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In the words of Eugene McCarthy, “The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.” Having served in the military and worked for the federal government, Ben Renda is very familiar with how bureaucracies can create inefficiencies and inaction.
Ben is the Chief Operating Officer of Google Fi, a new kind of cell phone service that automatically switches between multiple networks to give you the best service in over 200 countries worldwide.
Prior to working for Google, Ben spent over a decade serving in the military, where he identified a number of pain points for integrating new technology into the armed forces. Now, Ben serves as a bridge between Washington and Silicon Valley – taking what he’s learned from both worlds to help the other function better.
In this interview, Ben, Chad, and Ian discuss how to overcome issues of bureaucracy, the lessons Ben learned from his time in the military, and how to build a team you can rely on.
Heads up! Google Fi is hiring a Director of Marketing right now. Apply here!
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Quotes by Ben Renda:
10:38 – “I always liked the duality of different things.”
20:46 – [At Google Fi]- “We do consider ourselves, truly, a scrappy startup inside of a bigger ecosystem.”
24:09 – “One of the things I think is cool about Google is that everybody knows the mission. I just find that unique and that reminds me of the same ethos of the military where everybody is working for the unit.”
26:53 – [On Google culture]- “In general, we look for basically a smart, general intellectual athlete that’s a good team player and can exhibit leadership when you need to.”
31:30 – “We do have the most amazing military in the world but the way we procure technology makes a lot of sense for certain things and for other things it just doesn’t make as much sense. So that’s where DUIx really tried to fill the gap.”
33:10 – [On culture in the military]- “People aren’t incentivized to take risks outside of the operation context. I think that is one of the greatest challenges, how do you reward intelligent risk-taking in the military?”
54:07 – “One of my favorite interview questions is, ‘when have you taken one for the team? When have you paid a personal price, either in reputation or something else, to make sure the team actually won?'”
