Adrian Blockus

Although you grew up in Hanover and studied there, your heart belongs to Hamburg. Now you have moved the focus of your life to London — how are you and your family coping with the change?
Although in one sense there is really only the English Channel separating Hamburg and London, in point of fact the differences are immense: This city is so massive and frenetic that you move around it with your stress level permanently raised — or at least, that’s how it has been so far. But what’s on offer here is also immensely attractive. By contrast, Hamburg is rather tranquil.

Do you have a long commute?
From our flat to the Google office, which is located fairly centrally in Soho, it takes me under half an hour on the tube. It’s very convenient.

And are the property prices really as astronomical as they say?
Worse. We are paying around 50 percent more than in Hamburg, and have only half the quality of housing. Where we would associate the term “old building” with well-maintained stucco ceilings and parquet floors, in England that expression simply means a building whose fabric is in poor condition. At the moment, we have tradesmen in doing work almost daily.

It’s a fair point, but those higher expenditures are probably offset by a correspondingly adjusted salary.

Of course — I wouldn’t have made the move if it had left me worse off financially. But that wasn’t the decisive factor for me. I had the opportunity to make my next career move and to gain experience of working abroad. At the moment I still feel young enough to make that move, but I didn’t want to wait for it much longer.

As an electrical engineer, how did you get into consultancy work in the first place and progress to the role you have now?
I need to offer a bit of explanation on that. I was always keen on engineering, but during my university studies I realized at some point that I wasn’t the kind of inventor who would be happy later on working in development at Daimler or Bosch, for instance. That’s why, after completing my studies, I worked as a managing consultant in process and applications consultancy. After six years in that job, mainly supporting SAP implementation projects, I took the decision to enhance my qualifications with an MBA course in Cambridge — and to boost my business management competence as a result.

And after that you started at Booz & Company, the forerunner of Strategy&?
Exactly. That was as an engagement manager, based in Berlin. In my four years there, I specialized in commercial due diligence, value-added strategies, and transformation programs for telecommunications and technology companies. I supported clients in New York, Moscow, Riyadh, and Copenhagen. In doing so, my own personal and professional development curve was a very steep one — which is just how things are, in corporate consulting. Then the offer from Google came along. And although the company naturally has massive appeal (in competitor rankings, Google regularly fills one of the leading spots), I went there more out of a curiosity that piqued my interest, rather than being fully committed to the selection procedure. But right in the middle of this process, the news breaks that my wife is pregnant and we are going to be parents. That changed a few things for me. I was convinced that you could combine family life better with a post in a major company than the changeable, hectic professional life of a consultant. For that reason, I then gave [Google] my all in the selection procedure and, luckily, I was appointed.

What was the post you were applying for?
Strategic partner developer in a global marketing team. My task in the last four years has been to further expand marketing of Google products like AdWords in the SME segment, by developing strong cooperations with selected partners and resellers such as publishing companies or telecom companies. Accordingly, I identified new strategic partnership opportunities for Google and have advised potentials in such a way that they are able to establish and scale their business successfully.

What does that mean, in practical terms?
To give you a simple example: Imagine someone using the Google search engine to look for a hairdresser in their area. In that case, you have the opportunity of putting yourself and your shop at the top of the results list, via an advert. However, on our marketing side we cannot be servicing every small customer, which is why we work together with resellers like 1&1 or the Gelbe Seiten/Yellow Pages.

And what does your new role in London look like?
I have a role as country manager, where I am responsible for partnership business in the U.K. and Ireland. For me, of course, that means a lot more internal team meetings and fewer meetings with our external partners.

What is working at Google like? Is it like a hip startup, or like a global corporate group?
That’s a good question. I would say it’s a hybrid of the two categories. Take dress code, for example. The rule here is: You have to wear something. And that’s a lived rule. Sometimes I have the thought that a certain outfit really could be a problem in other companies! On the other hand, there are bureaucratic guidelines that sometimes leave you simply shaking your head. But there’s no other way to manage a business with 80,000 employees. That said, the working environment is definitely very pleasant.

How should people imagine that environment?
I can get myself in shape working with a trainer in our in-house fitness studio — Google pays for that. I can grab a coffee and a bite to eat in one of our mini-kiosks, which, like the canteen meals, are free. I can even take a gaming “time out” with a colleague on the PlayStation, the snooker table, or the pinball machine. And to ensure that every employee knows that he [or she] is an important part of the Google empire, everyone has the chance to communicate directly with Larry Page and Sergey Brin via videoconference in the weekly TGIF (Thank God it’s Friday) Meeting.

Are you still in touch with Strategy&?
I am an active alumni member. I always look forward to receiving the newsletter, which I find highly informative, and I go regularly to alumni meetings, where there are always interesting people to meet.

Back to London again: Are you worried about terrorist attacks?
For myself personally, not at all. I am an optimistic person, and I am also pretty good at putting such things to the back of my mind. My wife does get a bit concerned, in her own way, if something major happens. Londoners themselves are very resilient, and they cover over a lot of things with their typical black humor.

Does that go for Brexit too?
Yes, somehow. Since at the moment it really is impossible to estimate what the impact will be, the attitude is simply to see what develops. I don’t anticipate any impact for Google and my workplace — the U.K. is highly advanced when it comes to digitization, and for us it is our second-biggest market after the United States.

Does the work leave you with time for hobbies? You are known to have taken part in the German Triathlon Championships in the past. How fit are you at the moment?
For the moment, the triathlon question has been put on ice. But I’m hoping to start running again shortly. We live right by a park, so the opportunity is there. And I don’t want to cut my ties with sailing entirely either; at least once a year, I take part in a regatta in Hamburg with friends.

So you are not burning your bridges with Germany entirely?
Definitely not. We are still assuming that at some point we will be returning to Germany. But for now, I am fully focused on my job at Google as a country manager.

This interview was conducted and condensed by Ulrich Erler.