You Are Your Business Model -

Again, it’s important to emphasize that a.) Google understands better than anyone how important its search product is, strategically, to its business, and b.) Google employs a massive number of brilliant, dedicated, customer-obsessed employees that are focused on upholding and improving the quality of its search engine.

And yet, again, it’s difficul

So, you have to ask yourself — why is it that smart, disciplined people who seem genuinely committed to a customer-centric mission make product decisions that they know are going to be bad for the long-term health of their business and counterproductive to their mission?

The answer is simple — it’s a business model problem.

The easiest way to spot a problematic business model is to look for a divergence between a company’s mission statement — its explanation for why it exists and what its overall goal is — and its core product(s).

Embracing a business model that prioritizes long-term customer value over short-term revenue is not easy.