There’s a joke about Larry Page that’s been making the rounds at Google X, the “moon shot” factory where Google is developing self-driving cars, high-altitude wind turbines, and a fleet of stratospheric balloons to blanket the world with Internet access: A brainiac who works in the lab walks into Page’s office one day wielding his latest world-changing invention—a time machine. As the scientist reaches for the power cord to begin a demo, Page fires off a dismissive question: “Why do you need to plug it in?”
It’s a tall tale that is repeated affectionately by the whizzes inside the futuristic lab because it captures the urgency and aspiration of their boss to move technology forward. The Google CEO is the kind of guy who thinks the improbable is a given and the seemingly impossible is likely. He’s not one or two steps ahead of his engineers and research scientists; he often seems to inhabit an alternate universe, where the future has already happened. When the leader of the Internet balloons project posited that if all went well, Google GOOG -3.67% might be able increase the Internet’s total bandwidth by 5%, Page asked why they couldn’t double or triple the global network’s capacity. “He wanted to make sure there was a moon shot after the moon shot,” says Astro Teller, who heads Google X. “Reminding us that his ambitions are this high,” Teller says, raising his hand well above his head, “helps people aspire to more.”
Andy Conrad, who leads the lab’s newest futuristic project—ingestible nanoparticles that would monitor people for diseases—says discussing ideas with Page is a singular experience: “You feel terrified, inspired, and nurtured at the same time.” If setting high expectations and challenging employees to meet them is a time-honored management tradition, then Page has taken the approach to another level altogether.