When I arrived in the United States in 1967, the path to the top of an American corporation was a narrow, paved road. It was a world of “insider clubs,” where leadership was largely a product of internal promotion, polished pedigrees, and, all too often, a quiet brand of nepotism. As an Indian engineer with a thick accent and a childhood speech impediment, I was the ultimate outsider. The gatekeepers of that era’s “traditional” leadership pipelines—venture capitalists and corporate boards—looked at people like me and saw technical workers, not CEOs. They often asked, with a condescending skepticism, “Who’s going to buy from you? Will white guys work for you?”
But today, that paved road is being overtaken by a more dynamic, “bottom-up” network. We are witnessing a seismic shift where immigrant networks and merit-based mentorship are outperforming the traditional pipelines of the past. The reason is simple: the modern world no longer has patience for insider clubs. It hungers for fresh ideas and a relentless focus on excellence.
Indians, particularly those trained in the rigorous environment of the Institutes of Technology (IIT), are uniquely suited to this new era because we are trained to see the world in systems. We rely on “First Principles” thinking—an approach to problem-solving that reduces everything to its fundamental truths to rebuild a solution from the ground up.
This shift is best illustrated by the current leadership at the world’s most powerful tech companies. Satya Nadella at Microsoft, Sundar Pichai at Google, and Arvind Krishna at IBM were each brought to the helm because they possessed this outsider’s “systems thinking”. They didn’t just fit into existing hierarchies; they deconstructed them to change the direction of their businesses. Satya Nadella transformed Microsoft by pivoting toward a cloud system, while Sundar Pichai scaled Google’s reach by focusing on its core products. Most recently, Arvind Krishna—an IIT graduate with a PhD in electrical engineering just like myself—was tapped to lead IBM because the board specifically asked, “Where’s our Indian CEO?”
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I had the privilege of being the first Indian to take a company, Excelan, public in Silicon Valley. When I was “battlefield promoted” to CEO in 1985, the company was bleeding cash and the board was writing off its future. I was given instructions to hold the fort while they went looking for a “proper” CEO—a white knight from Wall Street. Realizing no one was watching, I switched into survival mode and I applied the engineering logic I’d honed since childhood. I identified the “YAFOs” (Yet Another Friggin’ Opportunities) that were distracting us, and bypassed the bureaucracy straight into action. Ironically even after turning the company around, the board brought in the “white knight” for our IPO, but over time I regained the reins because the performance spoke for itself.
Another example of this shift to a new leadership pipeline is the formation of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). When we started TiE in the early 1990s, it wasn’t just a networking group; it was a movement designed to provide the role models and mentors that my generation never had. We were pioneers who had navigated the wilderness alone, facing rejections from VCs who “would never back an Indian.”
But it was the philosophy of giving back that stood in stark contrast to the transactional nature of the old “insider clubs.” In those old circles, help was often a trade—a favor for a favor. We believed that giving back should never be a question of “what’s in it for me?” or “what do I get in return?” Instead, it is an unconditional investment in the ecosystem. You mentor the next person precisely because no one mentored you, and you refuse to let that cycle continue.
That triggered a massive ripple effect. Successful entrepreneurs reached back to pull the next person up without looking for a kickback. This created a virtuous cycle of success that traditional pipelines could never replicate. In my years as president of TiE, I saw how a simple “drop-in” meeting could transform a raw idea into a billion-dollar company, simply because the mentor wanted to see the “system” of Indian entrepreneurship succeed as a whole.
I understand the current anxieties—the concerns over how Indians are being treated in some quarters and the current tensions in the US-India relationship. But we must view these moments through the lens of history. We are witnessing a profound leveling of the playing field across the world by the sheer force of talent and ideas.
This mixing of people and ideas is not a threat to American success; it is the very engine of it. Some fear this change, but I see it as the ultimate validation of the American experiment. Capitalism and democracy are a matched pair—they both require an open system to function. Capitalism demands that everyone has a choice, and democracy demands that everyone has a voice. When you combine the two, you filter out prejudice in favor of progress.
The US-India relationship is anchored in this shared reality. The US needs the intellectual rocket fuel of the Indian diaspora, and India thrives on the meritocratic ideals that America perfected. We are natural partners in a “new power triangle” that will define the century.
To those who feel the weight of current events, remember: everything will work out in the end. We have moved from being seen as “unsuitable” for the boardroom to defining the future of global industry. This is not a fluke; this is a hard-earned ascent over decades of ambition and grit. Though we may see temporary setbacks, the arc of history is broadly moving toward collaboration and mutual gain. We have navigated these cycles before, and we will emerge from this one the same way we always have: stronger, smarter, and more prosperous.
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Kanwal Rekhi is the first Indian-American founder and CEO to take a company public on NASDAQ. His new book is entitled The Groundbreaker: Entrepreneurship, the American Dream, and the Rise of Modern India