"Navigating Ambiguity" and Lessons from the first month as a Noogler

I have missed a week on my originally planned frequency of weekly posts, but as I said I would adjust the frequency accordingly. I will keep writing bi-weekly for the time being until things get a bit more settled over here.

Today I wanted to share a few lessons I learned and am still processing after nearly a month since I joined 谷歌 as an MBA Intern on the Finance Revenue to Cash Operations team, from the Dublin office ??.?

1. Large companies are large for a reason - risking stating the obvious. Every single spreadsheet and detail can impact millions or billions of dollars or users and that’s a very big shift from a startup setup where you have way more flexibility and agility to test and pilot things super quickly and iterate. It’s hard to find the balance between #speed, #consistency and #impact, but it’s definitely a new learning journey.?And by the way, to also do this on a company with a heavy meeting culture and that encourages everyone to have fun while doing things has also been a very big challenge and to be fair nice setup to navigate.
2. Knowing your way around #data will get you a long way, no matter what you are doing and especially in a more digital world and within data-oriented businesses. That’s becoming a bigger and bigger question with #AI’s large usage but I would say the the first steps of actually structuring what data you need to answer each of your relevant business questions and metrics or fixing your current problems, and then sorting automated ways to get that - which is where #AI does help and speeds up the process a lot - is key. Again, it’s becoming even more important to denominate the important business metrics, prioritise, and then use AI and automation to iterate that and make decision making and data visibility a more straightforward process.?
3. Navigating ambiguity is a new phrase I have learned and literally there is no other way to better describe my current experience so far within the #LBS #MBA and then now during the internship at #Google. Constantly over the last year, and then specifically over the last weeks, I have been pushed to iterate and adapt my approach to problems over and over again and learning to navigate that with a growth mindset has been a challenging but rewarding journey. But there's no choice but to do this, and do it as quickly as possible, when you are working through situations where the inputs change constantly.
4. Seems like common sense, but it is always about people. My best days have always been the days where I was able to sort through deep analysis and thinking time while also allowing myself to develop deeper connections and actually taking a step back, breathing, and also sharing deeper thoughts, ambitions and feelings with others. Google surrounds with so many amazing people, and it’s amazing how that ends up encouraging you and enabling you to advance, if you’re not necessarily talking about work or specific tasks. Super thanks for my mentor Inna Somers here and the many people who I have been fortunate enough to cross paths over the next couple of weeks.
5. Finally, I couldn't finish this post without mentioning diversity. Not because it’s something everyone seems to care about nowadays or because I do come from a diverse background compared with other people who were born here, but because this is so notably unique at Google too.The many signs saying “Who you are brought you here. Let it shape the work you do!” really got to me. Not only because they are a constant reminder on the corridors and elevators that it’s okay if I’m different and that I do bring unique things to the table, but mainly because people 100% encourage that on a daily basis and are constantly listening to whatever whoever has to say no matter what is. No big deal about it, no fuss, no questions, just genuine interest and listening. It’s the first time I lived in a culture like that where diversity is not even a topic, because people so genuinely live it on the day to day basis that it’s just the normal things to do and most times there’s not even a need to talk about it, it’s just shown on everyone’s actions. Feeling very fortunate to work along with these people and I can only wish for that to happen in every other situation overall too.?

Excited and still super challenged about it, but looking forward to what the next chapters hold!!

Cheers and hope you have a great week ahead!!!

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