'To Be, Or Not To Be': Billionaire Richard Branson Reveals Shakespeare's Role In Google's Creation
Branson took to LinkedIn to share an interesting conversation he had with Google co-founder Sergey Brin when he asked him where he found the inspiration in his career.
Google is our go-to for all of life's doubts and questions. But, did you know that the search engine itself was an answer to a question? And, one asked by none other than the Bard himself a few centuries ago.
Recently, billionaire Richard Branson revealed that famed poet and author William Shakespeare played a significant role in the creation of Google.
Branson took to LinkedIn to share an interesting conversation he had with Google co-founder Sergey Brin when he asked him where he found the inspiration in his career. "I'll never forget when Google co-founder Sergey Brin told me that Shakespeare had no small part to play in the founding of one of the world's biggest companies," he wrote.
He continued, "'To be, or not to be, that is the question.' But Sergey became most interested in the answer. We were on a Virgin Voyages cruise when he enlightened me with this intel."
At that time 'Ask Jeeves' was the dominant search engine, but it had a problem. "Rather than searching for specific terms, people had to frame their queries as precisely worded questions. Jeeves, an old-fashioned butler (perhaps you remember him?), fetched the answers - not always effectively," Branson added.
Brin decided to search for 'To be or not to be'. Ask Jeeves struggled to provide an appropriate answer. This challenge became part of the inspiration for Sergey and Larry Page to create Google. They needed to come up with an algorithm that could cover all search terms, no matter how they were phrased. "'To be' was the choice Sergey took, which is always a good idea!" Branson noted.
He went on to reminisce about the time he was on stage with Larry and he mentioned how the billionaire had founded more than 400 companies, while he had only founded one. "Quick as a flash, I replied: 'I’ll swap!'"
Branson said in his post, "I'm not sure Shakespeare has ever been a source of inspiration for me. However, the process of turning a feeling of frustration into a business idea that no one has ever thought of never fails to put a spring in my step. What about you?"
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The billionaire's post quickly went viral. Check out the reactions from LinkedIn users:
One user commented, "For me, inspiration comes from a mix of sources: the beauty of nature, the trials of life, everyday interactions, and the challenges I encounter. I draw strength from certain people in my life who are living testament to resilience and perseverance. I still follow my dad’s advice: have a good cry, reflect, wash my face, and keep going. It's the process of overcoming obstacles and finding creative solutions that keeps me motivated."
Another user commented, "In the spaces between challenges – that's where the magic happens 🙃"
One more user commented, "Yes, I know this feeling very well. Unfortunately, I didn't yet arrive to make that idea happen on my own. I remember about 5 years ago when I was frustrated that for each tour or trekking through the mountains you needed the books. And you need to buy a new one every 5 years. Then I said to my boyfriend: Wouldn't it be much better to have all this information in one app? So you don't need to carry the book in your backpack and it's always up to date. Now we have this already created by the Swiss Alpine Club. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who had this idea."
