Taking the helm of an iconic American company and positioning it for long-term success in a way that reflects your values is no easy task. Sundar Pichai’s uniquely American story—emigrating from India as a young adult and working his way to become CEO of a $1 trillion corporation—represents the best of what we aspire for our society. He used his natural gifts and strong work ethic to rise through the ranks of Google (now Alphabet) by leading many of their most successful products, such as Drive, Gmail and Maps, and officially took the reins of the company in December.
Google is a client, partner and competitor of ours, but we both recognize that our success is dependent on a healthy and inclusive economy that looks out for employees, customers and communities. Sundar, along with myself and 25 CEOs of New York City’s other largest employers, recently committed to hiring 100,000 traditionally underserved New Yorkers by 2030, with a focus on low-income, Black, Latinx and Asian communities.
The challenges Sundar faces in his role are among the most important of our time—issues of innovation, privacy, regulation and competition. But his analytical, humble and inclusive leadership will position Google to meet the moment. These are traits the world could use a lot more of in these times.
Dimon is chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase