Effectively you already give this man access to your thoughts, interests and even your deepest secrets. You use his products every day and thus increase his already staggering profits and, if you’ve bought one of his nifty intelligent assistants, some people believe he’s listening to every word you say. So why isn’t Pichai Sundararajan more frightening?
Surely the boss of a company that’s not only in all of our pockets but our bedrooms as well, and that’s working on artificial intelligence that could, in theory, destroy all mankind, should have a more intimidating aura – think the Rupert Murdoch-like bad guy from the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, or at least Steve Jobs.
Sundar Pichai, as he’s more commonly known, is the CEO of one of the companies that have most deeply affected your everyday life over the past decade or more, and he’s a man whose rise to the top – from humble beginnings in India – has been so meteoric it’s a wonder he doesn’t have a little tail of fire following him around.
And yet, the words you most often hear describing him are “low key”, “compassionate”, “humble” and, most common of all, “thoughtful”.
Indeed, when he took over as CEO in 2015, in his early 40s, one Google employee was quoted as saying, “All the arseholes have left.”
Pichai, now 47, once took the time to personally write an encouraging reply to a letter from a seven-year-old girl asking for a job at his company because she liked the sound of all the free stuff, and slippery slides, in its offices. And he recently congratulated another young woman on Twitter for a post about how she got a zero on her first physics test, but stuck with it and is now a published astrophysicist.
This story is from the February/March 2020 edition of The CEO Magazine India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February/March 2020 edition of The CEO Magazine India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
In The Best Of Corporate Health
Under the leadership of chairman and managing director Dilip Surana, micro labs is showing no signs of slowing down in its quest to become one of the world’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies.
“OUR FOCUS IS ON OUR CUSTOMERS.”
BONFIGLIOLI TRANSMISSIONS COUNTRY MANAGER KENNADY V KAIPPALLY TALKS INNOVATION, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND THE POWER OF A STRONG BUSINESS CULTURE.
WE ALL TREAT EACH OTHER WITH RESPECT.“
WHEN COVID-19 STRUCK SOUTH ASIA, BD INDIA MANAGING DIRECTOR PAVAN MOCHERLA FOUND WAYS TO KEEP HIS ASSOCIATES SAFE WHILE CONTINUING TO PRODUCE THE TOOLS HEALTHCARE WORKERS NEED TO COMBAT THE VIRUS.
WE ARE ENJOYING A CONSTANT DEMAND FOR OUR PRODUCTS.
POTATO WAFERS AND OTHER SNACK FOODS HAVE PROVEN TO BE THE GOLDEN TICKET FOR CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BALAJI WAFERS, CHANDUBHAI VIRANI.
Walking on water
RELIABLE ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY CAN UNLOCK OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIA’S RURAL COMMUNITIES. AS CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL HYDROELECTRIC POWER CORPORATION, ABHAY KUMAR SINGH IS DETERMINED TO DO AS MUCH AS HE CAN FOR THIS CAUSE IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
LEAN MACHINE
AS CEO, THOMSON JOSEPH HAS EQUIPPED TRÜTZSCHLER INDIA WITH THE TOOLS TO DO MORE WITH LESS. WHAT A TIMELY JOURNEY IT HAS PROVEN TO BE.
THE CUSTOMER IS KING.
AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE DISTILLERIES COMPANY OF SRI LANKA, ROYLE JANSZ UNDERSTANDS THAT THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS IS A BLEND OF CONSISTENT QUALITY AND TREATING CUSTOMERS LIKE ROYALTY.
The WARTIME CEO
LEADERS MUST ADOPT THE MENTALITY OF BEING AT WAR IF THEY WANT TO SURVIVE THE NEXT 24 MONTHS, SAYS EXPERT LYNDALL SPOONER.
Challenges excite me.
WITH A FOCUS ON DIFFERENTIATION AND VALUE CREATION FOR ITS CUSTOMERS, ASHWANI SHARMA, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF ASEPTO, UFLEX GROUP’S ASEPTIC LIQUID PACKAGING ARM, SHARES HOW THE BRAND HAS TRANSFORMED THE ASEPTIC LIQUID PACKAGING INDUSTRY.
A MATERIAL WORLD
WITH 40 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE AT MATERIALS MANUFACTURER TORAY INDUSTRIES UNDER HIS BELT, CHIEF REPRESENTATIVE FOR INDIA SHIGEKAZU SUENAGA HAS LEARNED THAT FEW THINGS ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO A BUSINESS THAN INNOVATION, COMMUNICATION AND CONSISTENCY.
