There is something only a CEO uniquely can do, which is set that tone, which can then capture the soul of the collective. And its culture.’ - Satya Nadella

What does a CEO get to do?’ he [Nadella] asked in 2016. ‘You’ve got to pass judgment on an uncertain future and curate culture. For both, I feel, I learn a lot from these trips.

In a complex situation, when you want to empower the entire organization to be able to act without direction from the top, having a shared view of what the purpose is and how each participant fits into it is absolutely critical. It is only with a basis of a shared understanding of what we’re all trying to achieve here that distributed action is possible.

[Carly] Fiorina, who in fact had done such an in-depth study of the company and the situation that she had many of the answers, probably meant to reassure people by her knowledge. But by not asking questions and by not failing to have some answers, she scared many of the employees. Fortunately, when this feedback was delivered and received, Fiorina adapted her active listening and allowed her natural gift for communication to flourish. This increased her credibility and at the same time deepened her insights into the company, its challenges, and its opportunities.

The elders in the community would share some insights, some wisdom,’ he continued. ‘There was one that a friend of mine, a mentor, gave that has stuck with me for a really, really long time.’ The mentor, Chris, was a skilled chess player and he’d drawn some analogies between chess and life. ‘He shared this concept of a strategic retreat.’ There are times both in chess and in life, when you’re going down a certain path, and you hit a roadblock. And then you realize that the moves you’re trying to make aren’t working out. ‘At those times, I have to abandon that game plan and re-strategize, and make a strategic retreat and take a different plan of attack.