Technology analyst Ben Thompson recently referred to an article he wrote from 2016 called “The Curse of Culture“. In it, he took apart Microsoft’s complacency about the phone and former CEO Steve Ballmer’s insistence to cling onto a Windows-centric view of the world.
It fell to Satya Nadella to change the culture. His first public event was introducing Office for the iPad. Ben made an insightful observation on Satya’s move – “This is the power CEOs have. They cannot do all the work, and they cannot impact industry trends beyond their control. But they can choose whether or not to accept reality, and in so doing, impact the worldview of all those they lead.”
It is a beautiful way to think about what leadership. My go-to definition for leadership these days is (aptly derived from Satya as well) – creating clarity of vision, bringing relentless constructive energy, and building teams and systems that deliver exceptional results.
But you can only create the right vision if you are aware and accepting of reality. Ultimately, our ability to see things as they are instead of how we’d like them to be is among the most foundational things we do in any leadership role – at work and in our lives.
