The Book — “Hit Refresh” by Satya Nadella
The Author
Satya Nadella is the third CEO in the Microsoft’s more than forty years history.
He defines himself as much as a humanist than a technologist and joined Microsoft in 1992 because he wanted to work for a company filled with people who believed they were on a mission to change the world as he mentionned in the first sentence of the book.
The (very short) Summary
Microsoft’s original mission was: “ A computer on every desk and in every home”. It defined the company’s culture.
Since then, much has changed. The question Satya Nadella asks and try to answer in the book is the following one: “Why does Microsoft exist ? And why do I exist in this new role ?”
He is speaking about a cultural transformation driven by a sense of empathy, a desire to empower others and the most transformative wave of technology yet — one that will include artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing.
Through this book, Satya Nadella’s goal is to rediscover the soul of Microsoft and their reason for being.
The Big Idea
It’s not at all obvious to extract the main idea of the book. In fact, I assume it’s the combination of two equations and a mental model.
Equation #1: Empathy + Shared values + Safety and Reliability = Trust over time
Equation #2: (Education + Innovation) x Intensity of Tech Use = Economic Growth
Mental Model: Employees. Customers. Products. Partners. Maximizing value comes from maximizing the well-being and vibrancy of all these cosntituents.
The future belongs to those who will best solve these 2 equations in the frame defined by the mental model.
It’s about finding the right model in which people and technology will mutually empower themselves.
Microsoft has always been, and will continue being as much a human centric than a technology centric company in the future, as they have great ambitions and believe they can play a role in solving these equations.
The Insights
on business and empathy / the way to do business is to focus on culture and imagine what’s possible using a set of principle based on the alchemy of purpose, innovation, and empathy. By the way, an empathetic leader needs to be out in the world, meeting people where they live and seeing how the technology we create affects their daily activities.
on agility / the key is agility, agility, agility. We need to develop speed, nimbleness, and athleticism to get the consumer experience right, not just once but daily.
on transformation / the one irrefutable truth is that in any large organization, any transformation that is to “stick” must come from within.
on today vs. tomorrow / the server and tools business that was at the peak of its commercial success was holding them back, discouraging them from innovating and growing with the times. The company had to issue a statement with clear guidance about the vision for the future and the transformation through which the company had to go.
on the changing world / but the world had changed, and it was time for us to change our view of the world.
on the first step to take / to be an evangelist. Communicate clearly and regularly our sense of mission, worldview, and business and innovations ambitions. Drive cultural change from top to bottom, and get the right team in the right place. Build new and surprising partnerships in which we can grow the pie and delight customers. Be ready to catch the next wave of innovation and platform shifts. Reframe our opportunity for a mobile- and cloud-first world, and drive our execution with urgency. Stand for timeless values, and restore productivity and economic growth for everyone.
on being clear and concise / we defined our mission, worldview, ambitions, and culture in one page.
on the senior leadership (SLT) role / we needed to share a common worldview. We needed to be aligned on mission, startegy, and culture. I like to think of the SLT as a sort of Legion of Superheroes, which each leader coming to the table with a unique superpower to contribute to the common good.
on the business we are in / we are in the empowerment business.
on cultural change and customer centric organization / when we exercise a growth mindset by being customer obsessed, diverse, and inclusive and act as One Microsoft, that’s when we live our mission and truly make a difference in the world.
on empowerment / the key to culture change was individual empowerment. We had to get out of the mode of thinking in which we assume that others have more power over us than we do.
on middle management / we had a missing link — middle management. A Harvard Business Review survey found that senior leaders inside companies spend less than 10 percent of their time developing high potential leaders. There are three leadership principles for anyone leading others at Microsoft. The first is to bring clarity to those you work with. Second, leaders generate energy, not only on their own teams but across the company. Third, and finally, they find a way to deliver success, to make things happen.
on partnership / one way to explain the logic is by turning to game theory, which uses mathematical models to explain cooperation and conflict. Partnering is too often seen as a zero-sum game — whatever is gained by one participant is lost by another. When done right, partnering grows the pie for everyone — for customers, yes, but also for each of the partners.
on the digital world / every company is becoming a digital company, and that process begins with infusing their products with intelligence.
on technology trends / three key technologies will shape our industry and others in the years to come — mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.
on the collaboration between humans and machines / there are “musts” for humans, that future generations must prioritize and cultivate in order to stay relevant. Empathy. Education. Creativity. Judgment and accountability.
My Big Actionable Takeaway
“It’s about helping employees live out their own personal mission in the context of Microsoft’s. Microsoft no longer employs people, people employ Microsoft. What is possible to achieve when we shift the mindset of more than 100000 people from being employees to employer ?”.
This sentence appears at the very end of the book. It perfectly describes the mindset I have to embrace when contributing to shape and transform the innovation culture within my company.
And as Satya Nadella mentions, this culture needs to be a microcosm of the world we hope to create outside of the company.
