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

by Satya Nadella

I knew that part of rediscovering the company’s soul was to bring Bill back, to engage him more deeply in the technical vision for our products and services. Reviewing a software product with Bill is the stuff of legend at Microsoft. In his comical 1994 novel, Microserfs, Douglas Coupland wrote a humorous sketch of Bill’s influence on a Microsoft programmer. A developer named Michael locks himself in his office at 11 a.m. after getting a flame mail from Bill who had reviewed some of his code. No one on his floor had ever been flamed by Bill personally. “The episode was tinged with glamour and we were somewhat jealous.” By 2:30 a.m., concerned about Michael, his team goes to the twenty-four-hour Safeway for “flat” food that can be slipped underneath his door. While this exaggerated legend doesn’t exactly capture the culture I hoped to create, I knew that getting our founder back in the product-development loop would inspire our people and up our game.