I got an odd email earlier today with the subject line “Who is running the world?” and the following list.
1. Google’s CEO is an Indian.
2. Microsoft CEO is an Indian.
3. Adobe CEO is an Indian.
4. Net App CEO is an Indian.
5. MasterCard CEO is an Indian.
6. DBS CEO is an Indian.
7. Novartis CEO is an Indian.
8. Diageo CEO is an Indian.
9. SanDisk CEO is an Indian.
10. Harman CEO is an Indian.
11. Micron’s CEO is an Indian.
12. Palo Alto Networks CEO is an Indian.
13. Reckitt Benckiser CEO is an Indian.
14. IBM CEO is an Indian.
15. Britain’s Chancellor is an Indian.
16. Britain’s Home Secretary is an Indian.
17. Ireland’s Prime Minister is an Indian.
18. Suriname’s President is an Indian
19. Guyana’s President is an Indian.
20. The Mayor of London is an Indian
*And the American Vice President is Indian. So who’s running the World?*
Yes, there are some amazing companies run by Indians or rather, amazing Indians running some companies. But suggesting the world is being run by Indians just because 10 or 20 companies of the over 10 million businesses in the USA is rather offensive .
Of the Fortune 500 companies, 10 or so are led by Indians. Most of the other 490 are run almost entirely by whites, mostly men. I’m not complaining that they are run by whites or that there should be more diversity for diversity sake.
It is just that a few very successful Indians at these few companies are run by amazing group of people from an amazing country (no personal bias :).
Keep in mind there are 1.4 billion Indians with an average income $1670/year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_India), while in the United States there are over 1000 billionaires in the United States with median annual income of $70k (https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-276.html).