Reuters
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Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the cofounders of Google, went to Burning Man with Eric Schmidt nearly two decades ago to see if he had what it takes to become CEO.
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Schmidt landed the job because he proved he could cut loose at Black Rock Desert, where Burning Man is held.
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Specifically, Brin and Page wanted to see that Schmidt could achieve a "group flow state," to get the best work out of their employees.
It's no secret that Burning Man is a stomping ground for tech moguls. The counterculture festival draws rich people and naked hippies under the shared assumption that the future is what you make it.
In his book, "Stealing Fire," author and performance expert Steven Kotler explains how the founders of Google — Larry Page and Sergey Brin — found their CEO at Burning Man nearly two decades ago.
Eric Schmidt joined Google in 2001 as chief executive and served in that position until 2011, when he transitioned to become executive chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet. He stepped down from that role last year and continues to serve on Alphabet's board.
Page and Brin were proud "burners"
Page and Brin were the quintessential "burners."
"From the very beginning, Larry and Sergey have been kind of rabid attendees. The center atrium at Google for years was decorated with pictures of Googlers at Burning Man, spinning fire, doing various things," Kotler, author of "Stealing Fire," told Business Insider.
Part of what appealed to the duo about Burning Man was the sense of community at its core.
"So one of the things that happens at Burning Man — and there's recent research out of Oxford that sort of backs this up — is that Burning Man alters consciousness in a very particular way and it drops people into a state of group flow," Kotler said.
"Flow is a peak-performance state," he continued. "It's an individual performing at their peak. Group flow is simply a team performing at their peak, and everybody has some familiarity with this."
"If you've ever taken part in a great brainstorming session, where ideas are kind of bouncing everywhere — you're really reaching ripe, smart conclusions. If you've seen a fourth-quarter comeback in football. ... That's group flow in action," Kotler said.
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According to Kotler, Google relies on creating group-flow states to get the best work out of their employees.
In 1999, Page and Brin raised $12.5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a top VC firm in Silicon Valley. As part of the deal, they promised the firm they would hire an outsider to replace Page as CEO — a common play to provide "adult supervision" to young founders.