Another Look At A Fast-Forward Thinker Named Satya Nadella. By Felix Jarikre.

Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

Microsoft, on February 3, 2016, announced it was acquiring SwiftKey, a London-based mobile typing Artificial Intelligence-driven firm for £250m (N50bn). The announcement was recognized in the international business community as a smart move by Satya Nadella as he competes in the AI space with other tech giants. To watchers though, this was not such a surprising move as Nadella had always brought an unrelenting drive for innovation and collaboration to his role.

It is arguable but he definitely embodies Jack Welch’s theory that “ a leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organisation, not as it is, but as it should be.”

Perhaps Nadella was running furiously from a past era when Steve Ballmer reigned over Microsoft. Under Ballmer, future-looking products with extreme promise were killed simply because they carried no apparent value to help the Window business while fierce competitors like Goggle and Apple were derided and ignored even as they shot ahead, leaving Microsoft in the dust. As the company’s star dimmed rapidly, products groups wrestled with each others for influence and attention. The share price of Microsoft suffered stagnation during his tenure. 

He was said to be slow to embrace the emergence of smartphones and tablets, and his competitors had a field day. When the company couldn’t take this anymore, it was clear that Steve Ballmer had to go to make way for a fresh face and fresh thinking. On February 4, 2014, he was replaced by Satya Nadella, named the new CEO.

Before his emergence as CEO, he had proved himself as executive vice-president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, one of the company’s most profitable businesses and fastest growing.

 Since taking over the helm of leadership, Nadella had triumphed where Ballmer faltered. Microsoft is back to shape. Now the intuitive Windows 10 platform is being run on 110 million devices. With the undeniable run-away success of Windows 10-powered surface tablets and smartphones, the company cannot be said to be playing catch-up.

How hard is it for a leader to turn around the fortune of a declining company? When he joined Microsoft 22 years ago, not willing to settle complacently for what is second-rate, he saw clearly how the company enabled people to do “magical things.” He said: “Many companies aspire to change the world, but very few have all the elements required: talent, resources and perseverance”  Here you could almost hear him talking and picturing how he saw himself in the mirror. 

There’s no doubt he had all the elements of talent, resources and perseverance abundantly required to reinvent and turn around the fortune of a declining company. Now while these elements are available to all, they can only be appropriated by few with a different perspective, sharpened skills of recognition and appreciation.

The 48-year old from Hyderabad, India, where he was born on August 19, 1967, holds a bachelor degree in electrical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.

He is married to Anupama, a family friend, with whom he has three children. He enjoys reading poetry and following cricket, the Indian national sport which he played as a child.

For showing a strong performance on his job, Nadella earned about $18.3 m (N3.7bn) in 2015. He was Forbes’ 61^st most powerful person in the world in 2015, and his net worth is around $45m (N9bn).

I find Satya Nadella’s story very inspiring for many reasons, but one that I can’t ignore for now is his ability to stride the cusp of change and innovation without flinching. Since the world is not standing still, with progression and innovation having the constancy of an inexorable law, those who aspire to corporate leadership and relevance must continually challenge themselves to embrace changes and innovations. Again, competition, though inevitable,  must not be seen as an enemy, but a tough friend showing us our blind spots.