A first-generation immigrant rising to the top of the leading global technology company Google is testament to the equal opportunity existing in the United States. Sundarrajan Pichai is another shining light pointing to the success of merit that is anathema to Indian businesses, including in the sunrise IT sector. India’s convoluted social structure is to blame for the prevailing situation in which the best brains find platforms abroad even after nearly 70 years of affirmative action.
Pichai owes his success to simple things in making Google products like the Chrome browser and Android operating platform easier to use and, consequently, more popular around the world. He appeals to the business side of Google as well as its engineers. It is remarkable that Pichai should have risen in just 11 years to head an innovative IT leader solely dependent on ideas as opposed to the nuts and bolts of manufacturing.
Pichai is the well-grounded fulcrum of practical operations in the real IT world that pays most attention to the bottomline although the elite institutions of learning he attended, like Stanford and Wharton, should have given ample hints as they are uniquely positioned to help shape talent. What Pichai’s elevation in a slimmed-down Google means is the tech world of today will have to attune itself to user needs rather than just play valuation games. The fact that Wall Street acknowledged Pichai’s appointment indicates the importance of numbers in user base pointing to how things work. Google’s strategy in freeing up dreaming space for Messrs Page and Brin while Pichai runs the “search” engine makes perfect sense.
