Sundar Pichai reveals two-step mantra that helps him stay calm while running Google
Running one of the world’s most influential tech giants may seem like a pressure cooker, but Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai says he has learned to stay steady through a simple philosophy: make the decision, and remember that most decisions aren’t as big as they seem.
Speaking at Stanford Business School in 2022, Pichai opened up about the mindset that helps him navigate the constant high-stakes calls that come with leading Google.
“One is: making that decision is the most important thing you can do. You’re breaking a tie and it unlocks the organisation to move forward,” he said.
“The second is, with time, you realise most of those decisions are inconsequential.”
According to Pichai, many choices feel daunting in the moment, but only later does it become clear that they weren’t “that consequential” after all.
What truly matters, he believes, is having the judgment to recognise which decisions carry real weight
Pichai credits much of this mindset to the late Bill Campbell, former Intuit CEO and one of Silicon Valley’s most influential mentors. Campbell regularly pushed him to be decisive.
“Every week he would ask me, ‘What ties did you break this week?’” Pichai recalled. “It taught me to be confident in making tough calls.”
From product manager to CEO
Pichai joined Google in 2004 as a product manager and steadily rose through the leadership ranks, becoming CEO in 2015.
Over the years, he has led the company through major shifts—including AI, global regulatory challenges, and internal reorganisation.
“The higher up you are in an organisation, the easier decisions don’t come to you,” he said. Still, he insists, the mantra helps him stay grounded: “It’s just another normal day in the office, and so you keep going through it.”
Despite the pressure, Pichai says helping the company move forward is what makes the job fulfilling. “You’re really helping the company, and so that makes it a bit more fun,” he said.
At a recent tech conference in San Francisco, Pichai also spoke about the qualities he believes the next Google CEO must have—deep understanding of the company and respect for the responsibility that comes with leading it.
He did not name any potential successors or hint at stepping down soon.
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