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As Indian-born Sundar Pichai takes over Google, what his rise should tell us

14 Aug 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

When an Indian is appointed to head the world’s most widely used tech company, it makes those of us who count a common Asian heritage, ask ourselves if there are lessons to be learnt from his rise to the top. And as always, there are insights indeed.

Sundar Pichai had a childhood that is still the norm for most Asian households. Although lack of TV is no longer a feature, the rest of it is still pretty much the same standard. His whole family used to pile on to the father’s scooter for a ride to town. His parents sacrificed a lot and withdrew family savings to send him to university in America. In 1993, then at Stanford, he wanted to buy a backpack but found it was too expensive and settled for a second-hand one later on; an upbringing that rings a bell for most South Asians still.

Pichai was planning on an academic career and was getting ready for a PhD at Stanford but dropped out to work as an Engineer and Product Manager at Applied Materials, a Silicon Valley semiconductor maker. His parents were worried but following an MBA from the Wharton School of Business in 2002 and a brief time spent at McKinsey as a Consultant, Pichai arrived at the Googleplex on April 1, 2004, the day Google launched Gmail, which Pichai thought was one of its famous April Fools’ pranks.

But clearly, what helped Pichai reach the top was the way his feet were - planted firmly on ground. Pichai was almost an extension of everything Larry Page had come to personify; Page said sometimes Pichai said what Page himself would have said - only Pichai said it better. The Google founder says that it was truly enjoyable to work with his successor, an obvious reference to why and how Pichai came to be announced for the top slot.
As in the case with most Indian-born CEOs who end up heading US-based global companies, a formula of hard work, commitment and sustained interest in upping the game by raising stakes, is often behind each meteoritic rise. A constant reference to innovation has also been identified as a key streak. Pichai, like others before him, has displayed a continuous commitment to managing the change and the company’s response to it in a way that not just makes sense but makes brilliant sense.

The nice guy

If Asian talent can go that far, then it naturally means that there’s wide scope for Sri Lankans too. We have had our own Silicon Valley pioneers but there’s a lot more potential for home-bred Pichais whose talent and capacity may yet go unnoticed. The key word is to continue to do what you do even better so that your moment to shine will also dawn.

Pichai is credited with Google’s enormously successful Chrome browser. Not to mention the manner in which Chrome has grown under his guidance. Today, Chrome is the world’s leading search engine.

Pichai is also praised for his people skills – in a field that can easily become a bounce off for egos, Pichai has managed to remain the nice guy, which goes a long way when you are a contender for the top post. Pichai is credited with recruiting, mentoring and investing in people, which mattered considerably. He was not scared of nurturing talented people; some leaders fear this secretly, assuming that the very nurtured talent may outshine the leader for the top slot someday.

In an age when people lose their heads and their bearings over lesser appointments, Sundar Pichai’s rise to the top is not only to be emulated but also admired – and the way he has managed to stay connected to the ground despite the applaud further enhances Larry Page’s choice of the next CEO.

There are many lessons to be learnt from Pichai’s rise for the ladies too – if it can be achieved by a talented and courageous Indian boy from Chennai, it can be achieved by someone equally talented but undiscovered from Colombo, Galle, Moneragala or Trincomalee. Today, the world is so wired that talent does not need to travel physically to shine, we overcame that hurdle long time ago. Today, the world is your oyster indeed – and if you are brilliantly talented, you can always find your moment in the sun.

It isn’t easy to occupy the top slot with the world’s foremost tech giant – in an industry in which everything changes faster than anticipated; one step ahead of competition must come as a part of the deal. Navigating the journey and ensuring that what is at the top stays at the top is no easy game. Yet, for Pichai, the laid back tech guy who is more boy next door it seems than the high-powered CEO, it can be safely assumed that he will take it in his stride.

(Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at [email protected])

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As Indian-born Sundar Pichai takes over Google, what his rise should tell us

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