But as Pichai approaches a decade running Google and starts his sixth year as CEO of parent Alphabet, questions remain about his ability to guide the company into the future.

Internally, employees routinely criticize leadership on the company's Memegen messaging board, and some have aired their grievances publicly.

"Google does not have one single visionary leader," a Google software engineer wrote in a LinkedIn post earlier this year that received more than 8,500 reactions. "Not a one. From the C-suite to the SVPs to the VPs, they are all profoundly boring and glassy-eyed."