- What's up Believe Nation.
I started the Mentor Me Series with the goal
to hang around people who've done a lot more than us,
who've been a lot more successful, and by spending
a little more time with them, hopefully some of their
mindset, their views, their beliefs,
seep into us to help us become the best version
of ourselves, so today, we're going to learn
from Sundar Pichai and his road to becoming
the CEO of Google.
Mentor Me Sundar.
And as always guys, when you're watching the videos,
if you see something that really resonates with you,
please leave it in the comments below
and put quotes around it, so other people can be inspired,
and if you write it down, it's much more likely to stick
with yourself as well.
(inspirational music)
- The thing which attracted me to Google and to Internet
in general is that it's a great equalizer,
and so to me, I've always been struck by the fact
that Google Search worked the same.
As long as you had access to computer with connectivity,
if you were to relocate anywhere or if you were a
president of Stanford or Harvard.
And to me, you know, I want Google to strive
to push to do that, not just build technology
for a certain segment.
For me, it matters that, you know, we drive technology
as an equalizing force, as an enabler,
to everyone around the world.
- What motivated you to switch fields from first metallurgy
to management to computer science,
and did you ever feel incompetent or even a bit insecure
by working with people who were even more qualified
in that field than you were.
- You know, my background, I was always interested
in technology, and the first chance I could get
the program, I learned programming, so for me,
I never thought of it as switching fields
as much as when the Internet started happening,
it took me awhile to realize the power of it,
and you know it became obvious to me for the first time
we are going to have something which could connect,
one day, all of humanity and profoundly transform
what people did, so I wanted to be a part of that,
be a part of that journey, so that's how I thought of it.
So I didn't think of it necessarily as switching careers.
I would actually encourage all of you
if at some point in your life, you have to work with people
where you feel a bit insecure.
That's essential because that means you're working
with people who are better than you,
and who are pushing you, right?
So always encourage, if you actually very secure
in what you do, that means you're doing something
comfortable, and you're not pushing yourself.
There were many many times I felt working with people
in a group, am I doing enough, these people seem
much better than me, and I think that's an inherent
part of learning.
You know I interviewed at Google on April first, 2004,
which is April Fool's Day,
(audience laughs)
and Google had just announced Gmail,
and it was invite only, and so, but people weren't exactly
sure whether it was an April Fool's joke.
So I remember doing my interviews during the day
and people kept asking me what do you think of Gmail,
but I hadn't had a chance to use it.
I thought it was an April Fool's joke.
So my first three interviews I couldn't answer it well
because I hadn't used the product.
It was only in the fourth interview when someone asked me,
have you seen Gmail?
I said no, and so he actually showed it to me.
And then the fifth interviewer asked,
what do you think of Gmail, and I was able to start
answering it then, so the final four interviews
I actually told them about what I think of Gmail
and how to improve Gmail,
and that's my interview experience.
Somebody also took me to have ice cream in the middle,
which showed me Google is
a very very different place as well.
So that was how my interview process went.
- Is it true that everyone at that time
was (mumbles).
- I was one of the first people, I think, you know,
I joined Google when we were over a thousand people,
and Larry just at that point, it was the first time
he had stopped interviewing people, so I still joke
around that I got into Google because Larry
didn't interview me.
I had a dream, just like I'm sure many many Indians,
dreamt of being a Cricketer. - You did?
(audience laughs) - Yeah.
I used to be a huge fan of, sorry I'm old,
but I used to be a huge fan of Gavaskar,
you know, when he was playing.
(crowd cheers)
And later on Sachin when he played,
but so I always had a dream.
On a more serious note, I always loved technology
growing up, and so I had dreams of just not exactly
what I would do, but I wanted to do, at the time,
I used to read about what was happening in Silicon Valley,
and I wanted to go be a part of it.
So I didn't exactly dream of carrier
as much as a destination.
- You're sitting in (mumbles) in a room
that wasn't quite as fancy as this hall is,
and there is no Google, so how are you
keeping in touch with what Silicon Valley is doing
and how are you dreaming?
- Wow, I have to think about that for a minute.
There was no Internet too, and it was pre all that.
You know mostly reading.
My uncle had gone to the states, and I was interested
in semiconductors and so on, and William Shockley,
the person who kind of invented semiconnectors
was from Silicon Valley, so I had read a story
about him staying, working through, at Stanford,
close to Christmas Eve, and so stuff like that.
For what I was interested in,
I knew that's where it was happening.
- But what is Sundar Pichai like, as a leader?
- You know, I think--
- What is your leadership style.
- When you turn it on something the scale of Google,
we have now over 60,000 people, and you know,
you rely on other strong leaders.
A lot of what I do, is you know, I have an outstanding
leadership team.
It's learning to let go and really empowering people
at all levels of the organization.
And trusting them to do the right thing.
As a leader, a lot of your job
is to make those people successful.
It's less about trying to be successful
and more about making sure you have good people,
and your work is to remove barriers, remove roadblocks
for them so that they can be successful in what they do.
And so that's how I've always thought about it.
And also valued teamwork quite a bit.
I think it's really important to build organizations
where people actually want to work together.
Everything comes out of that.
So setting up collaborative cultures is another big thing
I try to focus on.
- So it's not about one person, it's about the team.
- That's right.
- And if you team succeeds, you also succeed with them.
- Absolutely.
You know, I would, I really encourage people
to, you know, I think, there's a lot of pressure
in today's system.
I get surprised people start preparing for IT
in their eighth grades, and that's a bit shocking to me.
I hope, I hope, you know, as people are approaching things
they are really taking the time,
doing things in a deeper way.
Understanding things deeper.
Learning by doing things, and you know,
I think it's important to remember it's a long road.
Setbacks actually don't matter.
I think a lot of times when I was younger,
people would say this person didn't get into this college
or something, and that's the end of the road.
Life is so different from that.
And so I think it's important to keep your hopes,
keep your dreams, and try to follow them.
I think most of how life plays out is up to you,
not up to what happens outside of you,
and I think it's important to keep that in mind
and take the long-term view.
- Thank you guys so much for watching.
I'd love to know what did you think?
What did you learn from Sunday today
that is going to have the biggest impact on your life
or your business?
What was your favorite clip and why?
Leave it down in the comments below,
and I'm going to join in the discussion.
I also want to give a quick shout-out to Julio Velez.
Julio thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book,
Your One Word, and for making that book summary video
on your YouTube video channel.
I really really really appreciate your support.
- So this book is called Your One Word by Evan Carmichael.
- So thank you guys again for watching.
I believe in you.
I hope you continue to believe in yourself
and whatever your one word is.
Much love. I'll see you soon.