Google India, We look out for leaders who are self critical

The best young leaders are able to strike a balance: they are respectful and extraordinarily good at learning from senior colleagues, says Rajan Anandan, VP & MD, Google India It is important for young leaders to be themselves, be new age, be fast, and have a healthy disregard for the normal. It's equally important to learn from senior colleagues.

The best young leaders are able to strike a balance: they are respectful and extraordinarily good at learning from senior colleagues, says Rajan Anandan, VP & MD, Google India, and a jury member of The Economic Times Young Leaders Programme.
Anandan talks about grooming young leaders and diversity. Edited excerpts:

How does Google search for its young leaders?
The first thing we look for is passion and energy. Google tends to be a very fast-paced environment. We like young leaders who are energetic, want to get things done and move quickly.

Second, we are an idea-centric place. We like young leaders who can think big and come up with big innovative ideas, and who also have the risk appetite to pursue those ideas.

The third thing we look for is collaborative leaders. Being able to work with different teams, different types of people and different styles is very important to us. We also look for leaders who, on the one hand, are aspirational, driven and competitive while on the other, are self-critical. Finally, we look for leaders who are fun.

How do you groom young leaders?
We have a simple policy - hire the best. We spend an enormous amount of time going through large numbers of candidates before hiring. The best candidates tend to be generalists, smart, and able to operate in a very dynamic, fast-paced environment.

Once they come into Google, we groom our leaders through rotation. We believe the best way to train young leaders is to put them in different kind of roles. It's normal for a young leader in Google to change roles in two to three years and go from one function to another. That way they get a different sense of perspective.

We encourage our young leaders to take risks and embark on initiatives that can truly change the company, if not the world. Leaders who are able to step up, take those risks and think big tend to be more successful. A lot of it is centered around the experience they gain in their roles.

Do you think companies do enough to nurture young women leaders?
McKinsey recently did a compelling global research on diversity. It said the first step is to create the right environment, benefits and facilities and so on, so women can continue to work and be successful. This research also pointed out that it is a minimum requirement.

What's actually needed for this to happen is diversity becoming the priority of the CEO and the top leadership team. When a company has a very specific focus from the CEO and the senior management team around diversity is when you start moving the needle.