BUSINESS - PERSON OF THE YEAR

“LEAD FROM THE BACK,” Nelson Mandela famously said, “and let others believe they are in front.” In a year dominated by political chaos and bluster, it was a rare brand of steady—even quiet— leadership that won the day in the business world. And no one epitomises that brand of obsessively results-driven, team-based leadership more than our new No. 1 (turn the page to find out more). To create our annual list, we first screen for results, looking at 10 financial factors ranging from total return to shareholders to return on capital. Then we search for the standouts. The leaders who tackled audacious goals, overcame impossible odds, found creative solutions. Read on for how they—and their companies— thrived in 2019. You just might learn something about tackling a challenge of your own.

1 SATYANADELLA

CEO MICROSOFT

CHALLENGE ASSEMBLING THE RIGHT TEAM

When Satya Nadella was named the surprise choice to lead Microsoft in 2014, it was glaringly obvious the many things he was not. A computer scientist who had risen through the technical and general-management ranks at the software giant, Nadella was neither a founder like Bill Gates nor a big-personality sales leader like his predecessor, Steve Ballmer. He’d never worked in finance, another training ground for CEOs. And his stature on the global stage was nonexistent. What’s more, having joined Microsoft in 1992, he was thoroughly steeped in a dog-eat-dog Microsoft culture that had contributed to the company’s stagnation.

Today, Nadella wears the gaps in his résumé as comfortably as the jeans and blazers that are his corporate uniform. Key to his leadership style is a willingness to delegate, particularly to three powerful members of his management team: president Brad Smith, who runs policy and legal affairs; Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer; and chief people officer Kathleen Hogan. Each cuts a wide swath in areas many CEOs call their own, a state of affairs that suits Nadella just fine. “I’m wired to be fairly confident in myself and to let others shine,” he says.

It’s not that Nadella lacks an ego, and the robust financial results his company has racked up give him undeniable bragging rights. The company earned $39 billion on revenue of $126 billion in fiscal 2019, while growing revenue at a three-year compound annual rate of 11%. Profits by the same measurement have jumped 24%. Microsoft is worth the once-unheard-of valuation of a trillion dollars.