I’ve always liked Google’s motto, “Don’t be evil.”
Appearing in the 2004 founders’ letter as the firm headed for its IPO, the creed was a product of its time. It reflected the founders’ youth, idealism and general discomfort with being corporate. Their defiance mixed with hope. As they wrote: “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.”
“Don’t be Evil” has long been a yardstick to judge Google’s behavior. And it’s been a cudgel used against the Internet giant. Countless media reports and anti-Google advocates used the motto ad nauseam to beat the company over a perceived crime or an alleged infraction.
Now Alphabet, which officially became Google’s parent firm on Friday as George Avalos wrote here, issued a new code of conduct that resembles something written more by lawyers, corporate governance advisers and in-house ethicists, than by two young founders worried they were selling their souls.
Gone is “Don’t Be Evil.” Instead, it reads: “Do the right thing – follow the law, act honorably, and treat each other with respect.”
Alphabet’s code of conduct page spells out what “do the right thing” means, including “avoid conflicts of interests,” “ensure financial integrity and responsibility” and “obey the law.”
For comparison’s sake, here is the Google motto, which is still on Google’s code of conduct site, and presumably still part of Google, now a subsidiary:
‘Don’t be evil’. Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But ‘Don’t be evil’ is much more than that. Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.
Above: Google’s new logo.
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