Thankfully, this paragraph isn’t framed as a need for (top-down) “culture change”, as is often the case in similar discussions. Supporting a culture is a radically different thing from forcing a change. To my mind, it’s way more likely to succeed (and, clearly, it’s much more empowering). But “decision-makers” may also interpret active support as weaker than the kind of implementation they know. It’s probably a case where a “Chief Culture Officer” can have a key role, in helping others expand their understanding of how culture works. Step 1 is acknowledging that culture change isn’t like a stepwise program.

Her name is Stacy Savides Sullivan. She was already Google’s HR director by the time the CCO title was added to her position, in 2006. Somewhat surprising that Sullivan’d disagree with Teller, given her alleged role:

Part of her job is to protect key parts of Google’s scrappy, open-source cultural core as the company has evolved into a massive multinational.

And her own description:

"I work with employees around the world to figure out ways to maintain and enhance and develop our culture and how to keep the core values we had in the very beginning–a flat organization, a lack of hierarchy, a collaborative environment–to keep these as we continue to grow and spread them and filtrate them into our new offices around the world.

Though “failure bonuses” may sound a bit far-fetched in the abstract, they do fit with most everything else we know about Googloids’ “corporate culture” (and the Silicon Valley Ideology (aka Silicon Valley Narrative), more generally).