"As a leader, it’s my responsibility for the growth of others and society."
This week's quote is from the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google - Sundar Pichai
Pichai has been at Google since 2004, rising through the ranks to become the CEO in 2015, and eventually leading the entire company.
In addition to being the CEO of Google and Alphabet, he serves on Alphabet's Board of Directors. Under his leadership, Google has been flourishing by developing products and services, leveraging the latest advances in AI, that offer help in big and small moments.
In his initial days at Google, Pichai started working on Google's search toolbar. But in 2006, Microsoft created a "Doomsday" scenario for Google by making Bing the new default search engine on Internet Explorer, Pichai convinced the computer manufacturers to preinstall the Toolbar on their hardware to mitigate that effect.
That led to another big achievement for Pichai quite early in his days at Google - to convince the cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to make Google build its own browser. This resulted in Chrome now being the most used option by the users.
Pichai has always taken charge and naturally emerge as a leader. He was always very well-liked by his peers and seniors. Instead of standing out, he likes to focus more on the results. His “substance over overt style” attitude attracted attention at Google, and he started getting more responsibilities. Pichai then took over the Android division in 2013.
His success with Chrome, various other apps and Android led him to his next big promotion in late 2014 when Larry Page put him in charge of most of the company's product areas, including maps, search, ads, commerce and Google Plus. He essentially became Page’s second-in-command.
Instead of being a bossy non-approachable CEO, Pichai builds bridges, helping his team and co-workers learn, grow and cross barriers of self-doubt. He believes that as a leader, it is important to not just see your own success, but focus on the success of others and the society.
At DDSN we resonate with Pichai's thoughts and approach. In addition to helping your employees grow, we believe that as a tech company, it is of utmost importance that you leverage your skills and capabilities to help smaller businesses and society in general. With a huge increase in demand for technology, especially post COVID-19, it is our duty as good leaders to help businesses grow and succeed.
Today's Quote
Who is Sundar Pichai?
Sundar Pichai is an Indian-American business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Alphabet Inc. and its subsidiary Google.
Early on, Pichai had a talent for remembering numbers, which his family realised when he could recall every phone number he had ever dialled on their rotary phone. He will still sometimes show off his memorisation skills at meetings, Bloomberg reports.
After becoming interested in computers — the first software program he wrote was a chess game — Pichai studied metallurgical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. His success there won him a scholarship to Stanford University.
So he moved to the US and got an M.S. from Stanford University in materials science and engineering and further attained an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was named a Siebel Scholar and a Palmer Scholar, respectively.
He began his career as a materials engineer in McKinsey & Co. and shortly joined Google in 2004. He led the product management and innovation efforts for a suite of Google's client software products. His immense contributions led him to become the CEO of Google in 2015. In the same year, he was also appointed as the CEO of Alphabet Inc. Later in 2017, he was appointed to the Alphabet Board of Directors.
Being loved by all, Pichai is known to be an amazing leader and a humble man. He was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2016 and 2020.
At DDSN we resonate with Sundar Pichai's thoughts and as leaders in tech, we leverage our skills and capabilities to help our employees grow, and mentor them in the right direction so that we as a team can contribute positively to the society.
Early on, Pichai had a talent for remembering numbers, which his family realised when he could recall every phone number he had ever dialed on their rotary phone. He will still sometimes show off his memorization skills at meetings, Bloomberg reports.
After becoming interested in computers — the first software program he wrote was a chess game — Pichai studied metallurgical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. His success there won him a scholarship to Stanford University.