“Very intelligent but very humble,” is how Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Deputy Commissioner, Uttara Kannada, remembers his former colleague Sundar Pichai, who has been appointed Google CEO.
“Mr. Pichai was among the brightest employees of the organisation. However, his heart was in the right place. He was also among the most down-to-earth people we worked with,” he said. Mr. Ghosh led the search team in the Chrome division that Mr. Pichai headed. “He was the number two in the organisation, but never showed it. He acted with the ease and enthusiasm of a young man who wanted answers for all his questions. He was always accessible to anyone and every interaction with him was helpful.”
“Sundar Pichai’s brainstorming sessions were sessions in learning. He discussed every small thing in great detail. He would ask so many questions and sought answers from every one. Not once did he show that he was the boss. Google is a very democratic organisation without formal hierarchies. Hence the person and the organisation complimented each other,” Mr. Ghosh said. “If Mr. Pichai was working with you on a product or system, he would not be satisfied till it was error free. He would want to know it thoroughly, and resolve issues top to bottom.”
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“Google is a company built around the idea that user experience was the ultimate thing in IT. Each move was aimed at making user experience better than yesterday. The company knew that each employee had a unique set of skills and talent that would help improve
products. Mr. Pichai knew that and harnessed the collective energy and talent of his colleagues. That is one of the reasons he is successful,’’ Mr. Ghosh said.
Mr. Ghosh is a 2008 batch IAS officer. He worked with Google before joining the all- India service. The IIT-Delhi postgraduate in computer science holds around 20 international patents in the area of Internet search. He has served as Bidar Zilla Panchayat CEO and DC, Raichur.
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