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<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Google</p></div>There's been a big shakeup at Google, and we're still fathoming its implications. But one thing is clear: Change at the top means new opportunities for rising talent.</p>
<p>Two top executives who reported to CEO Larry Page—Jeff Huber, head of Google's Geo and Commerce group, and Android founder Andy Rubin—are on to new, unspecified assignments, with other leaders taking over their business units.</p>
<p>That means Page's team will be busier than ever—and their lieutenants will have more opportunities than ever.</p>
<p>It's a good thing Google keeps coming up with new challenges. Some of Google's up-and-comers, while not big names outside the company, have hit the radar of competitors. In the past, Google has fought fiercely to keep its best talent, but some have been lured away. So don't be surprised if you see these people in new, bigger jobs soon—inside or outside Google.</p>

Meet Google's Next Generation Of Superstar Executives

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Google on Tuesday rolled out its new Pixel smartphone - and one of its big selling points is that it comes with "Google Assistant" built in. Assistant is Google's answer to Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortona.</p><p>But during the live demo by product manager <span><span>Brian Rakowski, </span></span>the Assistant made one of those mistakes that drives everyone crazy. </p><p>He was sending a text to his wife, Lisa, via voice command and he wanted it to say, "Want to go see the Lumineers in Berkeley on Friday"</p><p>But Assistant made a typo, saying "<strong>Went</strong> to go see the Lumineers on Berkeley on Friday." That typo changed the whole meaning of the text. It basically said he went to see a concert without her. </p><p>Now, to be fair, Google Assistant did ask him to check the text and approve it before he sent it. And it seems that Lisa didn't notice the mistake. She seemed to understand it was an invitation and she also suggested a place for dinner. The Assistent was able to understand her reply and able to link to OpenTable so Rakowski could make a reservation.</p><p>But, had this been a real life thing, that mistake might not have turned out so well. The wife might have replied: "So that's where you were on Friday night? You said you were working late. And you tell me in a text?!" And you can imagine how the rest of the conversation might go ...</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/toyota-kirobo-mini-robot-baby-lonely-people-2016-10"> Toyota created a $392 baby robot to help comfort people in Japan without children</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="prMDU5NjE6QjL0MpK1cAq1fKAv4bqry5" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Google's live demo shows why everyone is still frustrated with voice commands

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Molly Mackinlay" title_caption="Molly Mackinlay, Google APM " class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53d90b09ecad043c4c1ab52d-960/molly-mackinlay.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Molly Mackinlay</span></p><p class="caption">Molly Mackinlay, Google APM </p></div><p></p></div></div>Since Marissa Mayer started <a href="https://plus.google.com/+GoogleStudents/posts/SnhG5CedwBA" target="_blank">Google's Associate Product Manager program </a>- dubbed APM for short - more than a decade ago, it has swelled into one of company's most elite entry-level positions, churning out stars like product management VP <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/brian-rakowski/2b/483/45a" target="_blank">Brian Rakowski</a>, who now runs the program, and former Facebook CTO and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/quip-launches-new-features-2013-11" target="_blank">Quip founder Bret Taylor</a>. </p>
<p>Back in 2002, the company was hiring droves of new engineers, and needed to fill product manager positions fast, but experienced people from other big tech companies were used to a top-down command structure that didn't fit in well at Google.</p>
<p>Mayer started the two-year rotational training program to home-grow managers who would be more "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-meanings-of-googliness-2013-8" target="_blank">Googley</a>." The program has since become rather legendary, and former Google CEO <a href="http://www.amazon.com/In-The-Plex-Google-Thinks/dp/1455875724" target="_blank">Eric Schmidt told Steven Levy</a> he expects an APM alumni to run the company someday.   </p>
<p>The program targets freshly graduated computer science majors in particular: "We're going to throw them in over their heads, and give them a lot of responsibility," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyvd9fyXpDM" target="_blank">Mayer has said about the program</a>. </p>
<p>Mayer may no longer be running the program, but its ethos remains. </p>
<p>"APMing is a crazy and busy and wonderful and stressful job," Molly Mackinlay, a current APM recruit, told Business Insider. "<span id="docs-internal-guid-ae2b0a87-837f-db36-a2a0-ecded67f7587">You're trying to keep your head over water and trying to make sure you're doing the best you can at what you're working on."</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Google</span></p><p class="caption">Mackinlay during the APM trip</p></div><p></p></div></div>Mackinlay first came to Google as a software engineering intern after her sophomore year at Stanford. She was hacking away on Google's <a href="https://plus.google.com/authorship" target="_blank">authorship initiative</a>, but found her favorite part of the process was the design.</p>
<p>She applied to be a Google APM intern, and the following summer, she landed a spot in Google's Zurich office. She got a full-time APM position when she graduated.</p>
<p>The program has a weighty legacy, but she says she's too busy and excited to focus on the pressure. </p>
<p>The first year of the program, the APMs don't get to choose which project they work on. The idea is that Google will place each person in a situation that they might not have picked, but that will help them grow.</p>
<p>Mackinlay landed on the Google Chrome team. She says it was exciting to jump on a project and have her engineering teammates relying on her. Since Google APMs are recent grads without preconceptions about how product management usually works, all of her experience came directly from learning how to do the best job possible in the Google environment. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"The way that Google sees product managers is that they're the people who do what needs to be done, no matter what it is," Mackinlay says. "They fill gaps. They're shape shifters. They can take on any role that needs to be taken, and juggle them in a way that makes the team work like clockwork, even if it's missing about 16 different gears."</p>
<p dir="ltr"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Google </span></p><p class="caption">Google APMs on their international tour. </p></div><p></p></div></div>When Business Insider talked to Mackinlay, she had just finished the APM program's <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/google-goes-globe-trotting-96341" target="_blank">traditional, two-week international trip</a>, which spanned four countries, including Germany and Japan. The goal of the whirlwind excursion, which was led by Mayer before she went to Yahoo, is to let the 30-odd APMs see first-hand how people are using technology in different parts of the world. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Mackinlay said the experience made her realize that internationalizing Google's products is about so much more than just translating everything into a different language. </p>
<p dir="ltr">To optimize a service or feature to someone in a different country, you have to sit down with real users, push aside past ideas of user research, and figure out what they really need, Mackinlay says. For example, when you're designing a product for people who type in characters, a visual search might make more sense.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"The trip was probably one of the most valuable things I've done in the past six months, as far as making me better at my job," she says. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Part of that value was added by the good company she was in. Mackinlay says her brilliant, interesting, and funny peers blew her away and impressed her every single day. Unsurprising, given that only the highest-caliber candidates get selected for the competitive APM program. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Because she's passionate about education, Mackinlay was gunning for a role <a href="https://www.google.com/edu/training/tools/" target="_blank">with its classroom team</a>. There were no spots open, but her excitement was so apparent she was given a trial project to work on. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"<span id="docs-internal-guid-b208cd21-88cb-8d32-ee48-8406fdf2b628">I was working on their project at night and [the Chrome] project during the day and trying to organize <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-io-live-blog-2014-6" target="_blank">Google I/O</a> during lunch breaks," she laughs. The hard work paid off: In August, she'll be moving to New York City to work with the Google Education team.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr">Ultimately, Mackinlay's dedication is part of what makes her so "Googley." She says whenever she writes interview feedback for the company, she has to talk about what makes her subject Googley. To answer, she tries to think about whether that person would have something they could talk passionately about to someone next to them at the lunch table for 30 minutes. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"<span id="docs-internal-guid-b208cd21-88ea-5b9f-5efc-dda901f6846c">It's figuring out what that person is going to add to the Google community, what makes them come alive," she says. </span>"Being really good at juggling, or having a big collection of board games, or really enjoying playing a sport or hacking on fun projects. If they're super pumped about it, whatever it is, that's what I would say makes someone Googley. Passion. It's intellectual vitality to use the college admissions words."</p>

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