The Leadership Triangle: Do the work only you can do

In January this year, a team of engineers was camped out in Building 92 on Microsoft's Redmond campus. They were in a race and they were behind. Competing teams at Google, Anthropic, and Meta were moving fast, and Microsoft, despite having taken an early lead in AI, was playing catch-up.

Then their CEO walked in.

He showed up not to deliver a pep talk. Not to review a slide deck. Not to remind them how important their work was. Satya Nadella walked in to show them something he had built.

He opened his laptop and demonstrated an application he called "Chain of Debate,” which is a system for coordinating multiple AI agents working together. He hadn't asked someone to build it for him. He had built it himself, using vibe coding, a method that allows anyone to create working software by describing what they want in plain language and letting an AI tool generate the code. No traditional programming required.¹ (“Anyone” includes me: I am vibe coding our FastTrack™ AI-Enhanced Strategic Planning & Implementation System.)

The room noticed. According to Jacob Andreou, the executive vice president leading Microsoft's Copilot product, the engineers traded the kind of looks that pass between people who suddenly realize the new guy can actually play. "That set the tone for how hard the team was going to push," Andreou recalled. "He was in the room with folks, like over their shoulder, there with his machine out. Watching the boss get such excitement out of building new things inspired the team."¹