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

The image of turning a large, impressive, but perhaps unwieldy, ocean liner around in mid-course seems aptly to describe the cultural reboot of Microsoft during 2014.In his 2017 book, “Hit Refresh,” Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, provides detailed outlines and on-going steps for how he answered the challenges when he was named the third CEO in the company’s history following Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.Through nine chapters and a postscript he presents the Microsoft situation he initially inherited, how he pursued cultural and business changes and, finally, where he sees the future for not only Microsoft but also “big change” technology headed.During the first three chapters Nadella recounts his background, early experiences in technology and working at Microsoft. Make no mistake: despite his modesty and understatement, Nadella is clearly a talented and exceptional person.During the middle chapters he describes the need to rethink the future and goals for the company with specific insights that managers might find helpful:• “Obsess about customers… and meet a customer’s unarticulated and unmet needs with great technology.”• “Actively seek diversity and inclusion.”• “We are one company… not a confederation of fiefdoms…have to learn to transcend those barriers.”The author has shown his willingness to embrace change by forging new partnerships with companies long-viewed as arch rivals such as Red Hat and Apple and acquiring new platforms promising growth opportunities such as Linked-In.Nadella offers his perspective on principles for leadership:• “Bring clarity to those you work with.”• “Generate energy, not only on (your) own terms but across the company.”• “Find a way to deliver success, to make things happen.”During the last chapters the author focuses on three technologies that lead to massive shifts in the economy and society: mixed reality, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The first changes how people interface with computing and the digital world by increasing the experiential nature of the specific task.The second, Nadella sees as augmenting human capabilities with analyses leading to insights and predictive power achieved far more rapidly than people working on their own. He does caution later adapting to this technology requires major changes in the educational system to prepare today’ students to be the managers and developers of tomorrow.Finally, while still experimental, quantum computing will give rise to rapid growth in computing power and speed so that complex calculations once thought beyond reach can be achieved, If you want more insights, read my Amazon review of Scientific American’s 2016 collection, “Ultimate Physics” (here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2L9R6OLCSFQUM/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8)At the end of the book Nadella reprises a theme he sees as a core value in creating successful relationships for employees, managers, partners and people in general: the importance of education and empathy. Education as an essential road to understanding and using new technology so that a knowledge gap does not create further displacement in society.Empathy is critical for leaders and managers to understand others, their motives, wants and needs. And something that seems to be in short supply at this time.

This was the most surprising book I've read this year. I didn't expect to find the story of a CEO with so much empathy, a sense of purpose, and a focus on people (his employees, customers, and the world).This is a case study of Simon Sinek's Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last. I was encouraged to learn that Microsoft is focusing on both the Employee Experience and the Customer Experience (like Adobe).The last couple sections on the future of technology and its impact on the global economy were interesting and I benefited from reading them but the first 2/3rds of the book were definitely my favorite.

Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone – By Satya Nadella”First as an Ex Micrsoftie, I am in absolutely love with Microsoft and I take so much pride in talking about how the years that I spent in MS has helped me shaping my career. While some may disagree, but I firmly believe that impact that Microsoft had on our daily lives is beyond any other technology company. Not just the software, Microsoft clearly were the first company that provided the platform, tools and more importantly the inspiration to dream and design a digital world, as it we know today. Over the time, other tech companies came to their age and outsmarted Microsoft in multiple key areas including Search, Social and Mobile. And then Satya Nadella came to helm he embarked on a journey to re-discover the lost soul of company and make it relevant (and Cool) again.‘Hit Refresh’ is primarily divided into three partsFirst is Satya’s personal story coming from India and arriving at Microsoft in 1992Second is story of Microsoft transformation and steps Satya took to curate the ‘Growth Mindset’ in employeesThird (and favorite) part of where Satya talks about the disruptions and transformation that technology is going to create, which will overcome the existing limits of physics and chemistry and ultimately better the mankindAuthor has been extremely honest and open in talking about the strengths of his competitors and acknowledges the need find the smart ways to partner with companies to learn from each other perspective. There are multiple places in book that made me realize that Satya is a leader who has no fear of being authentic and vulnerable. He actually talked about his biggest fumble at Grace Hopper conference and how working with ‘Frenemies’ Microsoft created more growth opportunities like Office for Mac!The key take away the book offers to its readers is to stay optimistic about what’s to come. As the technology is advancing, the world is changing faster then ever. One definite ways master this change is have a “Growth Mindset”“Don’t Be a Know-It-All, Be a Learn-It-All – Satya Nadella”

While not a long read, Hit Refresh provides great background on how Satya Nadella grew his career through Microsoft, how he looks at the company and it's future and how he views change. It's a fascinating insight and well-written/easy to read. Perhaps the only nitpicky thing is that at the end it gets a bit preachy, but that's a small price to pay for the information gained.A must read for anyone in a rapidly evolving industry (i.e., nearly everyone) or who wants to be a leader through change.

Wow, this is how a leader acts and thinks. Nadella does a great job of giving you a (limited) behind the scenes look at how he has been running Microsoft. He also gives some hints about the direction the company will be taking with important issues like information security, cloud computing, automation, artificial intelligence and leadership. I would even argue that he gives some lessons for life. A worthwhile read for anyone who studies leadership...and has a ton of Apple products - you will see that Microsoft is coming back!

This book is not for everyone. It is for those who understand technology a bit and are interested in knowing the inner workings of an organization like Microsoft. Not just about Microsoft, you need to learn what a person Satya Nadella is how is reached from a small place in India to where he is today.Now let’s move to the probable reasons as to why you should read it.1. To know Satya Nadella’s journey from India to MicrosoftSatya Nadella’s journey is encouraging as well as powerful. His story shows us that how hard work and talent can lead you to the places you only dream about. Satya belongs to a middle-class Indian family. He talks about his life and friends in India and how his parents shaped his future to be a better human being. He was and is a big cricket enthusiast and he explained how the game of Cricket actually helped him to learn the qualities like leadership and empathy. The part where Satya told about his initial move to the US was very moving. His wife was having trouble in getting the visa and he was ready to give up his green card in case she did not get it. But luckily she got it. I was surprised to know that their first child is disabled. I can understand the difficulties that they would have faced. There were so many things to learn from Satya’s examples. He encourages you to take challenges and to listen to your heart sometime. He tells the importance of family and how it helps make your future.2. If interested in knowing more about Microsoft and how actually Microsoft did “hit refresh”It was fun to know the internal working of Microsoft. When Satya became the CEO, and even the years before that, Microsoft was going downwards. He took many decisions which not only changed the face of Microsoft but allowed them to transform the Microsoft completely. The decisions were not at all easy, but it was important to take those. Satya Realised that except Office, none of their products were selling as they had speculated because of the competition going on in the market from the rivals like Amazon and Apple.Satya did many changes in the company’s culture and took a complete 180 degrees turn (Hit Refresh) to not only encourage the employee’s satisfaction but also encouraged them to have more empathy. He encouraged them to learn more, to ask questions and to participate fully.3. If you want to know what actually goes behind successful companies and their strugglesThis is not a hidden fact that so much politics go inside big companies like Microsoft. It was amazing to know the work culture of Microsoft, its various work programmes, its team divisions and inside details. If you are someone who likes to join Microsoft someday or is simply fascinated by it, you would find it particularly interesting. It doesn’t matter how big is an organization. There is always a room for more improvement and growth. Microsoft was too lenient a few years ago and employees were unsatisfied. Satya tried to change this and thus helped Microsoft to come out of the difficult phase.4. If you are a tech person or love technologyOh yes! If you simply love technology you should read this whether you are in a technical field or not. Satya has talked about many technologies which I was amazed to hear for the first time. There was seriously so much to learn about the new products that Microsoft is making or the current projects they are working on. I had heard many of the names before, but I had never gone into the details of things like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. But Satya’s words will take you on that amazing journey. As per him, currently there are three big technology trends: artificial intelligence, mixed reality and quantum computing and they have to work towards making a hold on those.5. If you want to learn the basic importance of leadership, empathy, equation of trust etc.This was my favourite part of the book. It was more like a moral teaching. Satya told that in today’s world we should try to make friends even with our enemies. He describes how partnerships with companies like Samsung, Adobe and Apple have provided benefits to Microsoft and have given future alliances to strengthen themselves with a clear focus. With making the enemies friends (fre-enemies) often we can get profits in some fields, if not at all. He talked about the importance of leadership and how that leadership quality helped him to overcome the failure that Microsoft was going towards.Final Thoughts-----------------------There is a lot to learn from this book. Not only you can learn many things about Satya himself, but also about the Microsoft’s journey and the changes, it incorporated in order to survive. This book can get a little technical in between. But if you are a technology enthusiast you should definitely read this. You should read this to understand how technology is going to change and is going to affect YOU and what role you can play into this.

To many, Microsoft was known as the “Bully of Silicon Valley” – their dominance in the 80s & 90s led to it becoming stale in the 00’s. They were absolute as leaders of Tech, their Windows & Server businesses would generate revenues for decades to come.Then along came the smartphone revolution and Microsoft realised the old ways couldn’t continue – they needed new blood and they had it, in the form a Microsoft’s own Satya Nadella.In this book, Satya talks about his humble beginnings in India, growing up with a love of cricket, his journey to America, the very personal story of his family and how it affected his world view.The book is a book of 2 halves.The first half deals with what was and how to overcome it – the finding of Microsoft’s soul once again. Satya knew he had to change the culture of Microsoft, one of a “know-it-all” company to one of a “learn-it-all”. There are many anecdotes in this book but one which stood out the most was that Microsoft had employees who wanted to do things and try new things but were told not to because their focus was on Windows and the Server business. Satya’s pledge to “reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more” started within Microsoft – the book talks about this transformation of culture.The second half of the book looks more at the next big things – Artificial Intelligence, Mixed Reality and Quantum Computer, all which Microsoft are investing heavily in. It also looks at Privacy in a Digital age, what the means for users, governments and tech companies and Ethical framework for AI, all important topics to discuss in this ever-increasing Digital world.There are great lessons for leadership within this book, my personal favourite is what Satya describes as “not his best line of poetry” but it rings true for leaders in business.All in all, the book offers insight into 1 of the biggest changes in corporate culture in modern history, how it was done and insight from a leader in 1 of the largest technology companies in the world on what may lie ahead in our near future. For fans of technology or people looking to learn more leadership skills, this book is worth picking up.

Books talk about culture turnaround at Microsoft but not mentions much details about approach. It mentions about role of technology in now & upcoming future esp. enormous potential for 4 technology domains - Cloud, Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Quantum calculation. Author also links development of region / countries as how fast it embrace new technology. It also talks about dilemma for tech companies regarding sharing personal customer data with legal authorities for crime investigation vs ensuring privacy commitment of huge customer data, these hold. It also talk about personal journey of author from India to US and about his family including son with special need due to disability.

To be honest, I had no idea who the CEO of Microsoft after Gates was, I've lost interest in Microsoft as an organisation, a company and I really underestimated Satya's role! Wow, his book opened my eyes and let me think about new ideas for my own business.

I really enjoyed this book, a personal account of his rise to CEO of Microsoft and his monumental cultural transformation from a large, unwieldy, company into an organization with a renewed culture with a brighter future.Nadella is clearly an exceptional visionary with much we can learn about the importance of empathy, a sense of purpose, and a focus on his employees and customers. Good luck and keep doing it