The Rise of Indian Professionals: Taking Over Key Positions in Foreign Companies

Today many people of Indian origin are in leading positions in foreign companies. Satya Nadella, Shantanu Narayan, Sundar Pichai, Arvind Krishna, Sandeep Mathrani, Indra Nooyi, Pranav Mistry, etc as Indian-American CEOs of a major United States technology company. But Indians are not surprised in these matters because in the last few years Indians have been recruited as CEOs in the world's best multinational corporations. Let's check the facts behind how Indians are single-handedly conquering the tech world.

A country can be best for various reasons, such as skilled labor, exports of clothing, or any other product. But India is one country that has been the best in exporting CEOs in the tech world. In a country where half of the people's standard of living is low, and more than half of the population lives below the poverty line, how India shows its uniqueness in the multinational corporation's top-level position amid so many problems. Indians win prominent positions in foreign companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nokia, Bata, IBM, Pepsi, Mastercard, etc. Now the question is why tech giants are preferring instead of hiring their compatriots or citizens of another country. Why didn't Google appoint an American or Chinese instead of Sundar Pichai, or why didn't Bill Gates hire his own country citizens or other nationals without making Satya Nadella CEO?

Indians have surpassed European-Americans in terms of talent and ability. Sharp intelligence and a hard-working mentality keep Indians ahead. But these qualities are more or less found in any other country's people. In today's world, despite the presence of countries like China which is dominating the world economically, Indians are the top talent exporters. Apart from these, one of the most important factors that keep Indians ahead is Diversity.

Let's talk about Sundar Pichai. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin put Sundar Pichai in charge of the company in 2015. Apart from Sundar Pichai, they had more capable candidates. So why did they choose Sundar Pichai as CEO? The multinational company Google has offices in more than 40 countries and more than 160 countries nation's employees. In order to run such a large company, it is very necessary to be extremely efficient, to have the ability to lead, to understand the mentality of foreign officials, and to be versatile to give importance to the advantages and disadvantages of the officials. Not only was Sundar Pichai's ability to be competent and lead, but his background was key, something Larry Page and Sergey Brin were well aware of. Sundar Pichai grew up Indian by birth. India is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, consisting of 28 provinces, which have people of different faiths, religions, cultures, and languages. Sundar Pichai was born and brought up in Madurai, India, and completed his graduation from IIT Kharagpur. Then he went to the United States of America to complete his higher education. He worked for many years before finally becoming CEO of Google. His great long journey is difficult for any European-American citizen to contemplate. In 2015, after all, speculation, Larry Page and Sergey Brin put Sundar Pichai in charge of Google. Not only that, they were so satisfied with Sundar Pichai's work that they made him the CEO of Alphabet Inc.

Another quality of Indians that Americans value more is adaptability. Let's take Satya Nadella as an example. The state of Telangana in India is one of the educationally and economically backward states. Nadella was born there into a Telegu-speaking Hindu family. His father was an IAS officer and his mother was a Sanskrit lecturer. Nadella wanted to be an engineer since childhood. But failed to crack the IIT entrance exam. Before migrating to America, he obtained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology. He completed his M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Before joining Microsoft, he worked as a technology staff at Sun Microsystems. After joining Microsoft in 1992, he succeeded by working on complex projects like cloud computing, Microsoft's Database, Windows Server, etc. In addition, in 1997, he received his MBA from the University of Chicago. Realizing Satya Nadella's contribution to the development of Microsoft Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer appointed him as the CEO of Microsoft in 2014. Nadella once daily roamed the hustle and bustle of India's metro and stayed in a bug-infested university hostel. From India, he moved to America, a country with a different culture. After successfully completing higher education, he is serving as the CEO of a giant company like Microsoft. He came to America from India, a country of mixed cultures, and successfully developed, adapting himself to the American environment. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer realized Nadella can adapt himself to any situation in any country of the world. That is why, as a complete leader he is a better option for Microsoft.

Loyalty or Obedience is another important quality that keeps Indians ahead in Silicon Valley. Shantanu Narayan is a prime example. Narayan was born in Hyderabad, India. He moved to America with an electronics and communication engineering degree from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Then Narayan achieved a Master's in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University and an MBA from the University of California. Before joining Adobe Inc, he held senior positions at Apple and Silicon Graphics. Narayan joined Adobe as a senior vice president in 1998. At that time the rise of Google, Microsoft, and Apple just started in Silicon Valley. Narayan continued to receive higher wage offers than what Adobe was paying him. But he rejected all kinds of tempting offers. Appreciating his loyalty, Adobe promoted him first to executive vice president in 2001 and the chief operating officer in 2005. After then, since 2007 Narayan has been serving as CEO of Adobe Inc. Under his leadership, Adobe surpassed $100 billion in market capitalization and secured the 13th position on Forbes' most innovative companies list in 2018.

There are very few or no one in the world who have communication skills like Indians. Indians are always at the forefront of multinational companies for excellent communication skills. France-German citizens are not very proficient in English. And the Chinese-Japanese are hesitant to speak any language other than their own. On the other hand, educated and working Indians who travel abroad, speak English as their mother language. Special emphasis is given to the English language in their education curriculum. In fact, South Indians use English as their mother tongue. Everyone knows about the talent and hard work of Sino-Japanese in the world. They are currently the most advanced in terms of talent and hard work. But they are all behind in communication skills. On the other hand, the communication skills category of CEO selection is always occupied by Indians. Through fantastic communication skills, they can express their ideas and planning fluently, which citizens of other countries cannot or do not. Being able to speak fluently in English, boosts the confidence level of Indians. That is why Indians are called the most confident employees in Silicon Valley.

Indian educational institutions have a significant role to play in India's technological revolution. Most successful graduates are from domestic universities who moved abroad for higher education. The quality of education in top Indian universities is very much admirable. IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) is one such university. Most Indian CEOs have completed their graduation from this university. According to the data, India has a total of 23 state IIT universities. Every year one of the IITs is listed among the best universities in the world. The best engineering graduates are spread across the world after coming out of IITs. But getting an opportunity to study at IIT takes work. To understand how IIT produces brilliant graduates, one must know about its admission test system. Kota in the state of Rajasthan is a city famous for IIT entrance exam preparation. This city has a thriving coaching business worth hundreds of crores of rupees. Students enroll in these coachings in the 2nd year of intermediate to take pre-preparation for the entrance exam. Millions of students across the country appear for the entrance exam, but only a few thousand students get a chance at IITs. There is no place for the memorization process in this exam due to the analytical question-and-answer structure. Besides, there is no chance of a question paper leak and no recommendation is acceptable from any high-ranking or influential politician. That's why out of millions of candidates, only the talented ones get the final chance to study at IIT. 

For the next 4 years of engineering, these talented students stay in touch with great teachers. These selective and quality teachers inculcate the mindset of global competition in the minds of all students. But the revolution of IITians is not only limited to the technology sector but also to the economic, literacy, and political fields. Famous author Chetan Bhagat and current Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal are famous IIT graduates. Be the ideal, be the best, whatever the field of work - this is the spell that IIT silently inculcates in the heart of its students. The political implications are very present of this technological revolution among the Indian youth. Chandrababu Naidu, the influential leader of the Legislative Assembly in Andhra Pradesh plans to make an IT hub. He wanted his state to be at the forefront of technology in India. Currently, Bangalore is India's largest IT hub, and also this city is known as the Silicon Valley of South Asia.

India's huge market is one of the reasons why most multinational companies choose Indians as CEOs. India is considered to be the largest market in the world for companies selling any type of product. Appointing an Indian as the CEO will give any company the advantage of capturing this market, which is less possible for other nationals. For this reason, Indians are given more preference in the CEO selection even though the nationals of other countries are capable. Let's talk about Sanjay Bahadur. He joined Nestlé in 1982 as a Management Trainee. When he was appointed as Head of Group Strategy and Business Development in 2020, another Sri Lankan's name was on the list. But India has considered Nestlé's largest market and a major portion of its annual profit comes from this market. So finally Sanjay Bahadur was promoted to this post.

India's talent for crisis management is worth watching. The startup company WeWork had a market valuation of $47 billion, which dropped to $7 billion due to inefficiencies and mismanagement. The company replaced former CEO Adam Neumann and appointed Sandeep Mathrani as CEO. Even though the company is not going back to its former status, it is gradually turning around and its market share price is currently increasing.

If you are a businessman, you would want the CEO of the organization to be someone who will perform market behavior analysis along with efficient leadership, provide products to the market according to the needs of consumers in different regions, adopt different strategies in different circumstances, be good at risk management, and don't go to another company during companies bad time. These qualities are more common among Indians, which is why they are sought after by multinational companies for CEO or higher positions.

This Indian march is just the beginning. Because Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and other famous people had no idols. They have studied, worked, put their best foot forward, and come into the limelight. Therefore, they are the idols of today's Indian youth, who will be chosen as role models to float their success around the globe.