14 DAY TRIAL // Satya Nadella is the new man in charge of Microsoft, the Redmond-based tech giant that’s getting through a major transportation process supposed to push it from the world of software to an evolved approach that also comprises cloud services and hardware products.
As compared to his predecessors, Nadella has a completely different strategy when it comes to listening to company employees, and a Microsoft executive has revealed his approach in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
Jeff Teper, Microsoft’s head of corporate strategy who has been with the tech giant since 1992, explains that Nadella has already won employees’ respect and everyone is willing to work harder just because they do not want to disappoint the new boss.
“He’s one of those people where you just hate to say no to the guy. Steve and Bill are a lot more confrontational -- they challenge you to bring your A game. With him it’s more like ‘well I don’t want to disappoint the guy, let me work a little bit harder here.’ He’s incredibly smart, he’s gracious, but he’s also super-demanding,” he says.
Steve Ballmer, on the other hand, became famous for the way he talked about Microsoft, not only on stage, but also during internal meetings where he used to take a baseball bat and smash things around whenever he was angry.
Joachim Kempin, a former Microsoft executive, revealed in several interviews that Ballmer liked to play the bad guy during company meetings, just to make sure that employees get his message and do their best to work harder.
“Steve sometimes walks down the hallways bouncing a basketball. Or if he’s having a really good day he’s swinging a baseball bat. Do you think that sends a signal? Sometimes he brings it with him into the conference room. Is it symbolic? Maybe. I don’t know. I would never do that. For me it doesn’t send the right message. The man has some nervous energy and that’s how he gets rid of it. Have I heard him yelling? Yeah, I have,” he says.
And still, Ballmer usually regretted all these moments, and in most of the cases, he apologized for his bad temper soon after the meetings came to an end.
“Most of the time he apologizes afterwards. He’s just a very high-strung guy. He’s not a bad guy. He just goes overboard sometimes,” Kempin added.
There’s no doubt that Satya Nadella is very different from Ballmer and to be honest, many employees seem to like him this way. The CEO approval rating has skyrocketed since Nadella took over from Ballmer and is very likely to continue as the new leader pushes the company to a brighter future.