#232 CEO NetApp, George Kurian: New Chapters

Mar 3, 2025

George Kurian, CEO of NetApp, shares insights on navigating his unexpected promotion and the complexities of leadership. He discusses the loneliness that often accompanies executive roles and the balance between personal life and work. Kurian highlights NetApp's remarkable turnaround into cloud services, emphasizing adaptability and innovation in the tech industry. He reflects on his upbringing in India, the cultural shift in values, and the importance of humility in leadership, all while addressing challenges in raising children in a privileged environment.

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ANECDOTE

Extreme Commute

George Kurian commuted from San Francisco to Sunnyvale, taking three hours daily.
He adapted by waking up early and taking calls in the car to maximize his time.

ANECDOTE

Surprise CEO Appointment

George Kurian was surprised by his CEO appointment, initially thinking he was being fired.
He prioritized his family, ensuring their support and honoring pre-existing commitments.

ADVICE

Balancing Commitments

Integrate personal and professional calendars to balance commitments.
Prioritize what's important by actively making time, not just finding it.

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Guest: George Kurian, CEO of NetApp

For almost 10 years, George Kurian has been CEO of the data infrastructure firm NetApp, overseeing its pivot to cloud services. After he took the job — a surprise promotion dropped on him just days before it was announced — he had to learn on the job how the job could be.

“ There are a lot more stakeholders that a CEO has to deal with than a chief product officer,” George says, referring to his previous role. “There's also a lot more external commitment ... It was a really all-consuming effort to get the company turned around.”

He said the CEO job can be “fairly lonely” because you may want to be peers or friends with your team and your board — but in fact, they are sometimes your subordinates and your superiors, respectively.

“ We wouldn't be here without others having contributed significantly on the journey,” George says. “[But] there are times when you have to step back and say, ‘I see a pattern that my team is not seeing,’ or ‘Do I think that we can do a better job than we are doing?’”

Chapters:

(01:10) - Commuting to Sunnyvale
(04:49) - Growing up in India
(08:04) - Protect the child
(09:33) - Raising kids in Silicon Valley
(12:44) - Money motivation
(15:04) - NetApp’s renaissance
(21:39) - Writing new chapters
(23:15) - Culture shifts
(26:38) - Coming to NetApp
(29:41) - Surprise! You’re the CEO
(32:41) - Making sacrifices
(35:04) - Work vs. family tension
(37:18) - Doubt & lonely decisions
(42:38) - The data wave
(45:27) - Enterprise AI
(51:36) - Starting your own company
(53:33) - Navigating difficulty
(56:28) - Who NetApp is hiring
(57:11) - What “grit” means to George

Mentioned in this episode: EMC, OpenAI, DeepSeek, CalTrain, the San Francisco 49ers, Princeton University, Subway, Vons, Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud, Stanford University, Brian Cox, Oliver Jay, the Quakers, Jay Chaudhry, zScaler, Manmohan Singh, Oracle, IBM, Sun, Amazon, Microsoft, Glean, Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, McKinsey, Akamai, Cisco, Gwen McDonald, and the San Francisco Friends School.

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This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm