Twitter's new CEO, Parag Agrawal, is the umpteenth Indian descent to be the boss of a Silicon Valley-based tech giant.
He follows Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Adobe President and CEO Shantanu Narayen, IBM Group CEO Arvind Krishna, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, and VMWare CEO Rangarajan Raghuram.
Whereas the number of Indians in the United States only makes up 1% of the total population, and only 6% of the workforce in Silicon Valley. Why do so many Indians succeed in becoming Silicon Valley corporate leaders.
Silicon Valley CEOs of Indian descent are actually part of the wealthiest and most educated minority group in the US. Of the four million Indian immigrants in the US, one million work as scientists and technicians.
More than 70% of the H-1B work visas granted by the US government to foreign workers are for software engineers from India. In addition, 40% of all foreign technicians in a big city like Seattle are from India.
"This is the result of a drastic shift in US immigration policy in the 1960s," said the author of The Other One Percent: Indians in America, as quoted by the BBC, Monday (6/12/2021).
Following the civil rights movement in the US, the US visa quota prioritized skills and family union. This caused highly educated Indians, such as scientists, technicians, doctors, and programmers, to emigrate to the US.
This group of immigrants from India is also different from immigrant groups from other countries. They include people from the highest caste because they can study at prestigious universities in their home countries, as well as being able to finance master's education in the US.
Finally, the visa system in the US favors those who have high skills in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields required by large US companies.
“These are the best people and they are joining companies where the best can soar to the top,” says tech entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa.
"The network they have built (in Silicon Valley) also gives them an advantage - the idea is that they will help each other."
Wadhwa added that most CEOs from India are also slowly climbing the corporate ladder. According to him, this makes them more humble and distinguishes them from many founder-CEOs who are considered arrogant in their vision and way of leading.
India's diverse society, with different cultures and languages, also makes it easier for CEOs from India to handle complex situations, especially when it comes to getting promoted in the company.
"This factor plus the 'hard work' ethic really helps them," said Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla.
Most Indians who are already fluent in English also make it easier for them to blend into the US tech industry. India's education system that focuses on math and science also helps produce graduates with the right skills that are needed today.
India itself currently has several unicorn startups which local talents are reluctant to move to the US. However, it is still too early to see the global impact of these startups.
"India's startup ecosystem is still relatively young. Indian role models who are successful in entrepreneurship as well as in the executive ranks are helpful but role models take time to spread," said Khosla.