Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2980: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Thinks Women Should Not Ask for Raises and should Trust in Karma (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, has landed himself in a bit of hot water. Earlier this week during the "Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing", Nadella suggested that women should trust the system and not ask for raises, but rather trust in Karma.

Grace Hopper was the first admiral in the U.S. Navy, a computer scientist pioneer who among other things invented the first compiler for a computer programming language and coined the term "debugging" for fixing computer programming problems when a real moth was found inside a mainframe computer.






A short segment of this interview is included within the first video above. The entire video of Nadella's discussion is included in the second video.

Here is a transcript of the segment in question:

Beginning at 1:35:04 in the second video, Maria Klawe (President of Harvey Mudd College and member of Microsoft's board of directors) asks Mr. Nadella, "So ya know, for women who aren't comfortable with asking for a raise, or sort of saying, who aren't the younger you let's say, what's your advice for them?"

Nadella answered, "You know, the, the thing that um, perhaps most influenced me in terms of how do you look at the um, the journey or a career - there was this guy, whose name was Mike Naples, who was thaaaa - ah President of Microsoft when I joined and he had this saying where he would say, look all sys..., all HR systems are long term efficient short term inefficient, and ummmm I, I, I thought that that phrase just captured it, ah, which is, it’s not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. Ah, and that, I think, might be one of the additional superpowers ah that, quite frankly, women ah who don’t ask for raises have. Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back. Because somebody’s going to know: ‘That’s the kind of person that I want to trust. That’s the kind of person that I want to really give more responsibility to.’ And in the long-term efficiency, things catch up....."

At 1:35:54 as he begins, "...it's not really ..." we see a Rationalization Rapport Empathy Expression (R2E2). This signals to us that he's trying to get us to rationalize, or co-rationalize along with him. People who are trying too much to sell us something make this expression often. Beware of those who use it in excess. We all use it from time-to-time, but when used frequently it's a huge red flag for insincerity, deception, manipulation, rationalization or sociopathic behaviors.

This image is captured at 1:36:12
just as Nadella says, "... quite frankly ..."

One body language illustrator which Mr. Nadella repeatedly displays is an index finger (aka forefinger) point which is universally offensive in virtually every culture on Earth - including Hyderabad, India where Mr. Nadella was born. Mr. Nadella uses the index finger excessively in this setting. Those who display this particular body language regularly have an extremely high incidence of narcissistic personality disorder.

Body language correlation with statement analysis is very illustrative in this moment. At the very second as he says " ... quite frankly ...", we see another index finger point - which of course is no accident. In excess of 99.8% of the time, when a person says, "quite frankly" they are in fact are not being completely honest and in addition it's a signal that they are strongly advancing their agenda (although they want to make you feel they have your interests in mind - yet in truth only if theirs are met). As we see here, agenda driven behavior often has truth but with some deception mixed in. It's a shell game of sorts. Simultaneous correlation of verbal behavior, vocal qualities and nonverbal behavior is profoundly important.

Mr. Nadella has a prominent jaw (mandible), in a resting state, yet he juts it out significantly further throughout his discussion. Depending on the other nonverbals with which it is clustered, a jaw jut can indicate anger, violence, belligerence and pride.  Here however it is, along with other exaggerated mouth movements, highly consistent with Mr. Nadella's hyper-alpha personality.

Ironically, this image is captured just as he says, " ... karma ..."

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2979: "Tomorrowland" Trailer-teaser, Britt Robertson and Stanislavski

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2977: Raven-Symoné: "I'm Tired of Being Labeled" - Interview with Oprah

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2712: Bill Gates, Satya Nadella and Steve Balmer - Body Language Leaders Should Never Use

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2301: Ronald Reagan, The State of the Union, Lenny Skutnik and a  Body Language Signal of Being Proud

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2039:  Fight Outside Florida Courtroom -  Jaw Jut Prior to Violence

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2784: Fight Breaks Out in Ukrainian Parliament - One Body Language which Predicts Throwing Fists

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2964: Eric Holder Interview After Announcing Resignation - Microexpressions and other Body Language Tells

_________________________________________________________________________________

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2710: Microsoft's New CEO Sayta Nadella's Body Language vs. Bill Gates (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Microsoft named Sayta Nadella as its new CEO today. In the video above, Bill Gates speaks of Nadella and gives a short monolog regarding Steve Balmer's replacement as well as his own increasing role in the company he co-founded with Paul Allen in 1975.

Bill Gates is both a technical and business genius. There are also few in the history of the planet who have been as philanthropic as has he and Melinda Gates. I would like to think that if I were in his shoes - I would be similarly as generous.

Mr. Gates needs some body language 101 remedial lessons though; for in this video he commits a common nonverbal faux pas of over-using a MAP (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier). Most MAPs are indicative of beta emotional tones - primarily and specifically that of a low confidence level. This however is one exception. Bill clasps his hands 28 times in this short video. This particular nonverbal sends a patronizing signal. Moreover its extreme repetition along with his thin lipped "bitter smile" (one variety of a false smile) amplifies these condescending emotions (Be very careful of interpreting any nonverbal in isolation, for it nearly always lead to a body language misdiagnosis).

In contrast, Satya Nadella in the video below displayed a much lower frequency of MAPs. Keep in mind though that Gates had a distinct disadvantage in this comparison for he's giving a monolog, looking directly into the camera and is standing still - while Natella is walking, in a conversation (albeit rehearsed) and he is gets to (as expected) look at his interviewer most of the time.





In the isolated frame below, Sayta Nadella displays a "basketball steeple" (named so because it looks as if its user is holding and invisible one). This nonverbal is "not too beta" and "not too alpha" but just right - thus it is one example of a class of body language signals known as "alpha-beta hybrids". It signals strength yet open-mindedness and a willingness to be "gentle" without weakness.

Good luck Sayta Nadella.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2533: Angela Merkel's Low Steeple "Trademark" - A Major Body Language Mistake

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2577: Bill Clinton and Terry McAuliffe - Alpha and Beta Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2698: Lupita Nyong'o on Jimmy Fallon - an Underused Body Language Display

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1083:  Brewer's MAPs Flag Foreboding

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2642: Tom Hanks Can't Act Away a Fib - His Body Language Tells a Little Lie

_________________________________________________________________________________