity, everything they can possibly learn about me.)
It’s a weird difference, but the Google version makes me much sadder about the world. As I’d tell a mugger, “You can have my wallet, just don’t take me.”
Photo by Didier, used under a Creative Commons license.