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

by Satya Nadella

Perhaps the most important thing we did during the experimental retreat was engage the leaders in more open and honest dialogue about our cultural evolution. Kathleen Hogan, our Chief People Officer and my partner in this endeavor, knew we needed to get this group’s feedback and buy-in. So after a long day of visiting customers in the Seattle area and driving back into the mountains, people were again divided into seventeen random groups of about ten each. They were then pointed to dinner tables with the assignment to share their own account of where the company’s culture stood and their ideas on how to evolve it. Some of us guessed this exercise would be futile—a cute nod to leader engagement. We figured these leaders would be tired. They’d be persnickety. They’d want to congregate back with their own friends. They’d say culture was my job or HR’s job. We were dead wrong. Discussions went long into the evening as the broader executive team gained a common understanding of what others experienced in leading their own teams, and brainstormed ways to create the culture we all aspired to have.