Google HQ: "Toto, We're Not in Kansas Any More."

Morphing College Into Work... Live rock music, beach volleyball and endless lap pools. It's noon on Google's campus in Silicon Valley, and I'm headed for lunch with my friend Bob Shaver, Director of Global Facilities.

Here's the deal. Any service that you might need is available without leaving campus. Much of it for free. Starting with free meals at Charlie's Place (a huge food court). And moving on to the numerous "micro kitchens" for snacking, scattered throughout the four main buildings.

Need to do your laundry? Drop off your dry cleaning? Change the oil in your car? Wash your car? Get your hair cut? Visit a doctor or a dentist? Or just relax playing ping-pong, billiards or foosball? Don't move. It's all on Google's campus.

In fact, with bicycles in the lobby, whimsical cubicle decorations and dogs lying about, Google's offices feel like a college campus, complete with twenty-somethings hanging out in non-standard furniture identified with idiosyncratic signage. It's cool. (Employees call it "googley.")

But, of course, Google is deadly serious about pursuing its mission: "To make all the world's information universally accessible." That's CEO Eric Schmidt speaking last week on The Charlie Rose Show (June 3, 2005).

"Our culture is built around innovation. We do not have a long-term strategic plan, except to innovate better than anybody else. Our engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their time on non-Google work activities [What problem do you personally want to solve?]."

See how it all fits together? Organize around the simple principle of innovation. Provide great workplace freedom. Expect employees to perform exceptionally. And that's the business model that reverberates through Google's real estate.

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--Peter Pike