Sundar Pichai has been named as the new chief executive of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. This comes after the announcement that cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were stepping down from their roles leading one of the most powerful and well-known companies in the world.

The 47-year-old Pichai has a remarkable life story: rising from humble beginnings in India to the very top of the global technology industry is no mean feat. To be a big tech CEO requires a special kind of individual and personality, whether it be Jack Ma's eccentricity, Elon Musk's unbounded levels of vision or the mindset of Bill Gates, who is reputed to read at least one book a week. But just what kind of character and upbringing does it take? Are big tech CEOs born or made to be able to command and earn billions of US dollars in complicated global operations?

Pichai himself clearly has a lust for life. An avid chess player, he also led his school cricket team, and continues to have multiple stimulating interests, which clearly develops character in a way that is beneficial for his role. Many close to him praise his soft-spoken and diplomatic nature.

Education was a priority during his upbringing. His father, an electrical engineer, was by no means wealthy and the family reportedly had to save for three years to buy their first scooter. This did not stop him ensuring that young Sundar had the best education possible, however, sending his son to the best educational facility the family could afford, Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan.

As well as upbringing, natural talent seems to be essential. Pichai is reportedly able to memorize and instantly recall every single number he has ever dialed and has an unusually high level of mathematical and numerical recall.

The CEO Genome project published in the Harvard Business Review has explored traits in highly performing CEOs and found that despite extroverts being widely perceived to have strong leadership qualities, introverts actually tend to perform better for a company's net profit bottom line. The researchers stated: "Our analysis revealed that while boards often gravitate toward charismatic extroverts, introverts are slightly more likely to surpass the expectations of their boards and investors."

CEOs such as Pichai and powerful leaders such as former United States president Barack Obama have long been considered charismatic introverts, holding potentially the best of both worlds.

Surprisingly, the data also does not strongly support the theory of the importance of a traditional education. Only 7 percent of top CEOs have an Ivy League undergraduate degree, while nearly 8 percent never graduated from college at all. Mistakes also seem to be part of the learning process. The report found that 45 percent of CEOs had at least one major career failure, and despite this, more than three quarters of them were subsequently offered their current CEO or recent roles.

One quality the research did identify as being key is decisiveness. How quickly someone can consistently make decisions is a key component of being a successful CEO. The report's data said those described as decisive were 12 times more likely to be a CEO at a high performing level.

Overall, it may be a mix of factors that is required to become a top dog in the fast-moving world of global technology. Not a place for the faint hearted, to succeed in this arena it seems the perfect storm of upbringing, to harness special natural talent, as well as pure grit and perseverance is required.

Every company is different, however, with a unique culture and fit. Despite the majority of people seeing such lucrative positions as ones to be desired, research would certainly suggest that being a top-level CEO is not a job for everyone.