‘Leadership is a privilege’

WASHINGTON, DC: When asked about a pop culture memory of India, LSI Logic President and CEO Abhijit Talwalkar says the only movie he remembers is the Rajesh Khanna-Tanuja wildlife flick Haathi Mere Saathi, which he saw in Pune when he was around five. Childhood memories probably never fade.

Today, Talwalkar may not remember many scenes from that movie about a man and his love for elephants, but he does share some parallel with the movie — with the recent publication of Silicon Valley’s highest-paid CEOs list, he has become a giant among his peers.

At an annual salary of more than $22 million, the president and CEO of the $2 billion LSI Logic is No 10 on the San Francisco Chronicle’s list of tech elites. He is far behind Yahoo’s Terry Semel ($56 million), but he is right at the top when it comes to five other Indian-origin CEOs in the Top 100 list.

Talwalkar headed the digital enterprise group at Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, before he got a call up to take over LSI Logic. “It was a great privilege to take over the leadership of the company that Wilf (Wilfred Corrigan) founded,” he says. “Although I had a large and significant position at Intel, the opportunity to become a public company CEO for an established and recognised technology leader such as LSI was incredibly appealing.”

It turned out to be appealing for the company, too. In just a few quarters, Talwalkar turned the company around from a loss-making behemoth to a profit-making elephant that can dance. But he is pretty non-chalant and humble about it, saying it was his leadership team that has allowed him to deal with less stress than what he had to deal with at Intel.

“As a CEO, aside from interpreting and responding to market dynamics and competition, most other elements are in your control,” he says. “Having a good leadership team that also approaches the world the same way further reduces the stress and makes every day enjoyable.”

Talwalkar came to the US with his parents when he was just five. His father, a doctor, was a student at Harvard Medical School, where he would later teach. A few years later, in 1973, they shifted to Oregon, where Talwalkar completed his electrical engineering education and met his wife Linda.

He took up a few jobs before he shifted to Intel in 1993, which turned out to be one of the most crucial career decisions. “I was involved in more than six generations of platform/technology transitions,” he says, “apart from the formation of key industries including the Intel Architecture Server Industry, and the general management of numerous silicon and system business initiatives. I was also able to learn from and work with great industry leaders such as Paul Otellini (the current CEO) and Andy Grove (the founder).”

He has also been observing India’s growing influence in the high-tech industry, he says, attributing the success to a strong labour force, a large consumer base and IT expertise. “Many IT companies recognise the value India can bring to business and technology practices and continue to build a strong presence in the region (Silicon Valley).”

But it has also meant hard work — not only for the community, but also for him. “In our global industry it’s 24/7; things are constantly moving and the competition never sleeps. You simply need to move faster and smarter than your competition.”

Perhaps this is what is keeping him ahead of the rest.