What Satya Nadella’s Appointment As Microsoft CEO Teaches Us?

Not only is Satya Indian by birth, he went to ordinary schools and colleges, got to the top on his own merit and, most of all, remained a nice, normal and humble guy. We can relate to Satya and his journey in a way that we can’t relate to, say, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, and that’s what is so inspiring. In his success, we see the possibility of our own success. At a time where young people are looking for role models to emulate, Satya is certainly a wonderful one.

Finally, there are multinationals like HUL, Suzuki and Samsung. In these firms, most important decisions are made outside India and so, a promising leader has to leave India and get back to headquarters to rise. So, it is indeed true that India is still a small pond for an ambitious and talented professional manager. Hopefully, as Indian firms globalise and professionalise and more entrepreneurial firms achieve scale, this will change. But in the short term, the best opportunities for the very best talent are still outside India. For all our complaints about the US’s restrictions on immigration of skilled workers, we ourselves remain quite closed. If we could make India a less challenging place to do business and if we could become more welcoming of high-end talent regardless of nationality, we would reverse the brain drain and become a magnet for innovators and entrepreneurs who would revitalise our economy in unimaginable ways.

Finally, does India have a competitive advantage to grow top talent? We do. First, we have the numbers. When you have so many young people, a numerically large number of us are exceptionally gifted. Second, there is a Darwinian process that results in survival of the fittest. In middle class and even poor homes, educational achievement is the passport to success, and there is pressure on kids to work hard and succeed. Our education system, with all its inadequacies, results in a hypercompetitive environment that has a way of toughening up people.

CEOs may well be India’s most valuable export. Now, what we need to do is make India more of a meritocracy – in business, education, politics and government – so that more talented people don’t just build great businesses in India but apply themselves to solving some of our toughest social, economic and political challenges. It won’t be long before we become a developed nation.