You are the director of a large company that needs serious restructuring. Who would you turn to for advice? If you have this opportunity, it’s a good idea to contact Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela, and hope that he will respond to your email.
It is in this situation that Volkswagen CEO Herbert Dees, whose company is in the process of transformation after the Dieselgate scandal, recently found himself. So, Deese calls Nadela, who in recent years has managed to bring Microsoft back on the path to success. In a recent interview, he explained how the technology giant is changing its organizational culture while meeting the demands of investors, leading to a significant jump in the company’s share price.
Although the conversation lasted only 15 minutes, Nadela gave a real master class on emotional intelligence in leadership. Here are four highlights.
Do not be omniscient, but a person who wants to learn
Nadela began the interview with a story from the 90s when Microsoft became the company with the largest market capitalization in the world. According to him, this leads to many problems.
“People at Microsoft are beginning to think that we are God’s gift to humanity. “Unfortunately, whether it’s ancient Greece or Silicon Valley, there is one thing that leads to the disintegration of companies, societies, and civilizations – arrogance.”
According to him, people mustn’t think they know everything, but constantly want to learn new things.
“We need more students and fewer omniscient. That’s why we ask ourselves every day how well we listen to our customers and whether we are going in the right direction as a company, “added the head of Microsoft.
This is good advice for Volkswagen, whose arrogance and arrogance led to the fall of 2015, which leaves a lasting mark on the company’s name. This, of course, is good advice for any leader, be it a company or a team.
Many people today want to be called experts, gurus, or authorities. However, when you look at yourself through such a prism, you stop learning and developing. As one friend of mine says, when you get to the point where you start thinking that you have reached your full potential, your thirst for knowledge is quenched forever.
On the other hand, when a person has a mindset focused on growth, he never stops learning and improving his skills. These people are not afraid to try new things and make mistakes, because they know that in the end, these are opportunities to acquire new knowledge.
Bring clarity, not confusion
Have you met people who are proud of the way they lead their team, but this same team suffers from a lack of purpose and clarity?
“Even if the leaders are very smart, if they confuse the work of the team, they are not leaders,” says Nadela. “However, if you are a leader who is in a vague and confusing situation, but still manages to clarify the work of his team, then this is real leadership,” he added.
To find out which group you belong to, you need to ask yourself three questions:
When my employees come to a meeting, are they aware of the reason for our meeting? Do they understand what she is like at the end of the meeting, or are they still wondering what exactly she was for?
When I delegate tasks to my team members, do they realize what their expectations are?
When a team faces an obstacle, can its members agree on which issues need to be resolved and in what order? Have these same problems become obstacles again and again?
If all this sounds familiar to you, you need to focus on bringing more clarity to your team’s work.
Create energy
Nadella is adamant that one of the most important tasks of a leader is to give energy to his team.
By energy, however, he means more than superficial enthusiasm. Phrases like “My team is great!” And “We’re doing great!” Are not examples of energy, Nadela said.
He understands energy as the unification of the efforts of all employees to achieve a common goal. Your team may be full of top talent, but if they don’t cooperate, the results will not be good. On the other hand, a less talented team that has good chemistry can achieve great things.
No excuses
Finally, Nadela emphasizes the need for leaders to manage the constraints their companies face to achieve their goals.
“Leaders are not waiting for the time to clear up to start achieving results. “The world is facing many constraints, but our job as leaders is to get rid of them and achieve our goals,” he said.
True leaders, Nadela explains, are the ones who measure their success by these four factors, instead of shifting the blame for their failures to their teams. After all, if a leader sets a good example, his employees will follow suit.
