Nadella said one of the fundamental things the COVID-19 pandemic brought into focus was that everyone, collectively as a global community had a tail event that impacted all. “We all were anxious about our own health, the health of our family, friends, communities, and we coped with it as a community. The vaccines came, thanks to some great innovation in the pharma industry. The healthcare professionals were heroes everywhere, the people at the frontlines, helping us get through the essential services, whether it is in retail or manufacturing and stores. It is unbelievable to see the world rally through these tough circumstances,” he told CNBC-TV18.

The Microsoft CEO said the question is the next time a tail event occurs, who — whether at the workplace or at home — is going to help us through it? “And I think we have a better sense of it right. When somebody comes in with difficulty, I think we will be more empathetic having gone through the pandemic, collectively as a global community. It’s an absolute pleasure,” he said.

Nadella, who has been a big believer in empathetic leadership, had brought the same into the CEO lexicon well before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2017, Nadella had told CNBC-TV18 that Microsoft’s core business and priority is to meet unmet, unarticulated needs of customers, and to do so one needs to have a deeper sense of empathy for what customers really expect from the company. “So, to me, you have to be able to take your life, what it teaches you — in my case that is clearly, who I am as both, a product leader or as an organisational leader, is something has been shaped by my life’s experience.. all these moments where I feel I have learnt to be able to see more of us in them and them in us and that clearly, I believe is what is needed for real innovation in any organisation,” he had told CNBC-TV18 in 2017.

Microsoft was also one of the initial companies to advise work from home to its employees. Last year, Nadella also said that flexible and remote arrangements such as work from home (WFH) and hybrid work, that have evolved since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, would play a crucial role in keeping employees happy and productive.

Nadella received the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, in October last year.