How Satya Nadella got an early leadership lesson on the cricket field

New Delhi: In his first media interview after taking over as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella said that he received one of his early leadership lessons when playing for his school cricket team.

In the interview with the New York Times, Nadella says that he was having an ordinary day with the ball when his captain took over, took a wicket and then let Nadella continue to bowl. A more confident Nadella then bagged a few wickets.

"It was a subtle, important leadership lesson about when to intervene and when to build the confidence of the team. I think that is perhaps the No. 1 thing that leaders have to do: to bolster the confidence of the people you're leading," Nadella says recounting the incident.

Asked about what he learnt from his predecessor, Nadella says Steve Ballmer taught him "to be brutally honest with yourself on where you stand." And for him the Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who will now guide Nadella as technology advisor, is "the most analytically rigorous person."

Satya Nadella is said to have a calming, collegial style, which stands in stark contrast to the blustery, passionate, rally-the-troops approach employed by Microsoft's previous CEO, Steve Ballmer.

Born in Hyderabad in 1967, Nadella hails from the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. His father, BN Yugandhar, a former IAS officer had worked in the Prime Minister's Office under PV Narasimha Rao. It was at the school, where Nadella met his future wife Anupama - the daughter of his father's batchmate. Both went to Manipal Insitute of Technology to do their engineering. After completion of his graduation, Nadella travelled to the United States for post graduation.

After a short stint at Sun Microsystems, Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992. 22 years later, he's at the helm, overseeing a transition.

Nadella has a tough task ahead. Microsoft is struggling to match the commercial success of rivals like Apple, Google and Amazon. But analysts point out that Nadella knows his technology, which could give him the edge in bringing Microsoft back as a technology power house.