Question

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, One of the World's Most Powerful Business Leaders

A few years ago Sundar Pichai became CEO of Google, the major division of Alphabet. He is an unassuming man of humble begin-nings, growing up with his parents and a brother in a two-room apartment in the Chennai, India. Always brilliant, as shown in his ability to memorize hundreds of numbers dialed on a rotary phone, he was a reserved but fiercely competitive student. Pichai has been described as the most powerful person in mobile. His rise to Google CEO took eleven years, based on his technical knowledge, team player attitudes, and astuteness about organizational politics. Today, Pichai's main responsibility is to assure that Google's core business and major source of revenue stay strong. From his entry into Google as a product manager in 2004, Pichai has played a major role in the development of a series of key company products. His first assignment was to work on the Google toolbar which, in turn, lead to managing the team that developed the Chrome browser. The success of Chrome was the engine that powered Pichai through a rapid ascent to the CEO position. After the launch of Chrome, Pichai was promoted to vice president, and shortly thereafter to senior vice president. Pichai took over the all-important Android division of Google in 2013. One of his accomplishments was to make sure that Android was carefully integrated into Google proper rather than be run as a separate division. His team was later responsible for developing the Chrome OS, operating sys-tems used in Chrome laptops. Based on his success with these key products, Google cofounder Larry Page put him in charge of almost all the company's products and services including Google+ and advertising. In announcing the pro-motion, Page said, "Sundar has a tremendous ability to see what's ahead and mobilize teams around the super import-ant stuff." A former product manager at Google attributed part of Pichai's rise to power for having recruited, mentored, and retained a highly effective team. His team of product mangers has a reputation of being the best of the best. Furthermore, Pichai has avoided making enemies. He navigated organiza-tional politics at Google to help his team be successful while not adversely affecting other teams. In terms of his focus on teams, Pichai says, "Nothing makes me happier than a prod-uct review in which I can sit with the team and they're showing me something they're building." People who work closely with Pichai comment favorably on his empathy, humor, and eager-ness to encourage teamwork across Google. Soft-spoken and polite, Pichai supported whatever team he led, and ensured that the efforts of every team member were recognized by outsiders to the team. When attending team meetings, Pichai would usually sit in the back, listen quietly, and then after everyone else had spoken, present a collabo-rative idea. Since he is at Google, Pichai has been well liked. He enjoys good rapport with Page, as well as with company outsiders. For example, he has visited South Korea to help forge a good relationship with Samsung executives. Because of his reputation of being enjoyable to work with many workers wanted to transfer to his organizational unit. It was therefore easier for Pichai to have built strong teams. (This observation was made prior to his CEO appointment, when he was directly in charge of teams.) A vice president who worked with Pichai for eight years said, "I would challenge you to find anyone at Google who doesn't like Sundar or who thinks he's a jerk."

1. What sources of power does Pichai appear to have acquired?

2. Google has loads of technically skilled, intelligent, and ambitious people. What do you think really gave Sundar Pichai an edge?

Answer 1

1. The sources of power that sundar pichai seems to have acquired are

a)Expert power- This power comes from from one's acquired knowledge and skills over the years. Due to this people get influenced by this power.

b)Referent Power- Referent power is th ability to influence people due to the fact that a person is likeable, respected, approachable and generally easy to work with. People like to work with such leaders and these leaders treat everyone with the same respect.

c)Legitimate Power- Legitimate power is the power acquired due to one's position in the organization. This power is used by people in certain position in the hierarchy. People often follow legitimate power by default as their careers can be influenced by such people.

2.The thing that gave Sundar Pichai the edge over other people is the fact that his emotional intelligence is high and he is gets along well with everyone else. Therefore, he is socially likeable person who respects all and considers everyone's point of view.This means that he can influence more people and get them to do things which people do willingly due to his good relationship skills. It also means that whenever anyone considers sundar pichai for any task, there will be less opposition to it as peopla are ready to work with and under him. Therefore, his skill in networking and managing relationships would be one of the main reason which gives him an edge over others.