LeBow New York Marketing Trip

At one point in our tour, Jamie, the Drexel representative from Google stopped speaking and quickly ushered us to another part of the hallway. Upon asking I learnt, that we were standing in front of a "nap pod" where somebody was, you guessed it, napping. Yes, this is a corporate office in Manhattan New York. But this is the office of Google. So I guess you are not surprised. The trip was held on 15th August by the Marketing department (no points for guessing) and we visited the offices of Google and SAP in New York. We left Philly around 11 am and returned around 10:15 pm. We were a group of 35 students accompanied by LeBow office of Undergraduate Staff and faculty from the Marketing department. In New York, we got to go on office tours to learn how the companies function on a day to day basis, see what new and exciting projects they are currently involved in and meet many important representatives, learning about their career path and taking in their professional advice along the way. This was concluded by an alumni networking event held at the SAP office (10 Hudson Yards) where we met and talked to Drexel alumni working in primarily marketing positions in companies like American Express, S.H.I International and SAP itself. Drinks were on the house and cocktail snacks were presented which included items from bread and hummus to lobster rolls. To be very honest, I did eat a lot but did not drink anything, so I guess that is why I still had some appetite after what I think was 8 lobster rolls and like 15 pieces of wantons (yeah judge me)

The Highlight The highlight of the trip was stepping inside Google. I even googled while in their office on my phone and the speed seemed to reach limits of infinity. But apart from the gyms and coffee labs and cooking classes and frozen yogurt dispensers (all this and much more is actually inside the office), I was just blown away from the culture of work that they have adopted. The whole notion of working 9 to 5 in one cubicle or desk and doing pretty much nothing else but work related things has been dispelled.

The office (at least the floors I visited) has not set defined working area. You can work anywhere and with anyone you like. Want to work on the terrace while enjoying a breathtaking view of the city ? Sure. Want to work on the couches while having some frozen yogurt ? Sure. Tired from an intense project and want to take a nap to refresh ? Just book a nap pod. The same freedom is given to the dress code. In fact Jamie informed us that simply by seeing how people were dressed, we could make a reasonable guess about the position they hold. It goes something like this. 1) If you are wearing shorts, then you are an engineer. 2) If you are dressed somewhat formally then you work in the sales divison. 3) If you are dressed in suit and tie (something that offices would require all of its employees to wear) then you most likely have a client meeting. As we wondered around from hall to hall, I rarely saw anyone in the third category. The majority of people waking around were the engineers, as I could tell from their shorts, Bose headphones, laptop in one hand and food in the other. Overall, this kind of atmosphere promotes a very collaborative culture, one in which there is a constant exchange of ideas, discussions and deliberations. As a result, innovation is endless and that is what Google is primarily known for. The freedom granted to employees make them more confident in their own work. One of the core company principles which Jamie elucidated upon was that Google firmly believes that happy employees make happy people. So when your office follows a layout principle where you cannot walk more than 250 feet before encountering food, surely you are going to be one happy person. And I know, that some of you upon reading this may say "But Soham. This is Google after all. Did you not expect to see such things? To be honest, yes. At least some of it. But I believe that even then, it gives me an opportunity to step back, reflect and eventually learn from and the spectacle at hand.