Satya Nadella recently appeared on an episode of Confession with Ali Partovi, where he recalled his 35-year-long journey with Microsoft. He shared key milestones from his career, starting with his first job interview and tracing his path from an engineer to the company’s CEO.
During their conversation, Nadella told Partovi about Microsoft’s As Appropriate (AA) interview. It is the late-stage conversation, usually with a hiring manager or senior leader, that is held after the technical rounds.
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Nadella recalled that after spending a day working on code and demonstrating his technical skills, he met with an interviewer named Richard Tate for his AA interview. He asked the tech leader, “You are crossing a street, a child falls, what will you do?” Nadella recalled thinking, “Is this some computer science challenge?” and then blurting out, “I will call 911.”
However, what Tate said in response became a cornerstone of Nadella’s journey towards learning empathy. He recalled that the Scottish man told him, “When a child falls, you pick them up and hug them.” He then walked Nadella out and said, “You need more empathy”.
“I did get the job,’ Nadella said, but also remembered how the message left an impact on his life.
What else did he talk about?
The Indian-origin CEO also opened up about his failure as a manager and recalled a time when he lacked the courage to speak up.
Discussing his personal life, he not only talked about growing up in India in the 70s and 80s, but also about his son Zain Nadella, who passed away in 2022, at the age of 26.
While talking about the podcast on LinkedIn, Patrovi posted, “I knew Satya Nadella long before he became Microsoft CEO. He was my boss after Microsoft bought my startup in 1998. In the debut of my podcast, ‘Confession,’ Satya shares lessons about empathy, courage, and taking on risk as a leader. And I make a confession of my own. Enjoy!” Patrovi revealed that he didn’t resign from Microsoft but was asked to leave. “I was essentially fired… I’ve never told anyone.”
Patrovi is an Iranian-American entrepreneur and CEO of the venture fund and mentorship community Neo.
The full interview of Satya Nadella with Ali Partovi is available on Spotify.
Satya Nadella is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft. He joined the company as an engineer in 1992 and was named its CEO in 2014.
