The Unexpected Winner of the OpenAI Meltdown

The ascension of an insider CEO can be a bit underwhelming. When Satya Nadella took the helm of Microsoft in 2014, some employees and investors were disappointed. The search committee had spent months sifting through more than 100 potential leaders, looking for someone who could revive the spirit of innovation that had once defined the company. Along the way, some Wall Street analysts interpreted the fact that no clear external candidate was emerging to indicate that "Microsoft couldn't attract an appealing CEO after years of dwindling relevance," the Wall Street Journal reported. And then, on a frigid January day, they got a 22-year Microsoft veteran as CEO.