I just read that Nelson is on a leave of absence from Google. I met Nelson back at Gnomedex 3 in Des Moines- he was clearly a great representative for the search company and gave an excellent presentation on Google’s hardware and software infrastructure to support search. That was pre-IPO as well, so there wasn’t the same level of scrutiny for Google. Everyone was pretty excited about the things they were doing.
So why do I bring this up? For two reasons. First, I think the leave of absence is a wonderful thing. Extended breaks are a wonderful thing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone could take a couple of months off every few years to figure things out and make sure they were still on the right path? I know that isn’t feasible for most people, but I love the idea of it. While I’m not in a position to take such a break right now, I wish Nelson the best during his leave.
Second, I wonder what this signals for Google in the long term. At this point, while they’re still in the very early stages of the execution in their business their stock price has driven the business value to such a high-level that many of their employees no longer need to work. Again. Ever. So what does that hold for their business? Will they face a flight of their talent, or will those folks take a break as individuals, step back to make sure their priorities are still aligned with Google and then proceed with the same level of excitement as they’ve had over the past few years? It is hard to know, but should be interesting to see.
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