*By Carlo Versano* *As Cheddar reflects on 2018, we are profiling the most innovative, flamboyant, and often-controversial entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who delivered the year's most memorable moments in business. Of the CEO Class of 2018, who was crowned Biggest Flirt? Class Clown? Most Likely to Succeed? Check [here](https://www.cheddar.com/tags/cheddar-awards) for all the Cheddar Awards and more year-end coverage.* The age of the rock star CEO arguably began with Bill Gates, whose stewardship of Microsoft in the 1980s and 90sー and the personal fortune he amassed ー paved the way for other chief executives to become celebrities in their own right, from Steve Jobs to Elon Musk. But in a year of power defined by brashness and unfettered tweeting, it was the CEO who flew under the radar that showed real leadership. Satya Nadella, the current head of Microsoft ($MSFT) but an unknown to many Americans, rose through the ranks at Microsoft before taking over the top spot from Steve Ballmer (another rock star [CEO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I14b-C67EXY)) in 2014, becoming only the third chief executive in the company’s history. His leadership style is at odds with a more mainstream image of successful CEOs.He isn’t flamboyant, eccentric, or loathed by a significant portion of the population. And as Nadella’s cohort of top tech CEOs found itself ensnared in scandal, controversy, and disappointment throughout the yearー from [data breaches](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/facebook-cambridge-analytica-explained.html) and embarrassing [exposés](https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-exposed-user-data-feared-repercussions-of-disclosing-to-public-1539017194) to pot-smoking podcast [appearances](https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/01/tech/elon-musk-joe-rogan/index.html) and Twitter [meltdowns](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776?lang=en) to [bad press](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/backlash-already-mounting-over-amazon-s-choices-hq2-n935666) and [missed targets](https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-stop-disclosing-iphone-ipad-mac-unit-sales-quarter-2018-11)ーNadella quietly steered Microsoft back to a symbolic victory: it became the most [valuable](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/microsoft-and-apple-vie-for-title-of-worlds-largest-company) public company in the world for the first time since 2002, and will likely end the year with the crown. For a man whose name would elicit little more than a shrug from most people, that’s a sleeper success story for the ages. Nadella’s keynote addresses have been compared to [homilies](https://www.zdnet.com/article/satya-nadella-microsofts-first-futurist-ceo/), in which he sermonizes about the future of humanity and the role of technology in the world, instead of product releases. Reporters find him hard to cover, struggling to find the easy headlines. President Trump, who has spent the year vilifying tech’s top CEOs, has notably left Nadella off the list. And in Redmond, where it matters most, the 51-year-old Indian immigrant is beloved. A recent survey commissioned by Comparably, a platform that rates companies based on anonymous employee responses, named Nadella the top [CEO](https://www.comparably.com/blog/best-ceos-2018/) of 2018. He received a score of 82 from employees, beating out the also-popular chiefs of Home Depot ($HD)and Google ($GOOGL) for the top spot. As outlined in a recent Forbes profile, Nadella’s leadership philosophy can best be illustrated by how he sought to acquire Github, which he finally executed in 2018 after years of flirtation. Nadella was in the process of acquiring LinkedIn when he [asked a Microsoft employee](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2018/12/10/exclusive-ceo-interview-satya-nadella-reveals-how-microsoft-got-its-groove-back/#585ec4577acb) about GitHub: “Have we earned their trust?” In an industry built on growth multiples and for a company best known for its voracious appetite for swallowing up competitors, the question indicated that Nadella was a different kind of executive. And in the endー to the surprise of Silicon Valley prognosticators ー Github chose Microsoft over Google; Nadella’s leadership was reportedly a major factor. GitHub is a community of open-source software developers who would have every right to be skeptical of Microsoft's motives. Ballmer once famously called Linux "a cancer," and Microsoft spent years in court with Linux fighting over patents. But the animosity ended under Nadella's reign. He had Microsoft join the Linux Foundation two years ago, paving the way for the GitHub acquisition. Jim Zemlin, the head of the Linux Foundation, [called](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/microsoft-buys-github-the-linux-foundations-reaction/) it “pretty good news for the world of Open Source and we should celebrate Microsoft’s smart move." While Nadella flew under the radar during certain moments, he spoke up in others. When the Trump administration’s child-separation policy exploded into controversy over the summer, Nadella called it “abhorrent” and said Microsoft did not provide services or products for ICE related to the policy. Microsoft employees petitioned Nadella to cancel the contract it did have with ICE, which was mainly for administrative work, according to the company. Nadella has so far not acquiesced to the demand. In carefully choosing his battles, Nadella displayed a quiet, but distinctive leadership style that's a sharp contrast to the way we have come to think of chief executives from the boardroom to the Oval Office. And he reminds us of the virtue of being a sleeper success.

Share:
More In Politics
The Affordable Care Act's 'Family Glitch,' Explained
Krutika Amin, associate director at the Kaiser Family Foundation for the Program on the Affordable Care Act, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the Biden administration's plan to fix the so-called 'family glitch' in the Affordable Care Act preventing millions of Americans from accessing government-subsidized health plan.
House Votes to Hold Scavino, Navarro in Contempt
Abdallah Fayyad, opinion writer at the Boston Globe, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the House's vote to hold former Trump aides Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro in contempt of Congress and send the recommendation to the Department of Justice. Fayyad also weighs in on the pressure facing Attorney General Merrick Garland to be more aggressive in prosecuting the January 6 case.
Biden Administration Extends Student Loan Pause to August
Those paying back federal student loans are getting a few extra months of relief. President Biden just announced another extension of the pandemic relief program allowing millions of borrowers to freeze their student loan payments. The pause began in March 2020 and it has been extended six times. Tomas Campos, co-founder and CEO of Spinwheel, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Doctors, Medical Experts Divided on Second COVID-19 Booster
There has been notable disagreement in the medical community about a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose. The FDA last week authorized a second booster dose for older and immunocompromised individuals, as some agency officials did not support the idea. The FDA made the decision without meeting with its advisory committee, as it had ahead of its recommendations on the previous COVID-19 vaccine doses. The CDC followed in the footsteps of the FDA and authorized a fourth dose as well. Reports say the agency also did not discuss the move with its own advisory team of vaccine experts. Now, a growing number of doctors are speaking out against the decisions - leaving people confused about whether they should get another vaccine dose. Dr. Julie Morita, a member of the CDC's advisory committee to the director, and the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
JetBlue Bids on Spirit, Jeopardizing Frontier Deal
JetBlue made an unsolicited offer to buy low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, potentially jeopardizing the original offer from Frontier Airlines. Several analysts sounding the alarm on JetBlue's proposed $3.6 billion merger, saying the deal doesn't quite make sense. Jim Corridore, Senior Insights Manager at Similarweb joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Biden Admin Latest Federal Student Loan Extension Adds to Borrower Uncertainty
The Biden administration is once again extending the pause on federal student loans payments — this time, through the end of August. In a statement, President Biden cited a recent analysis from the Fed that if the payments were to resume, millions of student loan borrowers would face significant "economic hardship, delinquencies, and defaults that could threaten America's financial stability." Sarah Foster, an analyst at Bankrate, breaks down the impact of the extension on borrowers, the economy, and the future of student loan forgiveness. "I think this is just an instance of the federal student loan forbearance program kind of creating additional uncertainty for borrowers, especially in the sense that these past four extensions from the Biden administration have kind of come at the 11th hour here," she said.
Load More