Seeing Connections: Part Two

In an earlier post, I discussed the observed phenomenon of entrepreneurs to see connections between seemingly unconnected things, and that in these connections were innovation. In that post, I spoke about Google and the dizzying array of new things that seemed tangential to their business model, but did in fact drive traffic toward their core revenue generator - create more ad impressions.

In looking around at Google today I found the "10 things" site at Google. This is a list of Google's top 10 values. At the end of the page is a full disclosure statement that I found fascinating. It seems that, even at Google, the mission is not carved in stone, but is instead malleable. Here's the quote.

* Full-disclosure update: When we first wrote these "10 things" four years ago, we included the phrase "Google does not do horoscopes, financial advice or chat." Over time we've expanded our view of the range of services we can offer –- web search, for instance, isn't the only way for people to access or use information -– and products that then seemed unlikely are now key aspects of our portfolio. This doesn't mean we've changed our core mission; just that the farther we travel toward achieving it, the more those blurry objects on the horizon come into sharper focus (to be replaced, of course, by more blurry objects).

Fascinating.