He was born on 12th July, 1972 in Madras (now Chennai), India in a middle-class family, who never had a car, or a TV, and one of their bedrooms was their living room. Like all the parents in middle-class families back then, his parents also sacrificed their desires to build up their son’s future. He has come a long way since then and in August, 2015, he was announced as the Chief Executive Officer of Google. After being crowned as the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world, he had this to say to the world:
“My dad and my mom did what a lot of parents did at the time. They sacrificed a lot of their life and used a lot of their disposable income to make sure the children were educated.”– Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google (Interview with Bloomberg). Over the years, we have seen Indians, like Sundar Pichai, who were handed over the reins of some of the most powerful companies of the world.
Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft), Indra Nooyi (The CEO of Pepsico), and Ajaypal Singh Banga (CEO of MasterCard) are few of the names that we know of. Nothing can be more inspiring and motivating than that fact that these individuals, who rose from the modest soils of Indian middle class, are today poised to impact the entire world.
But as the world celebrates the achievements of these great individuals, we have to ask ourselves: how can we bring about more leaders like these in our world? Is it really possible that someday in the future, we will see individuals from lower-middle income countries like Bangladesh crowned as the leader of one of those powerful companies? Sundar Pichai says, it’s possible; but not without sacrifice and the willingness to take risks.
“It is important to teach students to take risks.” – Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google (Presentation at Delhi University)
Parents and professors should promote entrepreneurship as a viable career option and teach the younger generation to take risks –and, learn from failure. Mr. Pichai said, “In Silicon Valley, failing is a badge of honor, because entrepreneurs want to show that they are trying new and daring things.’ The goal for the young generation is to be empowered and to come out of their comfort zones. Now, more than ever, there are unique opportunities to build new tech companies because of its huge scale. Enterprises like Microsoft, IBM, Google, and Fenox Venture have several programs to encourage startups and innovations from educational institutes. VC firms are investing all over the world to bring out the next the next Facebook, or the next Microsoft, or the next Google into this world. So, now is the time, when parents and teachers have to inspire entrepreneurship among students.
It’s true, our parents’ sacrifice gives us the opportunity to have the education we need. It is a uniform and a team act. We are all in it together, inspiring each other. But, that’s not enough anymore. If we ought to compete in this world and produce leaders like Sundar Pichai, now is the best time to introduce the spirit of entrepreneurship into our culture, our institutes, and most importantly into our families.