Hit Refresh

The guiding principle behind Hit Refresh is apparent from its first chapter, in which Nadella introduces himself, not as a CEO, but simply as a person. Indeed, the first part of the book concerns itself almost entirely with detailing Nadella’s background, from infancy to adulthood, and emphasising some crucial elements: his relationship with his parents, his early struggles in the United States, and the moment he learned that his first child would be born with cerebral palsy. 

To me, the intention of this first part is to prevent our perception of its author as little more than a walking job title. A glance at today’s corporate industry shows us why: more often than not, executives live their titles, some even are their companies (think Bezos or Musk). Nadella’s contention: that leaders should be understood, first and foremost, as human beings.

This understanding certainly shouldn’t be limited to leaders — everyone should attempt to understand each other. This might seem like an innocuous suggestion, but it represents a significant paradigm shift in corporate culture: the transition to praising understanding over perfection, and commending learning over unambiguous track records. 

Of course, as John Rossman remarked in his recent book on Amazon, leaders must be right — a lot. Nadella doesn’t dispute this, but proposes instead that the cornerstone of leadership should be empathy, and not performance. Performance, he argues, is heightened by a better understanding of the needs of others.

This is not a novel idea: studies of leadership teams and executives have found that those with a higher emotional quotient perform better than their counterparts in similar situations. These studies also tell us, however, that executives tend to be least empathetic group — and this is why I find Hit Refresh significant: Nadella not only sees empathy as a necessary quality in leaders, but understands his own ability to empathise as the premise of his success at Microsoft, especially in his role as CEO. “Listening,” he writes, “was the most important thing I accomplished each day.” 

It is truly encouraging and inspiring to see a new generation of leaders, Nadella among them, working to reform the culture of their companies with this guiding principle in mind. Companies need to shift from Friedman’s destructive concept of shareholder primacy toward creating long-term value for their employees, their investors, their customers, and most importantly, future generations.

For more information on the book, see Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella.