One reason why the best of Indian talent moves out to lead U.S. tech giants is because we let them. But not anymore. Tides are turning and revolution is on the way.
Silicon Valley has once again chosen an Indian origin CEO to run world’s one of the leading company. Following the footprints of the likes of Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Indra Nooyi, Parag Agrawal has made it to the list of cream Indian brains that graduate from their nation and go on to become an indispensable asset to America’s top-notch tech firms.
The question that we try to answer here is — what is it about Indians that position them perfectly in the leadership roles of the leading tech companies? More importantly, whether it’s Indians who are winning in the U.S. or the U.S. that is winning due to the Indian talent?
A research by University of California at Berkeley in 1999 revealed that one-third of scientific and engineering workforce of the Silicon Valley was made up of immigrant population. Back then, 7% of the tech firms in U.S. were being run by Indian CEOs.
Fast forward to year 2021, Indian-origin population, which is just 1% of US population, accounts for 6% of the Silicon Valley’s workforce. What stands out most remarkably is how this 6% of Indian-origin workforce is disproportionately handling the leadership roles.
Putting it in simple terms- less quantity, a lot more quality.
What Makes Indian-origin CEOs taking over the Silicon Valley?
Vivek Wadhwa’s book “From Incremental to Exponential” provides some insight on why Indians are tailor-made for the leadership roles of the giant tech firms.
Back in 2014, when Satya Nadella inherited the position of CEO of Microsoft from Steve Ballmer, he faced a massive challenge ahead of him- company’s dysfunctional work culture. Founder Bill Gates had a reputation of a boss who got things done by rebuking employees. Nothing much changed when Steve Ballmer succeeded Gates.
Worse, in addition to being detrimental to employees’ well-being, the work-culture wasn’t working out for the business either. There was stagnancy of innovation and competitors were winning.
When Indian-origin Satya Nadella took over as the CEO of Microsoft, he began with improving the work-culture. As quoted by Wadhwa in his book:
Nadella focused on shifting the emphasis from “know-it-all” to “learn-it-all”.
The cultural teachings of India and Buddhism helped Microsoft’s new chief in setting a new leadership example, one that was peaceful, humble and compassionate. Nadella had no tolerance towards yelling and showing anger in executive meetings, kept his composure in check, never wrote angry mails, all this while setting example for others.
What followed later needs no introduction. Microsoft not only once again strengthened its foothold in the market, it went on to acquire a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion in 2021 from $300 billion in 2014.
A similar example can be witnessed at Google where CEO Sundar Pichai’s “good guy” style of leadership has made the company more professionally run than how it was six years ago. Employees working for Google have often acknowledged the thoughtful and caring leadership which has led to increased discipline. Composed Pichai has been praised for handling the tumultuous times for Google amid congressional hearings and mistrust of masses, with utmost sincerity and calm.
While talking about the slower decision-making problem, the one that Pichai is criticized for, Caesar Sengupta, former Vice President for Google said, “would I be happier if he made decisions faster? Yes. But am I happy that he gets nearly all of his decisions right? Yes.”
According to Saritha Rai from Bloomberg News, their “low-key, non-abrasive leadership is a huge plus.”
The Indian Edge- Country that births natural problem solvers
India is a challenging country and whoever doesn’t agree, is not being honest.
Living in a country that accommodates close to 2 billion people, crippled by corruption with inadequate infrastructure is like a constant fight to emerge victorious. Problem-solving is one quality that people here inherit right from the childhood and innovation is the part of life.
Social constructs in India again are a challenge. With a constant dos and don’t criteria listed down by society, rampant casteism and other prejudices, family values and mutual support among close groups play an important role in survival. This not only builds adaptability among people but also the quality of mutual respect, support and collective well-being.
“No other nation in the world ‘trains’ so many citizens in such a gladiatorial manner as India does,” says R Gopalakrishnan, former executive director of Tata Sons and co-author of The Made in India Manager.
“From birth certificates to death certificates, from school admissions to getting jobs, from infrastructural inadequacies to insufficient capacities,” growing up in India equips Indians to be “natural managers,” he adds, quoting the famous Indian corporate strategist C K Prahalad.
Indian-origin CEOs, brain drain and turning tides- is revolution near?
However, this is not all. One of the major reasons why Indians go on to hold the biggest leadership positions of tech giants is- because we let them. Brain drain is a bone of contention for the nation that can benefit manifolds from intellect diplomacy. Unfortunately, the best of Indian brains end up working for Silicon Valley, NASA and US healthcare authorities due to lack of opportunities internally. Not anymore!
No matter how the situations have been so far, India is changing. The country is creating new opportunities and the new wave of homegrown startups have flooded the market.
Lately, India has been witnessing a drastic boom in the number of unicorns, the startups with more than $1 billion valuation. These unicorns spell innovation in varying industries- fintech, tech, ecommerce, healthcare, etc.
In 2021, India added 38 new unicorns, taking the figure of total unicorns in the country to 76. More than 40% of these unicorns were made this year.
Whether one credits Modi administration’s make-in-india initiatives or slowdown in globalization due to COVID-19 outbreak, the country seems to be walking down the path that looks promising.
The post The Silicon Valley Is Taken Over By Indian Origin CEOs — The Question Is Why? appeared first on DKODING.
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