Google is considered synonymous with innovation. How do they create the conditions for people to do great work? It can’t simply be a result of this.

I saw Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google) talk on the Nature of Innovation. Excellent 3 min video.

It’s interesting that at Google, people do not sit in business units silos. The environment fosters innovation through cross team interaction.
What he said toward the end sums up quite well the conditions necessary for innovation.

“If people understand the values of the company, they should be able to self organize to work on the most interesting problems. And if they haven’t, or not able to do that then you haven’t talked to them about what’s important. You haven’t built a shared value culture.”