Today let’s read the journey of one of the most well-known people in the world, Mr. Sundar Pichai, but before delivering the tale of Sundar Pichai, I am going to let you know some of the world-famous CEOs from India working in large corporations and their salaries.
Contents
| Name | Company & Position | Salary (as Per Google) |
| Arvind Krishna | CEO of IBM | $24 million |
| Ajay Banga | CEO of MasterCard | $23 million |
| Indra Nooyi | Former CEO of PepsiCo | $31 million |
| Shantanu Narayen | CEO of Adobe | $44.9 million |
| Satya Nadella | CEO of Microsoft | $79.1 million |
Now finally comes Mr. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc. If we add all the amounts that these above CEOs get, it will be less; his salary is almost 281 million dollars.
Turning Point
Sundar Pichai joined Google in 2004 with a huge salary. First he started working on Google Toolbar and later developed Google Chrome, which brought the revolution in browsing, becoming one of the most popular browsers globally.
In the year 2015, he became the CEO of Google because of his ability to manage complex teams and bring innovative products.
Later in the year 2019, he was also promoted to CEO of Alphabet Inc., a parent company of Google. He became the person in charge of all subsidiaries, like DeepMind, Google Fiber, Sidewalk Labs, and X Development.
But Google Maps is one of the most used applications worldwide, which was sparked by his personal experience.
The Night That Sparked Google Maps
One day he and his wife received an invitation for a dinner party from one of the relatives. Sundar Pichai was told by his wife to reach out directly to the relative’s house after office. Where she will be waiting for him for the dinner.
On the way to his relative’s house, he got confused and unsure of which way to move. As we all know, time is most precious in first-world countries. By the time he reached his relative’s dinner party, it was already 10pm, the party was over, and his wife had returned back home.
When Sundar Pichai reached back home, his wife was pissed with him and had a discussion. Instead of sulking, Pichai went back to the office, and all night he thought about what went wrong:
I lost my way. I lost my way. And a thought comes: if it can happen to me, then it can happen to many people. There are many people who are facing this problem.
The Birth of Google Maps
The next morning he decided to create a digital map that could help every individual, so he conducted a meeting and presented an idea. It took 2 days for him to convene the team. There were 50 people in a team, and they started to develop the tool.
- In the year 2005, Google Maps was launched in the U.S.
- 2006—Launched in the U.K.
- 2008—Launched in India.
- Today, Google Maps covers the entire globe
Out of 7 billion people on the planet, 1 billion people used to use Google Maps in their everyday lives. In metro cities, it had become a part of life.
It gives the facilities to navigate users by car, bike, foot, train, or flight, and not only that, it gives real-time traffic updates, street maps, and alternative routes too. It has become a necessity. It all started with the missing way for the dinner party.
What Makes a Great Leader?
Once Sundar Pichai has said
If you don’t fail sometimes,
you are not being
ambitious enough
Great leaders have a different mindset; that is the reason they are great. They just don’t think and focus on their development; they think about what they can give the world and the people.
This is the reason Google Maps became so successful: it has solved the problem of many faced around the world.
Failures is a pillar of success
It’s a good lesson to learn from the story of Sundar Pichai that even small circumstances make us think of a new idea.
They aren’t just a problem solver, but whatever they take out of the solution, it will be the innovations that benefit the entire world.
Click to read the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the man behind Meta.
