The Vedic Code in Silicon Valley: Why So Many Tech Giants Are Led by Indian CEOs

Have you ever wondered why so many of the world's most powerful technology companies are led by people from India?

It's one of those patterns that, once you see it, you can't unsee. Alphabet, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, YouTube, Micron, Palo Alto Networks, Arista Networks — the list goes on. Some of the most consequential decisions shaping our digital lives are being made by leaders who grew up in a civilization that has been thinking deeply about the nature of reality, consciousness, and human potential for over five thousand years.

This isn't a coincidence. And it's not just about education or ambition. There's something deeper at work here — something that traces back to the Vedas.

The Leaders

Let's look at who we're talking about:

Sundar Pichai, born in Chennai, has been CEO of Google since 2015 and of Alphabet since 2019. He oversees Search, Android, Chrome, and the company's massive push into AI. Satya Nadella, born in Hyderabad, took the helm of Microsoft in 2014 and is widely credited with transforming the company around cloud computing and a renewed culture of empathy. Shantanu Narayen, also from Hyderabad, has led Adobe since 2007, guiding its radical transformation from boxed software to the cloud-based Creative Cloud model. Arvind Krishna, from Andhra Pradesh, became CEO of IBM in 2020 and has been steering the company toward hybrid cloud and AI services.

Neal Mohan, of Indian origin, became CEO of YouTube in 2023. Sanjay Mehrotra, born in Kanpur, leads Micron Technology. Nikesh Arora, from Ghaziabad, is CEO and chairman of cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks. George Kurian, from Kerala, runs NetApp. Anirudh Devgan leads Cadence Design Systems. Ravi Kumar S heads Cognizant. Jayshree Ullal, raised in India, has turned Arista Networks into a cloud networking powerhouse. Revathi Advaithi leads Flex, the electronics manufacturing giant.

And there are others — Raghu Raghuram, who led VMware through its Broadcom acquisition, Anjali Sud, who served as CEO of Vimeo, and Leena Nair, who became the first Indian-origin CEO of Chanel.

The sheer scale of this is remarkable. But why?

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Beyond the IIT Pipeline

The standard explanation usually stops at education: India's legendary Indian Institutes of Technology, fierce academic competition, a culture that prizes STEM. And yes, this is part of the story. The rigour is real, the discipline is exceptional, and the meritocratic climb through some of the most competitive educational environments on Earth produces extraordinary problem-solvers.

But this only explains the technical competence. It doesn't explain why these leaders are so good at the human dimension of running organizations — navigating complexity, holding paradoxes, leading with both conviction and adaptability, and staying composed under immense pressure.

For that, we need to look somewhere else.

The Vedic Root

India is not just a country. It's a civilisation — arguably the oldest continuously living civilisation on Earth. And at the root of this civilisation are the Vedas, ancient texts that have shaped Indian thought, values, and ways of being for millennia.

Whether someone grows up practising Yoga, chanting mantras, or simply absorbing the cultural atmosphere of a Hindu household, certain principles seep in. They become part of how you see the world, how you relate to challenge, and how you lead.

Here are a few that stand out:

Nishkama Karma — Action without attachment to outcome. The Bhagavad Gita teaches that one should focus on the quality of action rather than obsessing over results. This is not passivity — it's the opposite. It's total engagement with the work itself, freed from the anxiety of outcome. Imagine leading a company of 200,000 people with that kind of inner composure. This is what Satya Nadella describes when he talks about a "growth mindset."

Dharma — Right action aligned with purpose. In the Vedic tradition, every being has a dharma — a role, a duty, a deeper purpose that goes beyond personal gain. The best leaders don't just chase profit or market share. They feel a sense of responsibility toward something larger. You can hear this in how many of these CEOs talk about their work — not as a career, but as a mission.

Yoga — And I don't mean the postures. In its fullest sense, Yoga is the science of uniting the individual consciousness with the universal. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali describe mastery of the mind — the ability to hold focus, to stay steady when everything around you is turbulent. This mental discipline, even when not explicitly practised, runs through Indian culture like a deep current. The capacity to hold complexity without losing your centre — that's Yoga in action.

Ayurveda — The intelligence of balance. Ayurvedic thinking is about understanding that everything is interconnected, that health is not the absence of disease but the presence of harmony. Translated to leadership, this means seeing the organisation as a living system, not a machine. Noticing when something is off-balance before it becomes a crisis. This is systems thinking — rooted in a tradition that's been practising it for thousands of years.

A Culture of Multidimensionality

There's another factor that doesn't get enough attention: India itself.

Growing up in India means growing up in radical diversity — hundreds of languages, thousands of subcultures, multiple religions, a dizzying range of economic realities all layered on top of each other. You learn to navigate ambiguity from childhood. You learn to communicate across deep differences. You develop what some call "cultural intelligence" — but it's actually something more fundamental: the ability to hold multiple dimensions simultaneously.

This is exactly what modern organisations demand. A global tech company is not one thing. It's thousands of teams, dozens of markets, competing priorities, technical complexity, human complexity, regulatory complexity — all moving at once. Leading such an organisation requires the ability to hold it all without collapsing into simplistic thinking.

India, in all its beautiful chaos, trains you for exactly this.

What This Means for All of Us

I'm not Indian. I grew up in a different context. But as someone who has spent twenty years in the tech industry and now lives and breathes Yoga and Vedic wisdom, I see the connection clearly.

The ancient traditions didn't survive for millennia because they were quaint or religious in the narrow sense. They survived because they encode deep truths about how life works — about the mind, about focus, about resilience, about seeing the whole while attending to the parts.

The rise of Indian CEOs in tech is, to me, one of the most visible signs that ancient wisdom and modern technology are not opposites. They are complements. The leaders who can hold both — who can architect cloud infrastructure and understand that consciousness is the ultimate technology — are the ones shaping our future.

This is why I believe so deeply in bringing wellbeing to the digital age. Not as a nice-to-have. Not as a corporate wellness programme. But as a fundamental reorientation of how we build, lead, and live in a world of accelerating technology.

The Vedas have been whispering this for five thousand years. Silicon Valley is finally listening.

Life is short. And the time to truly experience it is even shorter. Choose joy.

About: I think, write, and speak about wellbeing in the digital age — bridging ancient wisdom with modern technology so people can see their way with greater ease. Learn more at petar.com.

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