George Kurian’s journey from a modest upbringing in Kerala, India, to becoming CEO of NetApp is an extraordinary story. George worked cafeteria shifts and construction jobs to pay his way through Princeton before climbing the ranks at Oracle, McKinsey, and Cisco. In this episode, George opens up about the weight of being a “rookie CEO” responsible for 12,000 people, the discipline of saying no to 97% of ideas, and the humility it takes to lead through uncertainty. He and Ilana explore resilience, focus, and the future of AI, while revealing how diverse experiences and family values shaped his leadership philosophy.

George Kurian is CEO of NetApp, a Fortune 500 data infrastructure and cloud services company. Under his leadership, NetApp has strengthened its cloud-first and data services strategy, growing into a $20 billion company.

In this episode, Ilana and George will discuss:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:20) Family Role Models and Upbringing

(06:00) Landing a Princeton Scholarship and Learning to Survive

(09:20) Lessons from Oracle and McKinsey

(13:50) Why George Left Cisco to Join NetApp

(16:45) How Cafeteria Work Inspired NetApp’s Engineering Process

(19:40) The ‘30-30-30’ Rule for Driving Organizational Change

(22:40) George’s Journey to Becoming CEO Overnight

(26:30) First-Time CEO Challenges and Leadership Struggles

(30:40) Why a CEO Should Say “No” to 97% of Ideas

(33:10) Betting on Cloud Partnerships Instead of Competing

(37:15) The Power of Choosing Your Path and Tackling Hard Problems

George Kurian is CEO of NetApp, a Fortune 500 data infrastructure and cloud services company. Before joining NetApp in 2011, he had built a diverse tech career that included leadership roles at Oracle, McKinsey, Cisco, and Akamai. Under his leadership, NetApp has strengthened its cloud-first and data services strategy, growing into a $20 billion company.

Connect with George:

George’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/georgekuriannetapp