The new CEO of Google is the latest amongst a growing
number of Indian-Americans at the helm of some of America’s
most iconic companies. Sure, Pichai’s rise is a tribute to the meritocratic
culture of Silicon Valley, but what are the qualities and circumstances that propelled him
to the top?
Sundar Pichai’s meteoric rise in Silicon Valley at
one of the world’s most powerful technology companies
shows that the American Dream is alive and
well. There is nothing accidental about the anointment
of quietly driven 43-year-old Pichai as Google CEO.
Google Chrome—the engine that powered Pichai’s
meteoric rise
The soft-spoken middle manager emerged as a
clear No. 2 to Google co-founder Larry Page with the
launch of the Chrome browser in 2008, which blazed
past Internet Explorer and Firefox to become today’s
dominant browser.
Chrome’s success paved the way for a series of
related strategically important products including
Chrome OS, Chromebooks, and Chromecast.
“It became the engine that powered Pichai through
one of the fastest corporate ascents in the technology
industry,” said Fortune.
Since he joined Google in 2004, Pichai has grown
his product fiefdom to include Chrome OS, Android,
search, Google Drive, Maps, apps, Ads and more.
Google watchers say that Pichai, who is well-liked and
respected by his colleagues, has already been playing a
hands-on role in the company’s everyday operations.
“In essence, Pichai was given keys to the $444 billion
car he was already driving,” noted USA Today as
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin handed
Google’s reins to Pichai on August 10.
The market endorsed the restructuring of Google,
creation of Alphabet, and Pichai’s elevation by sending
Google shares up by six percent in trading following
the regulatory filing.
The secrets behind Indian leadership talent
Pichai is the latest Indian-born executive to reach
the top ranks, where he joins Microsoft CEO Satya
Nadella, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, MasterCard CEO
Ajay Banga, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri, SoftBank Corp.
CEO Nikesh Arora, SanDisk CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, and
Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen, among others.
Clearly, a generation of Indians have benefited
from upbringings in a people-centric culture that
puts a store on humility, modesty, close-knit family
ties, and diversity.
“Indian leaders view sustaining employee morale
and building company culture as critical. People
are viewed as assets to be developed, not costs to be
reduced, and as sources of creative ideas,” said Michael
Useem, Professor of Management and Director
of the Center for Leadership and Change at the
Wharton School.
Useem, who has co-authored the book, The India
Way, says Indian CEOs are generally more adaptable,
flexible, and resilient. They have grown up dealing with
adversity, unpredictability, and scarce infrastructure
whether we are talking about power outages or nightmare
traffic. A competitive drive emerges naturally in a
country with a billion people and limited opportunities.
“They have a personal steeliness and are unflappable,”
said Useem.
A new cross-cultural survey from Southern New
Hampshire University said Indian managers had
strong leadership traits. They are future-oriented, and
had a “paradoxical blend of genuine personal humility
and intense professional will,” the study said. “Indian
leaders achieved extraordinary results and built great
organizations without much hoopla.”
Diplomatic, collaborative, and likeable
Pichai scores very high on the likeability scale and
has the ability to make tough decisions without rubbing
people up the wrong way. The words colleagues
use most often to describe him are “affable” and
“nice guy.”
“He has integrity, intelligence, and a decency about
him,” quipped a colleague who worked closely with
him on building out Chrome.
Chris Beckmann, who was a project manager at
Google for several years, said Pichai was “incredibly talented and hardworking.”
“He avoided making enemies. Google has politics like any other large company, and Sundar navigated those politics to make his team successful while inflicting the least possible damage on any other team,” Beckmann said in a post on Quora.
According to people familiar with the matter, Pichai found himself at odds with Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android mobile operating system when Rubin’s team created its own Web browser, which it preferred to Chrome built by Pichai’s team. However,
Pichai avoided getting into a skirmish with Rubin
and just let the situation blow over. In 2013, Google made Pichai Rubin’s successor as head of Android.
“Pichai is collaborative and diplomatic. These are useful traits in keeping internal conflicts in check within Google as growing teams step on each other’s toes,” said a Google engineer, who didn’t want to be named.
Building great teams
We all know that great teams whether composed of super athletes or business people have an intense, shared passion to achieve a specific goal. According to colleagues, Pichai excels in getting the team passionate about the mission. Apparently he is generous about giving full credit to his team which no doubt adds to his likeability quotient.
“He recruited, mentored, and retained a great team. Sundar’s team of product managers had a reputation as being among the best of the best, similar to the reputation of the software engineers within Search Quality,” Beckman wrote in Quora.
Yet another testament to IIT
Indian American corporate leaders are products of an investment in higher education. A lot of them coming of age in the executive suite in America are educated at one of two legendary institutions founded in the 1950s and 1960s, the now seven-city Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the six-member Indian Institutes of Management (IIM).
Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi is educated at IIM Calcutta while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella studied at the Manipal Institute of Technology. Pichai, who was born in Chennai, comes from the same IIT as Arun Sarin, the former CEO of Vodafone Group.
Pichai was born in Chennai and had a humble upbringing. His family didn’t own a car or television and lived in a small two-room apartment with a number of family members. As a result, Pichai didn’t have a bedroom and slept on a mattress with his younger brother in the living room floor.
Bookish and quiet, Pichai studied metallurgical engineering in the Indian Institute of Technology, in Kharagpur. He obtained a Master of Science degree from Stanford University and even toyed with the idea of following it up with a PhD to be able to join academe and become a professor.
“He won a scholarship to Stanford University to study materials science and semiconductor physics. The plane ticket to America reportedly cost more than his father’s annual salary,” reported The Telegraph.
Early signs of brilliance
However, after obtaining a Master of Science degree from Stanford University, Pichai veered towards
an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Ivy League Wharton School of Business.
At Wharton, Pichai was honored both as a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar. Deans of 27 top-ranking schools in the U.S. and four other countries handpick Siebel Scholars on the basis of outstanding academic performance and leadership to receive a $35,000 award.
In America we have the rise of a Henry Ford, from farm boy mechanic to world business tycoon. It’s a reflection of the spirit of America and the meritocratic culture of Silicon Valley that by 2012, nearly 16 percent of start-ups had an Indian founder even though
Indians make up barely 6 percent of the Valley’s
population. It is also a nod to the meritocracy in
Google and Microsoft that Pichai and Nadella have reached the top positions.
Uttara Choudhury is editor, North America for TV 18’s
Firstpost news site, contributor to Forbes India and consulting editor for Braingain Magazine.