• Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
  • Writers
  • Write For Us
  • Submit Article
No Result
View All Result

No products in the cart.

  • Login
  • Register
WomLEAD Magazine
Podcast
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • Business
  • HER Story
  • Founders & CEOs
  • Leadership
  • Mentoring
  • Women
  • Wellness
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • Business
  • HER Story
  • Founders & CEOs
  • Leadership
  • Mentoring
  • Women
  • Wellness
No Result
View All Result
WomLEAD Magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Business
How Ruth Porat Succeed To Get Google Financially Disciplined

How Ruth Porat Succeed To Get Google Financially Disciplined

How Ruth Porat Succeed To Get Google Financially Disciplined

How was Ruth able to build financial discipline in Google?

The Editorial Team by The Editorial Team
November 6, 2020
in Business
Reading Time: 5 mins read

Businesses perform better when you have diversity of view in your senior leadership positions. This is not just the right thing to do socially; it’s the right thing to do for your business. Ruth Porat

Ruth Porat made a name for herself as the CFO and Executive Vice President of Morgan Stanley. When it was time for her to move on to a new challenge, one thing she was clear about was that she didn’t want to be a CFO. But, when she had a conversation about becoming the CFO for Google she jumped on the idea. 

Google has been a great company and Ruth loved it enough to invest in it long before she took a job there. Market analysts were skeptical about her, but within a few years, she was able to build financial discipline in the company and build a roadmap for the future. Her efforts bore fruit and the rising stock price of the company is a testament to her achievements. 

How was Ruth able to build financial discipline in Google? She made some deliberate and sometimes uncomfortable choices. 

1 Choosing the Hard Road 

CEOs and CFOs have to keep an eye on the stock price of their companies. This is one of the most important measures of their performance that investors hold them accountable for.  

One of the ways of jacking up the stock price is by giving dividends. With $100 billion in cash, Ruth had as an easy route for Google. All she had to do was declare dividends, but she didn’t do that. She chose a hard road. 

Ruth decided to build financial discipline at Google. The company was doing too many things at that time and not every project was working. Ruth shutdown some of these projects and moved others into the “other bets” category.  

2 Investing for the Future 

Building financial discipline doesn’t mean just cost-cutting. A good CFO should also invest in the future to help grow the company. Ruth did that by hiring people to support and sell the Google Cloud business, which is the company’s entry into the enterprise computing industry.  

Some of the other businesses that Ruth focused on were the voice interface, autonomous vehicles, and the health sector.  Verily is a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which is focused on combining data analytics and clinical expertise to empower patients. The company is conducting research to understand how people get sick and it is building products like miniature glucose monitors. 

3 Being Bold With Changes 

Some of the changes that Ruth brought in Google were not popular among the employees. She even got the nickname Ruth-less for her actions. But, her undeterred work in the company eventually bore fruit and that earned her the nickname Ruth-full. 

Ruth had managers set business milestones, factor in the cost of employee stock options into their budgets, and she focused on return adjusted innovation. She was able to do this because of her core belief that every leader should invest for the long term.  

The financial crisis of 2008 was a fertile training ground for Ruth. She learned that when times are good, companies have to prepare and invest for the future. The two things that should come together for leaders to make this investment for the long term are ability and will. If you have the ability to invest when the economy is growing, you should also have the will to invest. 

4 Focusing On Data 

Ruth’s main objective at Google was to enable the partners to make the right decisions. She was able to do that by creating visibility for all the data that they had.  

Data were available to all the partners, but Ruth knew that her job was to convey the insights from the data and communicate that in a way that is easy to understand. With the right insights, the partners were able to prioritize their tasks and stack-rank all their activities. 

“Anchor everything in data and the rest will follow” – phrase at Alphabet and Google. 

Data, according to Ruth, should help you arrive at a decision. Analytics will help you to rank your objectives or the problems you want to solve. Numbers should tell you what the opportunities are, what’s the potential downside, and what the trade-offs are.  

5 Thinking Clearly- The Quark Test 

Ruth’s father taught himself physics while he was a soldier in the British army. When Ruth was just a little kid, her father used to tell her that if a physicist isn’t able to define a quark in less than 60 seconds then they do not know what they are talking about. 

ADVERTISEMENT

That clarity of thought on a subject is something that Ruth has used for years, including her time at Google. According to Ruth, if you are not able to explain what you are doing and why in 60 seconds it means that you are not thinking clearly. If you can’t explain what you are doing in numbers, you are not thinking clearly.  

6 Future of Google 

Google may not rely too much on the revenues it generates from its highly popular search engine in the future. Earlier this year, Ruth confirmed that the company has been investing heavily in the Cloud. While invests in search continues, Ruth is focused on building up revenues from other businesses to diversify the revenue streams of the company. 

Tags: disciplined your businessfinancial disciplinedGoogle financialRuth Porat
Share56Tweet35Share10
The Editorial Team

The Editorial Team

Hi there, we are the editorial team for WomELLE to help you succeed in business. WomELLE is a community working to support women by helping them achieve their business goals through specialty services, leadership, mentoring, and networking. The magazine "WomLEAD" is to help you succeed as an entrepreneur, business owner and leader.

Related Posts

5 Ways to Spend Your Business Money Wisely
Business

5 Ways to Spend Your Business Money Wisely

May 26, 2022
10 Business Lessons You Should Know by Age 40
Business

10 Business Lessons You Should Know by Age 40

May 25, 2022
3 Keys to a Successful Business
Business

3 Keys to a Successful Business

May 12, 2022
Next Post
Lessons learned from Jessica Alba - The Self Made Billion Dollar Company Owner

Lessons Learned from Jessica Alba

WomLEAD Magazine Third Anniversary WomELLE

WomLEAD Magazine Third Anniversary Celebration

How Twitter inspired Women in Tech

How Twitter Inspired Women in Tech

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

WomLEAD Magazine

A print and digital magazine for businesswomen focusing on leadership, business, and entrepreneurship that made its debut in 2017 has WomELLE Magazine.

Follow us on social media:

Recent News

  • Signs and Symptoms of Heart Attack in Women
  • 5 Ways to Spend Your Business Money Wisely
  • Covid-19 Pandemic Derails Women’s Path to Gender Equality

Category

  • Business
  • Female Founders
  • Founders & CEOs
  • HER Story
  • Leadership
  • Mentoring For Women
  • Wellness
  • Women Today

Recent News

Signs and Symptoms of Heart Attack in Women

Signs and Symptoms of Heart Attack in Women

May 27, 2022
5 Ways to Spend Your Business Money Wisely

5 Ways to Spend Your Business Money Wisely

May 26, 2022
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 2022 WomLEAD Magazine from WomELLE, Corp.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • Podcast
  • Business
  • Founders & CEOs
  • HER Story
  • Leadership
  • Mentoring
  • Wellness
  • Women Today

© 2022 WomLEAD Magazine from WomELLE, Corp.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
Join 3500+ businesswomen who are obsessed with success.
Get latest business updates & tips.
We also hate spam & junk emails. We will never spam you.
Subscribe
Don't Show me