Murali said he joined Google India when the company had a relatively small presence in the country (Credit: Pexels)An Indian-origin Google executive has reflected on his journey with the tech giant for two decades. In a lengthy LinkedIn post, Shankar Murali, an engineering analyst manager in Google’s Trust & Safety Payments division in California, shared six leadership lessons that shaped his career across compliance, policy enforcement, and account security.He also reflected on his career, which began with Google’s early India operations. His focus is now on protecting Google Cloud, Gemini, and Workspace products from payment fraud, account hijacking, and billing abuse.Murali said he joined Google India when the company had a relatively small presence in the country, long before its large campuses and offices became synonymous with the tech giant.Over the years, Murali took on roles across several teams, including ads policy enforcement, webspam initiatives, counterfeit operations, account security pilots, and policy development.‘Do not always rush to provide solutions’Murali said one of the most valuable leadership lessons he learnt was that effective leaders do not always rush to provide solutions. “Whenever I went to my leads with a problem, they would just listen. It puzzled me, why no solutions?” he wrote, adding that he later realised talking through a challenge often helped him arrive at the answer himself.“The best leaders knew that and gave me the room. I try to give my team the same,” he said.Google executive shares 6 lessonsMurali summarised his experience into six leadership principles. First, he said leadership begins with listening, arguing that managers should create space for employees to think through challenges rather than immediately offering answers.Story continues below this adHis second lesson was to stay curious and embrace continuous learning. “Knowledge shared is the only knowledge that scales,” he wrote.The third principle, according to Murali, is to lead by example. “I have pushed my teams to push their limits, but never from behind,” he said.He also emphasised empathy in leadership, encouraging managers to recognise that colleagues may be dealing with personal challenges that are not always visible. “Lead with empathy, assume good intent,” he wrote.‘Respect is not optional’Murali’s fifth lesson focused on resilience and respectful disagreement. He said differing opinions are inevitable in organisations and should be handled with mutual respect. “Agree to disagree, but with respect. Respect is not optional,” he wrote.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu says AI is slowing IT hiring, warns of job challenge for India’s youthHe also urged professionals to embrace change, saying adaptability had been a defining characteristic of those who succeeded during Google’s constant evolution.“Every single year, something changed, products, problems, leadership styles. The people who thrived welcomed it,” he wrote.Looking ahead, Murali said he remains driven by curiosity and a desire to keep exploring new opportunities. “I do not know exactly what the next chapter holds, but I know my curiosity and my habit of doing something different will only get sharper,” he wrote.Click here to see the post.The post has gone viral, drawing a wave of reactions from his fellow colleagues. “It’s been an absolute pleasure Shankar!! I have learnt so much from you. Congratulations,” a LinkedIn user wrote. “t was wonderful working with you on the Policy team. Some of my favorite memories at Google are from those days. Congratulations on an amazing 20 years, Shankar!” another user commented.Story continues below this ad“Wow! Google feels so long ago for me, but congrats on such a long run!” a third user reacted.