With the announcement of Facebook picking up another Google employee, one has to begin to ask the question if Facebook is selecting these candidates just based on admiration for the company. I am sure that all those hired from Google are qualified for the positions they received with Facebook, but the latest announcement is that Facebook has nearly 20 Google employees. From a team building standpoint this sends up a big red flag. The goal on building any business team is diversity. The diversity of a team ensures that no decisions will go unchallenged and thus unrefined. There have been countless occurrences of companies picking up too many similar personalities, losing focus on their audience, and then eventually losing market share.

Now, picking up employees from Google is not a bad idea don’t get me wrong, however there has to be some sort of limit. If I was to pick up 20 Yahoo employees to run my site they would have a tendency to direct the site in a similar direction as Yahoo. Each company has the tendency to hire similar personality types. It takes a good leader to know when there are too many similar employees already and to bring in a fresh perspective. After seeing Facebook’s hiring approach, I cannot help but question whether they have considered this basic team building principle. Not to mention the high cost that Facebook is paying to pick up these ex-Google employees. Is it wise or is it simply Facebook’s desire to be Google?