Where Will Sundar Pichai Take Google?:
There were louder executives at Google. There were brainier ones. There were more aggressive ones and those who were doubtlessly better at throwing a sharp elbow, too. And many more political ones — even if those who have been running one of the world’s most powerful companies continued to think of themselves as benign, long after it was clear to everyone else that they were many things but that.
Most of them are gone. Most are as rich as Croesus. But they’re not at the pinnacle of one of the mightiest companies on the planet.
Because in the end, the nice guy — Sundar Pichai — finished first. Mr. Pichai on Tuesday was named chief executive of Alphabet, the company chassis under which the unbeatable and wildly profitable search engine lives, along with a number of other less impressive initiatives. The soft-spoken executive, who was born in India, had worked his way up a long ladder from product manager to vice president to chief executive of Google. Now this big announcement.
Page and Brin will still control the company. Pichai is the public face. A friend who used to work at Google says
– He’s not too bright
– He’s not too courageous
– He lacks deep vision
This is probably what you would expect from someone who is there to take Page and Brin’s implied marching orders.
Pichai gets compared to Satya Nadella of Microsoft. But at least Nadella has pivoted Microsoft in many new directions, fundamentally transforming the OS and productivity application company into something much more diverse.
Tangential but related. I see this as a huge problem with the “brown cohorts” in Cambridge.
They are all streaming into banking etc but very of them go into the risky off the beaten path, which usually ends in failure but might lead to a Unicorn or two.
It might be a UK (particularly Oxbridge thing) but even earlier today I was being quoted that Desis (Indians) do quite well; Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella etc..
But who are their bosses? Where are the Brown Jobs, Gates, Brins etc..
This is as much to do with institutional factors (there is a funnelling effect) as there is with cultural (brown parents disproportionately influence the lives of their children and steer them into a risk-averse path).
Entrepreneurship is a fascinating topic and one I’m profoundly interested in.
Welcome back, Xerxie. Is this you on the Twitter’s photo? What’s happened in meantime that you grew up so quickly?
“It might be a UK (particularly Oxbridge thing) but even earlier today I was being quoted that Desis (Indians) do quite well; Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella etc..
But who are their bosses? Where are the Brown Jobs, Gates, Brins etc..”
There are a number of successful unicorns found by desis in the US.
Nutanix, Automation Anywhere, Mixpanel etc.
Of course none of these are Apple or Google but then such companies come once in a generation. So maybe we’ll have to wait some time.
And the next Google might have a desi founder but it might happen to come out of Bangalore or Singapore.
flipkart
More Singapore than Bangalore
“…Most are as rich as Croesus…”
Croesus – the king of Lydia. He was a Serb, not Greek as wiki says. Wiki contradicts themselves stating that
‘…Croesus continued his sires’ wars against the Asian Greeks, bringing all the Aeolian and Ionian Settlements on the coasts of Asia-Minor under Lydian rule, from whom he exacted tribute;[9] However, he was willing to be friendly to European and Aegean Greeks, concluding various treaties with them, with Sparta, in particular,…’.
Spartans were also Serbs while Athens 50 years after Croesus burnt the capital city of Sard. The meaning of Sard is – Serb, and this is also a root for the name of Sardinia.
Did you know that Montezuma and Atahualpa were Serbs also?
1/2 – Misguided and mannered witticism can mean at least one of two things – lack of knowledge and/or frustration. I hope that it is not your case. It would be more interesting if you (optionally) tell us the meaning and origin of your (Polish/Ukrainian?) surname. It is for sure that you don’t know who Croesus was. Not long time ago, another guy was jumping when I wrote that Alexander the Great was not a Greek but after that probably did some readings and he/she is silent now.
Wiki tries to hide many things but let see…
In the town of Sirbin (Sard), as Strabon calls it (later changed by Greeks to Xanthos) in the province of Lydia, Asia Minor, a Serbian law code from the eighth century BC found on a large stone. The Code is engraved in Serbian, so that it can be read without much effort.
Svetislav Bilbija published his findings in the Catena Mundi Proceedings under the title “Obelisk of Xanthos – The Stone Book of the Laws and Customs of the Ancient Serbs” [8], where statements were presented in the form of provisions of the Code, grouped according to topics covered by the side of the monument and the row number for each provision.
The complete text of this monument of Serbian literacy and ancient law of Asian Lydia, which contains 232 provisions, was formulated and supplemented by the comments of Prof. Radomir Djordjevic. [13] The provisions are grouped into 16 groups according to their content, each of which bears the mark of a side of the world and order on the obelisk. These groups (Chapters of the Code) are:
(1) On Governance – the task of the state; (2) Humanitarian duties of the State; (3) Freedom of Occupation and Work; (4) Customs and Laws; (5) Leader selection and traits; (6) Duties of combatants; (7) About the enemy and his act; (8) Wise sayings and counsel; (9) Ancestral councils to farmers; (10) Tips for gold ore diggers; (11) Medical advice; (12) Offences, proceedings and penalties; (13) Educating children; (14) On food and its preparation; (15) About food and how to feed; (16) The engraved should be read, memorised, execute.
2/2 – In order, to get an impression of the contents of the Code from the obelisk in Sirbin, we will list here individually only some of the provisions (translated by Google translate from archaic Serbian and with Bilbija’s side marking).
So, in the part called “On Governance of the State; the task of state”:
Z-10: about managing the interstates here – the borders of the state vow to create there, rely on hundreds of fighters, these necessarily will – need ….
S-7: state is tasked with calling for armed alert throughout its life, the evils that lurk (lurk), it inflicts such evils
J-55: should be told to the people that the guards put here are protecting the fort and who belong to it
I-56: who touches the people here, who breaks customs, mudsling, which you whip at prison
S-51: is all given to that lodge, has a squad when it needs towers, knows to find guards right now who can protect, defend it
I-57: destroying property, preventing what it is doing to prosecute them, and, if proven, hanging it, to echo to find out
J-53: blood is poured into the blood, who speaks in mockery here in this trial that there is
C-52: will want some power to keep it, if consumed, the urge to eat what the Meds buy
S-60: we have a great weapon and a way to break who was put to give in this place, the victims will mourn after folk singing
The section, titled “Duties of Fighters and Their Traits”, states:
S-44: Serbs to bleed (to wage war) here for what (the tops of the fortress), to prevent anyone from leaving, to control their offspring, to severely crave those who look to take them
S-45: should be properly observed such as customs, law, have a hearth, father and mother, old graves to be obeyed
I-1: betrayal in the battle, she eats offspring, throughout her life the past protrudes …
I-12 that (some) people spearmen, when in battle, protect those captive aliens who find themselves subjugated …
The section, called “Leader traits and his choice”, states:
I-53: is an ancestral surrender, in a man-dominated house that he masters, so he stays
Z-15: is the host they’ve known for years, wallowing in asking him to do justice
S-45: should be properly observed such as customs, law, have a hearth, father and mother, old graves to be obeyed
The section, titled “Offences, proceedings and penalties,” reads:
I-17: arrested should use the custom to alleviate the guilt done …
Z-32: people’s true voice to leave, to be fair and to be imprisoned by law
The section entitled “Engraved should be read, remembered, done” states:
I-63: let them learn to read their father’s tables, from top to bottom, to see their essence, to remember as such
PS: Photos: Obelisk from Xanthos – A Stone Book of the Laws and Customs of the Ancient Serbs (200 years before Croesus)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andreamichael/812268434/sizes/l/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/profilacktisch/1744875911/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Funnily, Sundar has a more impressive resume on paper than Satya but seems to be more of a conformist.
I feel both are similar. More Tim Cook than Jobs
Entrepreneurship is a fascinating topic and one I’m profoundly interested in.
about 30% of the start-up ppl in the valley are brown. mostly NRI
NRI?
Jeez.
“A friend who used to work at Google says
– He’s not too bright
– He’s not too courageous
– He lacks deep vision”
That’s what most people who failed to make it at big companies always say. Why do they say this? Partly because of jealousy/envy and partly because these are not clearly measurable traits and unless you were the one promoting him, it is unlikely you are privy to information on why he was promoted.
Hilarious that corporate βs everywhere are sour-grapes whining about the top guy not being the smartest, etc. Even founders are often not the smartest/most courageous/deepest vision folks. Even if correctly estimated, these 3 traits are often orthogonal and irrelevant to deal-making, bringing in big revenue, coming up with winning strategies, etc.
Pichai fired James Damore for speaking the unacceptable truth that men and women are not the same. In my view Pichai is a villain.
Shut up Donny! You are out of your element!
Pichai in Tamil means alms . Some parents go to all kinds of temples and take all kinds of vows and a child born after many years, esp first child, is called Pichai , i.e. alms presumably from one of the gods or goddesses they have visited.
On the flop side , I guess a person with such a name expects others to bestow gifts on him. Just a guess without any evidence
The name does not evoke swashbuckling qualities. Any Tamil film villain or hero called Pichai ?, no chance.
Humbleness is writ in the name
It’s always been curious to me as to why it’s so uncommon for big Indian movie protagonists are shown as humble.
When if you look at historical Indian tales and stories, the hero is almost always humble or prostrates to someone who is (a god or guru).
Anyone knows the origin/meaning of the name ASIA :-)?
….WS?
Let me guess…Above positive marking of Walter Sobchak’s Montezuma’s ‘humour’ was actually OIT’s marking of my toponyms’ article (I could be wrong). It doesn’t mater, but what one pundit could see from my above comments?
Wiki lies that the text was on extinct language and lies that it was 400 years younger. Why? Because it mentions Greeks but they actually did not exist there at the time of stone carving. BPundits, maybe the first in the world could see the content (in English) of this ancient law carved in the stone. OK, it was a Goggle translate of an archaic text, but the meaning is very clear. When I have time, I may translate this properly and present to the rest of the world. This is also a part of SA history!
What’s happened with my previous question (the meaning of ‘Asia’)? I am glad that I have not received a wiki version. Let me extend the response time for a week. The answer is related to my previous comments!! (you may optionally add Rig Veda, but it is not compulsory). I would be surprised if anyone knows. There is another incentive in a form of a bottle of something. If there is no answer in a week, the bottle will be donated to a charity organisation (>>‘alcoholics without borders’).
What to do with Walter who is suddenly missing in action? His surname is Polish but the web says: ‘the meaning of this name is unknown’. Probably, another extinct language -?. I don’t know if he is a Polish=‘people from the field’ (I respect his privacy), but he may be interested to see the following map (I posted before) where only Serbian toponyms which start with SER are presented and especially, he can see the Poland’s map.
https://www.google.com/search?q=serbian+toponyms+in+europe&rlz=1C1GCEA_enAU862AU862&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=lIcFaZgo9gL-xM%253A%252CTJtlkfOi1xAMuM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQmUFtn-Tc0CSAH1ZQNICWLUCL7dQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUgPnOraXmAhWSe30KHTo9BgcQ9QEwCnoECAUQCQ#imgrc=lIcFaZgo9gL-xM:
Indians are generally stupid but have a system that filters out people at the tail of the distribution and most of them end up in the US. ‘Stani bros are as dim (some say more, but I think not) but lack the filtering pipeline to send chaps out into Anglophonia. They were busy building pipelines for sending people out for other projects I hear. Don’t care if ‘stanis are dumber coz we’re better looking and get all the hindoo gurlz and sire marginally brighter Muslim kids.
Anywayz all of this contributes to the myth of how good Indians are at “math” and shit. Completely false obvs. The Indian marketing coup was starting to unravel with PISA so Indians stopped participating in it, lolzzz.
Uzbeks and Russkie bros are way better at maths. Thankz to ata Genghis who improved our gene pool. Dese dayz I am seeing this plain jain. Too dark/ugly for my liking but she desperately wanted some hot bod and shez like modi’s niece or some such. So taking one for the Ummah innit 😉
Jagger the Jain-eater