A leap into the light

We've just had our first strategy meeting at Alphabet, gathering together the management team to review where we are relative to our initial plans at the beginning of the year, where we think we're headed over the next 18 months, and what resources and processes we need to put in place in order for us to get there.

Held in the highly-recommended Changi Village Hotel, we spent a full day racing through a pretty optimistic agenda. We discussed new business units, new office locations, potential new hires, core values, organisational structure - honed our eye-hand coordination with the soft rugby ball, did a few star-jumps, broke some furniture (pictured).

The discussion was great, and I expect the outcomes to substantially improve the way we do business as a company. But taking a step back from the nitty-gritty of the agenda, the meeting itself was was actually a pretty important moment in the life of Alphabet.

Bearing in mind we double in size every year, and expect to triple this year, we're always pushed for time as we struggle to support our growth. Yet growth notwithstanding, thanks to the quality in depth throughout the company, our management team - the Strategy Team - had the ability to step away from our desks for a day to take stock and plan for the future in a systematic way.

There's no turning away from this collegiate management approach, which for someone with my authoritarian tendencies is a bit of a leap in the dark. But for the company as a whole, and all the people who call it home from Monday to Friday, this can be pinpointed as a moment when the company grew up.

Of course such was our excitement on concluding this marathon first meeting, we decamped afterwards to Charlie's Corner, drank rather a lot of expensive imported beers and ciders, and ended up leaving the extensive notes to our inaugural meeting behind as we later staggered off home*. It wouldn't have been Alphabet any other way!

*Leaving the strategy notes behind was techically my fault, though I blame the poor lighting at Charlie's, as well as the very tasty, and rather strong Herefordshire scrumpy they serve. We retrieved the meeting notes the next day, so there was a happy ending as usual.

[Pictured above: J2, Dan & lucky English rugby ball, Patrick & lucky German beard, Dawn. Pictured below: A Cornishman, an Essex man, a Singaporean, a Yank, a German, and a beard. Not even the sub-prime crisis can stop us now!]