A few weeks ago I commented on Google creating internal software to predict which employees were a flight risk. Another article published by the WSJ June 18 talks about organizational changes Google is making to keep new product ideas from escaping to Start-Up-Land.

Perhaps what is most interesting about Google’s recent press is its singular focus on internal talent and retention issues. Meanwhile, news of Google’s most interesting product release–Google Wave–is relegated to the backwaters of YouTube. This is a company that sees their biggest challenges ahead as people issues….not technology issues, not government issues, not economic issues.

Go figure: one of the biggest/fastest growth stories in American business history suggests that attracting and retaining talent is the most critical factor in their strategy.