Google is falling behind because at a certain point, employees will look at the tenuous connection between the company's overall success and their individual success, and make the rational choice to prioritize the latter even if it is not aligned with the former. That means finding any and all justifications for additional headcount, not collaborating across teams, making decisions based exclusively on short term considerations, etc. In short, doing whatever it takes to get promoted. Why would anyone take a risky bet on a low probability high upside project?

Eric was an EM -> VP at Sun back in the day, so he knows exactly how that shit works.