Google's top European salesman, Dennis Woodside, stepped in for New York-based sales chief Tim Armstrong after Armstrong left to become AOL's CEO. An anonymous Googler sent him this memo detailing the New York office's many problems:

Dennis,

The NYC Googlers in the Ad Sales department are grateful for your arrival. Wow, you could not have come sooner. The office was falling apart. Armstrong was running his many businesses and promoting the most incompetent early Googlers to high ranking positions. Please take note of a few problems.

* The vast majority of your team managers have NO direct advertising sales experience. Many come from agencies but those of us who have actually worked on the outside know that very few people successfully transition from agency to sales.
* What is the scoop with this HOI position? Are you kidding me? These people are quintessential middle management. Call in McKinsey amnd see what they think. Most HOIS with the exception of Dan Schock have never sold. Pavelko dresses terribly and has the single worst breath.
* What do the Vertical heads do? Have you ever heard some of them speak at conferences? So now you have the Vertical Head and the HOI and the team Manager....
* Let's discuss the team managers again. Are you kidding? Do you see the problem?
* Now you have gone and taken your BEST salespeople and put them on a display team. Have you heard how they have been treated? They actually no how to build relationshipss, sell and entertain but they are now overwhelmed by middle managers. What happened to the good old days of risk taking. Now it is death by meeting with spread sheets and bs.
* Please fix this mess sire. Please.
* BTW, what is with the stuttering Castelli. He was the Publisher at 3rd tier magazines but now he is heading the east coast? Have you heard him speak?He cannot get a word out. He has no visibility and barely understands the products. Have him take you through a deep dive.
* Agency? Are you kidding me? Do you see the problems? How many Ivy educated people does it take to call a customer? Trust me, customers are annoyed. They are not getting service they deserve. OSO is pathetic and GMS has not a clue. Every other major company has salespeople who know how to call the agency and customer. At Google, we discuss it first.

HELP us little man.

NYC