Industrialist Harsh Goenka has praised Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for what he described as a “masterclass” in leadership, after Nadella skillfully transformed a sharp remark from Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk into a positive message about innovation and collaboration.
The back-and-forth began on Thursday, August 7, when Musk took a swipe at Nadella on X, saying, “OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive.” His comment came shortly after the launch of ChatGPT-5, which Musk claimed was inferior to his own company xAI’s latest model, Grok 4.
Earlier that day, Nadella had unveiled the rollout of GPT-5 across multiple Microsoft products, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry, calling it “the most capable model yet” from OpenAI, with major advances in reasoning, coding, and chat, all trained on Azure.
OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2025
Rather than engage in a war of words, Nadella responded to Musk’s jab with confidence: “People have been trying for 50 years and that’s the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete. Excited for Grok 4 on Azure and looking forward to Grok 5.”
Goenka, chairman of the RPG Group, shared Nadella’s reply on X, writing, “What a masterclass from Satya Nadella, turning Elon’s jab into a celebration of learning, innovation, and partnership. A reminder that the reaction of a mature leader should be to elevate the conversation.”
What a masterclass from Satya Nadella- turning Elon’s jab into a celebration of learning, innovation, and partnership. A reminder that the reaction of a mature leader should be to elevate the conversation. 🚀👏 pic.twitter.com/8eyK9p4eh9
— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) August 8, 2025
The exchange has since gone viral, sparking reactions online. One user said, “Jiske naam main hi Satya ho, usko kya to koi harayega!” (Who can defeat someone who has ‘Satya’ in his name). Another said, “Treasure this tweet… A nasty jab need not always be answered with a nasty reply. Good share sir.”
Others applauded Nadella’s composure, with one person noting, “Satya Nadella showed how leadership is about grace, not ego. Turning criticism into collaboration is true maturity.”
Someone else wrote, “Dealing with Indians is the tough thing to do in this world!”
