The True Secret Behind CEO Satya Nadella’s Success at Microsoft

Even before his time at Microsoft and long before becoming its CEO, Satya Nadella had a deep passion for two things: cricket and books.

Nadella and Bill Gates, the co-founders of Microsoft, have a similar practice. Both leaders read a ton, and they use what they discover to help their companies advance. Even though Nadella is primarily recognized for spearheading Microsoft’s shift from being a Windows-centric organization to one that prioritizes the cloud, his passion for reading is what drives his success.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a hunger to learn—whether it be from a line of poetry, a conversation with a friend, or a lesson from a teacher,” Nadella writes in his book, Hit Refresh.

Nadella lists several books that influenced his style of leadership, but two in particular served as the cornerstone for the adjustments he made to Microsoft after taking over as CEO in 2014.

The Smokejumper Who Struggled to Build Trust

Nadella had read Young Men and Fire in business school. The book chronicles the 1949 forest fire catastrophe that claimed the lives of thirteen “smokejumpers,” or parachute firefighters. The book teaches you the importance of establishing credibility and trust with your team.

Nadella says that the chief firefighter understood that he needed to start a smaller fire to put out the larger one. However, nobody trailed him. Although he possessed the ability to remove his men from danger, he had not established the common ground required for effective leadership. The ultimate cost was borne by his team,” says Nadella. “I was determined not to make the same mistake.”

Nadella envisioned himself as the lead firefighter, tasked with persuading his team to adopt a counterintuitive strategy at Microsoft. He aimed to shift focus from the well-established tools that funded the company’s operations to the nascent cloud business. Today, Microsoft’s cloud segment is thriving, with 48 percent year-over-year growth and generating over $9 billion in the most recent quarter.

Transforming Microsoft into a ‘Learn-it-All’ Culture

The other book, Mindset, written by Stanford professor Dr. Carol Dweck, had a significant influence on his theory of leadership. Nadella was motivated by this book to change Microsoft’s culture from one of “know-it-alls” to “learn-it-alls.” By the time Nadella took over as CEO, he claimed that Microsoft’s culture had hardened. “Each employee had to prove to everyone that he or she knew it all and was the smartest person in the room.”

According to Nadella, fostering a “learn-it-all” culture required Microsoft to shift its focus towards understanding customer needs, actively pursue diversity and inclusion, and operate as a unified organization rather than a collection of independent units.

In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Satya Nadella was asked about his sources of inspiration. He revealed that books are his primary source, particularly those that explore how companies and institutions maintain their relevance and longevity beyond the founding generations. Nadella emphasized that books offer valuable lessons in leadership by sharing the experiences and strategies of other leaders and teams.

Books as Mental Workouts

Former U.S. Navy admiral and NATO leader James Stavridis recently told me that he reads two or three books a week because they serve as a “mental simulator,” enabling you to see yourself in a situation comparable to that of the book’s protagonist or subject. You become a better leader when you can empathize with others.

According to Stavridis, “very few problems are new problems.” “Almost always, you can reach back in history in fiction, memoir, or biography and find a problem that is similar to your problem.”

In this context, Stavridis speaks of “narrative transportation.” It implies that well-written books take readers into the world of the characters they are reading about, removing them from their reality.

Nadella does more than just study books and apply what he learns from them. He distributes them as well. Upon assuming the role of CEO, Nadella distributed copies of a book to his senior leadership group. The title of it was Nonviolent Communication. The book, written by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, emphasizes empathy in communication, a concept that runs throughout both Nadella’s book and his approach to leadership.

Nadella’s appetite for books doesn’t surprise me. After twenty years of researching communication and persuasion, I’ve seen that great entrepreneurs and leaders read a lot more than the individuals they oversee. Applying what they learn, they disseminate it throughout their teams and frequently distribute copies of the books that serve as a model for their approach.