when Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he inherited one of the largest technology companies in the world. But despite Microsoft’s success, Nadella believed the company needed a different mindset to stay ahead for a long time.He believed that people should not feel like they know everything and should instead be encouraged to remain curious, ask questions and keep learning.“We have to go from being everything to learning everything,” said Nadella while describing the culture he wanted to build at Microsoft.“If you take two children to school, one of them has more innate abilities, but knows everything. The other person has less innate abilities, but is a learner. The learner does better than the know-it-all,” Nadella said in 2019 on the Hello Monday podcast.More than a decade after becoming CEO, Nadella’s learn-it-all philosophy remains one of the ideas most closely associated with his leadership. He has guided Microsoft’s transformation into one of the world’s most valuable technology companies and continues to shape the way the company approaches artificial intelligence.
Curiosity doesn’t kill cats
For Nadella, being a learner does not mean knowing less. It’s about accepting that no one has all the answers, especially in an industry that changes as rapidly as technology.The Microsoft CEO has often said that curiosity helps people adapt, solve problems and discover better ideas. Nadella believes that employees who keep learning are more likely to grow with changing technologies and not be left behind.The philosophy still holds, especially with artificial intelligence transforming workplaces and many people feeling threatened by it. AI tools are changing the way people write, code, analyze data and make decisions. In this environment, learning new skills can matter more than relying on experience alone.
The book that influenced his thinking
Nadella has credited psychologist Carol Dweck’s work on the “growth mindset” as his inspiration and catalyst for this leadership style. According to Dweck, skills are never fixed and can be improved through effort, learning and persistence. Dweck argues that successful people in business, sports, and art started out pretty average, but believed they could learn and improve.The philosophy also finds a place in Nadella’s 2017 book Hit Refresh. In the book, he describes how adopting a growth mindset helped change Microsoft’s culture after years of internal competition within the company.He wrote: “At the core of our business must be curiosity and the desire to meet a customer’s unarticulated and unmet needs with great technology.”
A warning about success
Nadella has also warned that success can sometimes become an obstacle if people stop learning after reaching a certain level.“Success can cause people to unlearn the habits that made them successful in the first place,” he said, reminding professionals that staying curious is often more valuable than being comfortable.