Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is opening up about women and diversity in the workplace after comments he made at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on Oct. 9 raised eyebrows.

While a guest at the Phoenix conference, Nadella, who has been the CEO of Microsoft for nine months, was asked what he would tell women who are uncomfortable asking for a raise. The CEO said that women should show reluctance, "knowing and having faith that the system will give you the right raise," USA Today reports.

The comment was controversial, with Telle Whitney, Anita Borg Institute CEO and sponsor of the Grace Hopper event, saying the statement showed "cluelessness about women and salaries."

Nadella recently told USA Today that his comments at the Grace Hopper event was "wrong."

"... I answered basically by my own experience of how I managed my career ... in the belief that if you do your work passionately, you will always see the rewards, even if there is some amount of delay," he explained. "... I Interpreted the question very narrowly. I was, in fact, trying to bolster the confidence of those women who feel that they don't want to ask, and I was saying, 'Hey, it will work out OK because it worked out OK for me.' But that is not what was really the answer that they were looking for. They were looking for, 'Hey, what are you as a leader going to do to change the bias? What practical advice do you have ..."

The CEO also shared his opinion on diversity in Silicon Valley.

"...having a diverse workforce is a necessity to do innovation that's going to be relevant in the world," Nadella said. "... And you're going to have to go tackle it one step at a time. Like any other thing where you're trying to make progress in business ... You set goals, you achieve them, you set higher goals, you achieve them, and keep it front and center."

According to Reuters, Nadella also claims there is no pay gap at Microsoft, despite data from job site Glassdoor claiming otherwise (Glassdoor's data is based on information voluntarily submitted by employees).

"I checked that it is something that we are enforcing," he said. "We are in fact in good shape. Men and women get paid equally at Microsoft."

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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