Sundar Pichai

Pichai Sundararajan known as Sundar Pichai. Sundar Pichai is a computer

engineer and the current CEO of Google Inc. The technology giant Google,
which specializes in Internet-related services and products, underwent a major
corporate restructuring in 2015 following which Alphabet Inc was launched as
its parent company with co-founders Larry Page as its CEO and Sergey Brin as
President. Pichai, who had been serving as Googles head of Products and
Engineering, was named the new CEO of Google which is the biggest company
under Alphabet Inc. Pichai had joined Google years ago in 2004 as a product
manager and led the innovative efforts for several of Googles products
including Google Chrome and Chrome OS which went on to become highly
successful. Eventually he took over the management of other Google products
like Gmail and Google Docs, and rose through the ranks rapidly. Born in
Chennai, India, Pichai was bright and creative from a young age. Having
received his education from some of the most prestigious institutions in the
world, he worked in engineering and product management at Applied Materials
and in management consulting at McKinsey & Company before becoming a
part of Google. Pichai is well-liked by his colleagues and is dubbed as the man
behind Googles most important products

Childhood and Early life

He was born as Pichai Sundararajan on July 12, 1972, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu,
India. His father, Regunatha Pichai, worked as an electrical engineer for the
British conglomerate GEC and managed a factory that made electrical

components. His mother used to be a stenographer before having children. He

has one brother.
Pichai grew up in a middle-class home and was a bright student. He excelled
academically at his school, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and earned a seat in
the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, one of the most prestigious
engineering institutions in India.
He did his B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and then
won a scholarship to study materials science and semiconductor physics from
Stanford University from where he eventually earned his M.S.

Major Works
An engineering genius known for his innovative ideas, Sundar Pichai is best
known as the mastermind behind the launch of the Chrome browser in 2008. He
played a pivotal role in convincing his seniors at Google to launch the browser
which in time became the most popular browser on the internet and also led to
the launch of the Chrome operating system.

Net Worth
Sundar Pichai has an estimated net worth of $650 million.
Top 10 Facts About Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai is a huge cricket fan and was the captain of his school
cricket team.
His family did not possess a phone until he was 12.

 He once tried to talk a friend out of working at Google before joining the
company himself.
Sundar Pichai joined Google even before the company went public.
He is very good at remembering numbers and could remember every
telephone number he dialed when he was young.
He interacts with students at IIT-Kharagpur over Skype at regular
intervals.
He was also one of the top contenders for the post of CEO at Microsoft,
which ultimately went to Satya Nadella.
The Google CEO is not at all nerdy as his appearance might suggest!
He is actually very grounded, helpful and friendly.
He has been the master of ceremonies at Google I/O for the past few
years.

It is rumoured that Twitter tried to poach Sundar Pichai, a few year back,
while he was working at Google, but Google paid him an exorbitantly
higher pay to retain him.

Leadership skills
Attention to Detail
The amount of information a leader has to deal with at Google is mind
boggling. Sundar had a keen eye for detail so much so that he was able to share
data about a product that he did not manage and about which the owner himself
was unaware. Leaders are expected to know the KPIs, dashboard highlights and

the underlying data they are drawn from. Right decisions are based on insights
gleaned from thorough understanding of data, which a leader cannot ignore.

Break-Out of Comfort Zone

Sundar is known to have handled the toughest projects at Google. By leading
such projects to success, he demonstrated his abilities to swim against the tide.
In the process, he earned the right to handle more projects, bigger
responsibilities and with that, power and position. As Robert Frost wrote, I
took the road less travelled by, And that has made all the difference. Leaders
are happy to break out of the comfort zone to contribute to the organization.

Prioritization
Sundars portfolio grew steadily starting from Chrome to Chrome OS, adding
Google Apps followed by Android topping with maps, search and Advertising
in essence products that contributed 89% of GOOGs annual revenue. He started
with Product Management and scaled himself to handle the breadth of offerings
at google. This was possible only because he had mastered the art of prioritizing
- to be able to delegate, automate or handle the work as needed. Leaders
prioritize their work to enable maximum productivity while leaving no task,
undone.

Business Vision
In the era of cut-throat competition and information overload, there is a need to
have a clear vision of the business roadmap and the plans to achieve the goals.
Sundar stood on the shoulders of giants at Google and was able to articulate the
direction better than the others, which catapulted him to second-in-command to

Larry. Leaders should be able to look at the micro and macro goals constantly
and plan a step ahead to be successful.

People Focus
Sundar is known to have built, nurtured and mentored a great team. His people
policies were centred on meritocracy and he went the extra mile to ensure that
his teams efforts were recognized and due credits received. Leaders should put
their team before self and revel in the groups success.

Communication
Social media is full of comments about how Sundar had the skill to tune his
communication based on the audience. He was at ease while talking to ICs,
VPs, bosses, partners and customers; at multiple levels. It involved both
understanding the vision and cascading it suitably in a simple, genuine, clear
and crisp manner. Sundar was not naturally endowed with this skill but worked
to learn the trade and was successful. Leaders need to be adept at
communicating, up, down and sideways and learn constantly.

Inspire
In a company filled with exceptionally talented people, Sundar was still able to
inspire the team with his work ethic, professionalism, integrity, innovation, risk
taking acumen, enthusiasm and brilliance traits that the organization looked
forward to in a leader, beyond Larry and Sergey. A leader should be able to
constantly inspire the team towards the larger goals of the business.

Stress Management
Managing Technology, product roadmap, revenue and people at any company is
a herculean task; at Google, it is Himalayan. The pressure and stress that Sundar
was able to handle is beyond imagination. He was a star cricket player during
his school days in India and excelled there too, leading his state. His ability to
manage stress can be traced to this phase in his life where he played not to win
but to become competitive, to handle pressure and keep the mind and body
agile. He must be practicing this trade in some form today to continue the
momentum. Leaders cannot avoid responsibility but should find a way to
effectively handle the stress and pressure thereof.

Respect
With his focused no-nonsense work approach, Sundar earned unmatched
reputation at work - his team worshipped him, the marketing team loved him,
peers respected him, his boss appreciated him, competition sought him, the
markets welcomed his elevation AND Googlers were happy and proud. The
hallmark of a leader is the urge to earn respect from team, bosses, peers,
partners, customers and even competition.

Humility
In spite of growing popularity and clout in the organization, Sundar maintained
a low profile. He let his work speak instead of his talk; his persona and
demeanour were the same as his inner self affable, approachable and softspoken. Amidst all the high-stakes at work, he took time to mentor students at
his alma-mater which speaks highly about his drive to remain rooted. The tech

community summing up his rise to the zenith as Nice guys do finish first, is
the cherry on the cake.