In the past two decades, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has had ample time to identify what makes a great leader stand apart from the rest.
Here are three attributes that Nadella not only looks for in a leader but also tries to develop in his own self:
1. Great leaders create clarity
Clarity is the first trait that Satya Nadella thinks great leaders and managers possess. While your team may be able to tread the path on their own if it is clearly defined, during times of turbulence and uncertainty your leadership is what your people look up to and it is what’s needed to help them navigate different horizons.
“Leaders have this amazing, uncanny capability of bringing clarity into a situation where none exists,” Nadella notes.
“You can’t call yourself a leader by coming into a situation that is by nature uncertain, ambiguous — and create confusion,” Giving advice on being a leader, he said, “you have to create clarity, where none exists.”
2. Great leaders generate energy
Although providing clarity to your team in uncertain times is of prime importance, it’s not the only attribute a leader is expected to display. For Microsoft’s CEO, being passionate and enthusiastic about what you do is one of the top leadership traits.
“One of the classic things you face as a leader is, you will have someone walk into your office and say, ‘Hey, you know what, I’m very good, my team is very good, but everything around me is terrible.’ That’s not creating energy,” Nadella explains. “There is no simple thing that is always under your control, so the idea is that you have got to create energy all around you.”
In short, the key lies in bringing everyone together, driving them with passion and building good chemistry to achieve great things.
3. Great leaders deliver success regardless of the circumstances
Lastly, remember that success doesn’t happen overnight. The path to success invites a fair share of struggles. Truly, leadership would be a piece of cake if there were no roadblocks on your way – if the competitor didn’t launch their product a month early or if the hurricane didn’t delay your shipment. In the real world, you don’t control many of the factors but you need to steer the ship and get things done anyway.
“The last thing is that leaders have to drive success in — what is essentially — an over-constrained problem,” Nadella adds. “You can’t say ‘I’m waiting for the perfect weather and the full alignment of stars, and I’ll show you my brilliance.’ I mean, that’s not leadership.”
“You have to be able to figure it out and drive success,” Satya Nadella says.
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Paul Keijzer is the CEO and Founder of Engage Consulting and the co-Founder of The Talent Games, which aims to transform HR by digitising talent processes and creating more engaging and productive workplaces through gamification and mobile technology. As a global HR and Leadership Management expert, Paul knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.