It was the third and the last day of IIM Ahmedabad’s flagship annual event – Confluence 2009, and the speaker was Shailesh Rao, Managing Director of Google India.

The auditorium was of course packed. And the outside scene was also worth noticing. There were queues of youths wanting to get into the auditorium. A wide screen live telecast facility was set up outside the auditorium, but all the chairs were well occupied there too even before the session.

23-year old Saumil was one of the youths standing in a queue to attend Google India MD’s speech. Saumil said, “Google is part of my life. It’s a dream company where one would like to work. I am here to listen, what a man from Google itself says about his company.”

Pooja, another follower of ‘Google cult’ said, “Google has changed our lives. Anyone who has access to internet can not think a life without Google. I am one such netizen.”

In a packed auditorium Google India MD Shailesh Rao’s speech started with a small video that said – It took just four years for the internet to reach the amount of people that were reached by Radio in 38 years and TV in 13 years.

Rao started his speech on optimistic note – “I am in a company of Computer scientists and as computer scientists we look at the numbers, we look at the data and come to dispassionate conclusions. And dispassionate conclusion is that, the success and leadership of India is inevitable. What we have to doubt about is its trajectory. What is at stake is trajectory. The end state is inevitable, it may take whatever years. Tell me a problem that doesn’t exist in India, find me a challenge that doesn’t exist in India. The diversity of religion, the diversity of socio-economic background, the diversity of economic layers, geography, weather, India is micro version of the world. Those people who can solve the problems of India can solve the problems of the world. You are carrying mental of the world. You are privileged class of people.”

Rao said the new world is complex, digital, it allows level playing field, consumer has power in this new world, and the new world is volatile. “This is the world you have to run”.

For lots of MBA students dreaming to join Google in future, Rao delivered some tips “It’s not just about unfortunately exam score. What you learn at MBA school is of course important. But it is just basic. In addition to that what kind of person you are is important to us. We look at four dimensions when we hire a person at Google: 1. General public capability, 2. role related knowledge, 3. leadership and 4. what we call Googliness. This Googliness is the hardest one. I can find plenty of brilliant people with world related knowledge who are leaders. But the people with Googliness are those who culturally are not destructive but constructive. And that’s the most difficult thing to do.”

“Larry Page, co-founder of Google Inc. reviews and approve every single person we hire in the world,” added Rao.

“At Google, 70 percent employees focus on core job(Adsense and Search Engine), 20 percent are active in innovation and 10 percent employees can do anything. We work in groups at Google. One group consists six people.”

“The era of singular iconic leader has gone. A decision taken by group is always better than a single great person making decision. Leader is never greater than a group of some people. Group discussions yield better results. In Google, decisions are taken at grass root – bottom level, in a group and than they go upwards.”

“The operating mantras are changed in new era: Ideas are more important than resource, Innovation is more important than efficiency and cost, Focus is more important than diversification, earned authority is more important than titles, lean teams are better than large teams, speed is more important than accuracy, organic adaptability is more important than planning and process, data is more important than gut or intuition and appetite for risk is more important than skills & experience.”

In the end, Rao showed a Youtube video ‘Indian Taxi Driver’. In this video, a taxi driver Devesh Mishra of Varanasi offers his taxi, guiding and escorting service to the world. Through this video, Rao successfully proved his point that fruits of Google, Youtube and other cutting edge technology tools are actually reaching last mile. “We watched this video and its comments, and called this taxi driver and we were happy to know that his video really worked. He got business through it, and amusing part of the story is that uploading video on Youtube is absolutely free,” said Rao leaving impressed and cheerful audience.

“But what is Googliness? Do I have it? Can I cultivate it?” were the questions that ruled discussions in campus after Confluence 2009 ended in the evening.

And one answer could be “Google it.”