Earlier this month, U.S. tech giant Twitter changed coaches, Parag Agrawal, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, became the new chief executive officer ,and Tesla boss Elon Musk concluded on Twitter: Indian talent has benefited the United States a lot!
From Elon Musk Twitter
In recent years, among U.S. tech companies, more and more People of Indian descent have been promoted to CEOs. The most well-known of these are Satya Nadella, who led Microsoft's transformation into cloud computing, and Sundar Pichai, who has taken over Google's parent company Alphabet for more than 6 years.
In addition, there are many tech giants with a market capitalization of more than $1 billion that are run by Indian-American talents.
In Contrast, in Silicon Valley, the number of Chinese americans holding CEO or other executive positions at tech companies appears to be significantly lower than the number of Indians.
A similar situation exists in Australia. Among the many large local companies listed on the Australian Exchange (ASX), there are many Australian-Indian CEOs. But it is not uncommon for Ethnic Chinese to become the "supreme leader" of such businesses. Therefore, a word "bamboo ceiling" appeared in english , bamboo ceiling , referring to Asians, especially to an invisible obstacle to advancement encountered by East Asians in the workplace of the Western world.
Parag Agrawal, 37, who became Ceo of Twitter, once again brings a question to us: Why can Indians get senior positions in companies in the United States and Australia, while Chinese still face a "bamboo ceiling"?
Parag Agrawal, 37, received a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and a ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University, according to Bloomberg data. He joined Twitter in 2011 after rising through the ranks to chief technology officer and has been involved in Twitter's cryptocurrency and blockchain research and development. Now, he is the youngest CEO in a S&P 500 public company.
Photo: Rappler
Prior to joining Twitter, he worked at Microsoft, Yahoo, and U.S. telecom giant AT&T, rotating various research positions.
As Twitter's CEO, Agrawal will receive an annual salary of $1 million ($1.4 million) and the opportunity to receive an annual performance bonus of up to 150% of his salary, according to U.S. media reports. In other words, his full annual salary can be as high as $2.5 million. In addition, Agrawal will receive a $12.5 million stock award, which will be redeemed in 16 quarters starting February 1, 2022.
After his appointment, Agrawal tweeted his email to former CEO Jack Dorsey and the entire company: "The world is now watching us, even more than before. That's because they care about Twitter and the future of humanity, which shows that our work on Twitter is important. ”
From Agrawal Twitter
Compared to the United States, in Australia, there are fewer CEOs from a small other minority of cultural backgrounds among the top listed companies.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Watermark Search Institute for International and Governance has released a 2021 wave of the Australian Corporate Board Diversity Index, which surveyed 300 organisations and more than 2,000 board members on five categories of diversity, namely gender, cultural background, skills, age and tenure, and independence.
Link's Vivek Bhatia (left), Tarun Gupta of Stockland (center) and Vik Bansal of InfraBuild (right), photo/AFR
"There is evidence that the number of Asian directors is increasing, but there is still plenty of room for growth relative to the importance of the Asian market and the demographic changes in Australia," the report said. ”
Among the increase in Asian business leaders in Australian companies, there is a large increase in managers from South Asian cultural backgrounds, including Indian descent, which is (incomplete):
Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO of Macquarie Group
Stockland Managing Director and CHIEF Executive Officer Tarun Gupta
Orica Managing Director and CEO Sanjeev Gandhi
Vivek Bhatia, CEO of Link Group
Sanjay Dayal, Managing Director and CEO of Pact
Newcrest Managing Director and CEO Sandeep Biswas
Cleanaway CEO Vik Bansal
There are only a few Chinese, and the only ones who are more well-known are David Teoh, founder and chairman of Telstra TPG (who stepped down as CEO this year), Tim Fung, CEO and co-founder of Airtasker, a gig economy platform, and Jack Zhang, CEO and co-founder of fintech company Airwallex.
Airwallex CEO and co-founder Jack Zhang, photo/South China Morning Post
Tim Fung, CEO of Airtasker, photo/Authority Magazine
These people all have one thing in common: they are the founders of the company, not the senior managers who entered the company through professional employment channels.
The same group of immigrants, how did this difference come about?
For the reasons for the different situations of Indians and Chinese in the workplace, there are usually the following analyses on the Internet:
The first is the language, English is one of the official languages of India, so there is no doubt that the Indians have a stronger language advantage;
The second is that Indians generally have strong communication skills, good at dealing with different people, although there are many retreat components, but also gained a real reputation, while the Chinese are pragmatic, satisfied with doing their part, the volume is much smaller than that;
The third is that Indians are more willing to promote each other in the company, although there is a suspicion of "ganging", but it also makes up for the weakness of minorities in the workplace.
In fact, in addition to the above three points, there are also some special factors in Australia.
First, Ted Baillieu, former Victorian governor and chairman of the Australian Heritage Commission, noted that the increase in CEOOs of Indian descent reflects India's rising influence and stronger relations with Australia. This is also reflected in the recent commitment of the Quad to strengthen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
Secondly, changes in the international situation have different effects on migrants from different regions.
Gupta, former Chief Financial Officer of Lendlease and current CEO of Stockland, came to Australia in the 1990s to study. He constantly stressed in the media that Indian immigrants "have been tested with incredible resilience and adaptability." ”
Stockland Managing Director and CEO Tarun Gupta, Photo/The Australian
Before coming to Australia, Gupta spent time in 10 cities, 4 universities and 7 secondary schools. When he graduated from college, he found that the international situation had changed. "I can feel it, and I think other people can notice it too." Australia is beginning to keep up with the trend in the United States. As more and more Indian CEOs become among Fortune 500 companies, Australia's business scene seems to be changing.
Link Group CEO Vivek Bhatia also analysed the role of cricket in Indians coming to Australia. Like many people, he loved cricket and watched the World Cricket Series as a child, so he got to know Australia and became a reason for him to come to Australia later.
Vivek Bhatia, CEO of Link Group, photo/SMH
In addition, most of the Indian ethnic groups immigrated to Australia in the 1990s and early 2000s, while immigrants to the United States were 20 years earlier. When you first come to a new place, people tend to work in the lower classes of society. But by the second generation of immigrants, that has changed markedly.
One in every 25 Australians now has Indian ancestry. India's total pre-trade with Australia is not very high. But in Bhaatia's view, India will soon become Australia's largest trading partner.
Although, Indian descent is gradually becoming more prominent in the management of large Australian corporations. In recent years, there has also been an increasing emphasis on cultural diversity, but there is still a long way to go.
In fact, the aforementioned Australian Board Diversity Report study states that "Australian boards are still largely popular in an Anglo-American and European context", with 90% of the directors surveyed still having an Anglo-Celtic or European background.
In Australia, society as a whole is still struggling to overcome the legacy of the "White Australia Policy", including "the perception that people from minority communities cannot be leaders." ”
A lot of minority talent "graduated from Australian universities, worked for Australian companies, but then hit the ceiling and couldn't get past it." ”
The chair of The Australian Diversity Council, Ming Long, said she hoped more boards in Australia would follow Silicon Valley's lead and acknowledge that Asian countries can produce exceptional talent.
Judging from the current severe labor shortage in Australia, the local government has not yet followed the trend to tap talent on a global scale. If you look at the composition of local companies in areas such as technology, australia does not focus on talent that is "in front of you" – Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia.
It can be said that in terms of talent recruitment and reserves, Australia has been left behind by other developed countries. Only a sufficiently open attitude and policy on the introduction of talents can change this situation.
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