Sundar Pichai - Some Notable Things About 'Google's New Captain' 

“The person we have depended on the most since Alphabet was founded”
“The best person to lead Google and Alphabet into the future”

In their Google blog post, Page and Brin talked a lot about Sundar Pichai, but the two sentences above touched me the most.

That would mean that the two founders trust Pichai.

Google as an Adult

Google, founded in 1998, has reached the age of 21 in human terms this year.

As parents, Page and Bryn had announced that they would let go of the now grown-up Google.

They give advice and love, but they won't interfere any more.
(Actually, it has been a while since the two founders started not to be involved in management.)

This would make Pichai the CEO of both Google and Google's parent company, Alphabet.

As he has done so far, he will oversee the overall management of Google, and will also be responsible for Alphabet's overall portfolio, which includes areas as diverse as the self-driving car Waymo and the Wing that delivers drones.

Now, Sundar Pichai has become a representative leader of Google, both in name and reality. I found out what kind of person that Pichai was.

Engineer Pichai with an MBA was born in India in 1972.

He says, similar to many Indian homes at the time, there were no TVs or cars in the house, and the new refrigerator didn't come until old.

Pichai read as much as he could get his hands on and played cricket in the alleyways. He says he especially liked the books of Charles Dickens.

Influenced by his father, who studied electrical engineering and worked for a British Indian company, Pichai enters the Indian Institute of Technology.

He says it's one of the hardest engineering colleges in the world to get into.

Afterwards, he received his MA in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering from Stanford University of Technology, USA, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

He had only used computers three or four times as an undergraduate in India.

When he came to America, he said that he enjoyed being able to use the computer to his heart's content.
(But this time, he's so engrossed in programming that he misses the early internet craze.)

It is said that when he graduated from Stanford, his parents came to the United States directly from India, paying the equivalent of his father's one year's salary.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=961v6dRspx4[/embed]

Engineering Entrepreneurs After Graduation

He joined Google in 2004 after working for Applite Materials and consulting firm McKinsey.

Many engineers these days have an MBA. But looking at Pichai's career, I think he's a true hybrid who understands both engineering and business so well.

With his understanding of engineering, he has the business acumen to put Google's major products on the right track.

The foresight that made chrome

He joined Google in 2004 and was initially responsible for the Google Toolbar.

Then, in 2006, Microsoft (MS) was about to update Internet Explorer.

Pichai argues that Microsoft's updates will have a huge negative impact on Google's business.

At the time, Microsoft was a big company, while Google was still just one of the start-ups.

Google's Chrome will go into development in this way.

Considering that Chrome currently has the No. 1 market share in the browser market, Pichai's foresight must be given a high score.

Pichai then took over Gmail and Google Maps, and in 2013 took over the Android division as well.

Then, when Alphabet was launched, he assumed the role of CEO of Google, and this time he also assumed the role of CEO of Alphabet.

Beyond his boss, Mayer, Pichai once worked under Murray Mayer at Google.

That's Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo.

At the time, Pichai used to wait hours in front of Mayer's room to meet him.

He was there to let his team know what he was doing and to make sure he did well on his exams.

Pichai is said to be one of the bosses everyone wants to work with at Google.

Pichai has great empathy and values ​​collaboration.

He mentors the staff he chooses and is known for taking responsibility until the end.

In the end, Pichai beat Mayer and got promoted faster.

According to one theory, this is why Mayer eventually left Google to become CEO of Yahoo.

Pichai's Future of Technology

He told The New York Times in 2018 that his 11-year-old son doesn't have a cell phone yet. But he said that he makes money by mining the virtual currency Ethereum.

He even said that when he gets home on Friday, he tries not to look at his phone, but it doesn't work.

What does he think of the future of technology?

He said his parents were concerned about the ill effect that rock star Elvis Presley would have on their children in the past.

But in the end, as if there were no problems, I think that the impact of the current technology on the next generation will not be bad.

However, he points out that the change today is much faster than the change of the past. He says:

“Technology does not solve human problems. If you think that way, you are too naive."

"Technology can help, but humanity's problems must be solved by humanity"

“I think we are trying to rely too much on technology to solve problems, and at the same time point out that technology is the root of all problems.”

Two Views Of course, there is also the view that Page and Brin didn't want to take on the various problems Google was facing, so they gave Pichai the CEO position.

Google faces antitrust charges in the US and Europe.

Employees are raising their voices about the direction Google should go.

It is almost at the level of domestic and foreign exchange. It's hard to do anything at will.

With Page and Brin holding more than half of the board's voting rights, the view is that they have only passed the responsibility on to Pichai.

Google stock has a differential voting structure from the time of listing, so Page and Brin each own only about 6%, but they are designed so that they can exercise 10 votes per share.

In addition, Google has been working hard to find a business that goes beyond Google's main source of income, search ads, through Alphabet, a holding company, but there are no results yet.

However, some view Pichai's appointment as a signal for a new era.
Google announced that it is developing a quantum computer that can complete operations that a supercomputer would take 10,000 years in about 3 minutes.

Now, with the end of the PC era, the two founders of Google have resigned, and Pichai has taken on a major role in the era of quantum computers.

Now that Pichai's leadership is being evaluated as being shaken, I wonder how he will lead through his history.