Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone

by Satya Nadella

He was humble, forward-looking, and pragmatic. He raised smart questions about our strategy. And he worked well with the hard-core engineers.

he is making big bets on a few key technologies, like artificial intelligence and cloud computing, where Microsoft will differentiate itself.

The PC is no longer the only computing device, or even the main one, that most users interact with.

Digital tracking tools and genetic sequencing are helping us get achingly close to eradicating polio, which would be just the second human disease ever wiped out.

In classrooms across the United States, personalized-learning software allows students to move at their own pace and zero in on the skills they most need to improve.

But after years of outdistancing all of our competitors, something was changing—and

and not for the better. Innovation was being replaced by bureaucracy. Teamwork was being replaced by internal politics. We were falling behind.

I told them that we spend far too much time at work for it not to have deep meaning. If we can connect what we stand for as individuals with what this company is capable of, there is

very little we can’t accomplish.

My passion is to put empathy at the center of everything I pursue—from the products we launch, to the new markets we enter, to the employees, customers, and partners we work with.

Every person, organization, and even society reaches a point at which they owe it to themselves to hit refresh—to reenergize, renew, reframe, and rethink their purpose.

when people and cultures re-create and refresh, a renaissance can be the result. Sports franchises do it. Apple did it. Detroit is doing it. One day ascending companies like Facebook will stop growing, and they will have to do it too.

There is much to be said for my mother’s philosophy of life, which influenced how I thought about my own future and opportunities. She always believed in doing your thing, and at your pace. Pace comes when you do your thing. So long as you enjoy it, do it mindfully and well, and have an honest purpose behind it, life won’t fail you. That has stood me in good stead all my life.

Vairavan and my master’s advisor Professor Hosseini for instilling in me the confidence not to pursue what was easy, but to tackle the biggest and hardest problems in computer science.

Theoretical computer science really grabbed me because it showed the limits to what today’s computers can do. It led me to become fascinated by mathematicians and computer scientists John Von Neumann and Alan Turing, and by quantum computing, which I will write about later as we look ahead to artificial intelligence and machine learning. And, if you think about it, this was great training for a CEO—nimbly

managing within constraints.

The first principle is to compete vigorously and with passion in the face of uncertainty and intimidation.

was a bowler and a terrible fielder but he positioned me at forward short leg, right beside the powerful Australian batsmen. I would have been happy standing far away, but he put me right next to the action. In time, with

new energy and new focus, we transformed into a competitive team. It showed me that you must always have respect for your competitor, but don’t be in awe. Go and compete.

One brilliant character who does not put team first can destroy the entire team.

He was an empathetic leader, and he knew that if I lost my confidence it would be hard to get it back. That is what leadership is about. It’s about bringing out the best in everyone. It was a subtle, important leadership lesson about when to intervene and when to build the confidence of an individual and a team. I think that is perhaps the number one thing that leaders have to do: to bolster the confidence of the people you’re leading.

The culmination of these experiences has provided the raw material for the transformation we are undergoing today—a set of principles based on the alchemy of purpose, innovation, and empathy.

Whether I am meeting with people in Latin America, the Middle East, or one of the inner cities of America, I am always searching to understand people’s thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Being an empathetic father, and bringing that desire to discover what is at the core, the soul, makes me a better leader.

Doug was an inspirational leader who mentored me to become a more complete leader. He thought about business and work not in isolation but as part of a broader societal fabric and a core part of one’s life.

This elasticity is a core attribute of cloud computing architecture.

ML is a very rich form of data analytics that is foundational to artificial intelligence.

Leadership means making choices and then rallying the team around those choices. One thing I had learned from my dad’s experience as a senior Indian government official was that few tasks are more difficult than building a lasting institution. The choice of leading through consensus versus fiat is a false one. Any institution-building comes from having a clear vision and culture that works to motivate progress both top-down and bottom-up.

In business school I had read Young Men and Fire, a book

by Norman Maclean (best known for A River Runs Through It). It tells the story of a tragic forest fire that killed thirteen “smokejumpers” (parachuting firefighters) in 1949 and the investigation that followed. What I remembered was the lesson that went unheeded: the urgent need to build shared context, trust, and credibility with your team. The lead firefighter, who ultimately escaped the blaze, knew that he had to build a small fire in order to escape the bigger fire. But no one would follow him. H...

It was important that the transformation come from within, from the core. It’s the only way to make change sustainable.

A leader must see the external opportunities and the internal capability and culture—and all of the connections among them—and respond to them before they become obvious parts of the conventional wisdom.

He encouraged me to be my own man. In other words, don’t try to please Bill Gates or anyone else. “Be bold, be right,” he told me.

He knew more than anyone that the company had to change, and he selflessly stepped out of his role as CEO to ensure the change happened in a deep way.

It would require embracing more ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence. This means humans will interact with experiences that span a multitude of devices and senses. All these experiences will be powered by intelligence in the cloud and also at the edge where data is being generated and interactions with people are taking place.

this renewal would only happen, I wrote, if we prioritized the organization’s culture and built confidence both inside and outside the company.

“Microsoft was founded based on a belief in the magic of software, and I’d say that opportunity today is stronger than it’s ever been.

One of my favorite books is Tracy Kidder’s The Soul of a New Machine about another tech company, Data General, in the 1970s. In it, Kidder teaches us that technology is nothing more than the collective soul of those who build it. The technology is fascinating, but even more fascinating is the profound obsession of its designers.

Steve Jobs understood what the soul of a company is. He once said that “design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” I agree. Apple will always remain true to its soul as long as its inner voice, its motivation, is about great design for consumer products. The soul of our company is different.

Microsoft needed to regain its soul as the company that makes powerful technology accessible to everyone and every organization—democratizing technology. When I first wore HoloLens, Microsoft’s holographic computer, I thought about how it might be used by large enterprises for design and in schools and hospitals, not just how much fun playing Minecraft will be.

My approach is to lead with a sense of purpose and pride in what we do, not envy or combativeness.

We defined our mission, worldview, ambitions, and culture in one page—no small feat for a company that loves massive PowerPoint decks. That was the relatively easy part. The harder part was to not tweak it—to let it stand. I’d want to edit a word here or there, add a row, just tinker with it before each speech. Then, I’d be reminded again “consistency is better than perfection.”

The work in these first few years of my tenure was all about getting the flywheel of change spinning.

Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world. We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more.”

Over time these changes meant that some executives left. They were all talented people, but the senior leadership team needed to become a cohesive team that shared a common worldview.

For anything monumental to happen—great software, innovative hardware, or even a sustainable institution—there needs to be one great mind or a set of

agreeing minds. I don’t mean yes-men and yes-women. Debate and argument are essential. Improving upon each other’s ideas is crucial. I wanted people to speak up. “Oh, here’s a customer segmentation study I’ve done.” “Here’s a pricing approach that contradicts this idea.” It’s great to have a good old-fashioned college debate. But there also has to be high-quality agreement. We needed a senior leadership team (SLT) that would lean into each other’s problems, promote dialogue, and be effective. We needed everyone to vi...

knowing that when we are an inch apart on strategy at the leadership level, our product teams end up miles apart in execution.

During that season, I reflected on her role in my life and her constant push to find a sense of contentment and meaning in all I did.

First, we must reinvent productivity and business processes. We needed to evolve beyond simply building individual productivity tools and start designing an intelligent fabric for computing based on four principles—collaboration, mobility, intelligence, and trust.

People still do important work as individuals, but collaboration is the new norm, so we build