Big egos are have been the death of many a senior executive. It’s such a waste, and it doesn’t need to be that way.
Enter Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
During a recent conference, speaking to a group of women, Nadella said they should wait for pay raises to come when an organization recognizes them. Please note–he didn’t say women should wait, or that women should do anything different than men. He just happened to be speaking to a women’s group, and social media began flogging Nadella for his comments.
In context, his comments were fine. Taken out of context–the world in which public figures live, like it or not–his words sucked. At best, he misspoke (current political favorite); at worst, he screwed up.
Either way, he fixed it. It’s never the first mistake or bad decision that gets us in trouble; it’s the second–the one we make after we realize the first one was wrong. Nadella knocked that second one out of the park.
No qualifications, no equivocations… he just apologized. “I screwed up, I’m sorry.”
It’s that easy, folks. Take notes.
But that’s just me…
