November 12, 2017 (page 100)
“I like to think that the C in CEO stands for culture. The CEO is the curator of an organization’s culture. As I had told employees in Orlando, anything is possible for a company when its culture is about listening, learning, and harnessing individual passions and talents to the company’s mission. Creating that kind of culture is my chief job as CEO. And so, whether it was through public events like the launch of Windows 10 or through speeches, emails, tweets, internal posts, or monthly employee Q&A sessions, I planned to use every opportunity at my disposal to encourage our team to live this culture of dynamic learning.”
November 12, 2017 (page 102)
“Innovation and competition don’t respect our silos, our org boundaries, so we have to learn to transcend those barriers. We are a family of individuals united by a single, shared mission. It is not about doing what’s comfortable within our own organization, it’s about getting outside that comfort zone, reaching out to do things that are most important for customers. For some companies this comes more naturally.”
November 12, 2017 (page 105)
“Because I’ve made culture change at Microsoft such a high priority, people often ask how it’s going. Well, I suppose my response is very Eastern: We’re making great progress, but we should never be done. It’s not a program with a start and end date. It’s a way of being. Frankly, I am wired that way. When I learn about a shortcoming, it’s a thrilling moment. The person who points it out has given me the gift of insight. It’s about questioning ourselves each day: Where are all the places today that I had a fixed mindset? Where did I have a growth mindset?”
November 12, 2017 (page 108)
“If you want to understand the culture inside a software company, show up at a meeting that includes engineers from different parts of the company. These are very smart people who are passionate about building great products. But are they plugged into what customers need and want? Do they include diverse opinions and capabilities when writing code? And do they act like they’re on the same team, even if they work in different groups? Answers to questions like these serve as a great barometer for the culture we need. Demonstrating a growth mindset. Customer-centric. Diverse and inclusive. One company.”
November 12, 2017 (page 109)
“The key to the culture change was individual empowerment. We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen, and overestimate what others need to do for us. We had to get out of the mode of thinking in which we assume that others have more power over us than we do. I became irritated once during an employee Q&A when someone asked me, “Why can’t I print a document from my mobile phone?” I politely told him, “Make it happen. You have full authority.”
November 12, 2017 (page 110)
“Another time, members of a chat group on Yammer, our corporate social media service for internal conversations, were complaining that people were leaving half-used milk cartons in the office refrigerator. Apparently people would open a fresh eight-ounce container of milk, pour some in their coffee or tea, and then leave it out on the counter thinking others would finish it. But no one wants to use a personal milk container opened by somebody else that is beginning to sour. It blew up on Yammer, and I used one of my video messages to employees to have a good laugh at it, showcasing it as a humorous example of a fixed mindset.”
November 12, 2017 (page 114)
“This episode led me to reflect on my own experience as an immigrant. Hearing racial slurs toward Indians after moving to America never stung me, I just blew them off—an easy thing to do for a man raised in the majority and with privilege in India. Even when some people in positions of power have remarked that there are too many Asian CEOs in technology, I’ve ignored their ignorance. But as I grow older, and watch a second generation of Indians—my kids and their friends—grow up as minorities in the United States, I cannot help but think about how our experiences differ. It infuriates me to think they will hear and grapple with racial slurs and ignorance.”
November 12, 2017 (page 116)
“A manager can be demanding, but must also have the empathy to figure out what will motivate employees. Likewise, an employee is right to put his or her head down and work hard, but they also have the right to expect a pathway to greater responsibility and recognition when they do. There must be balance.”
November 12, 2017 (page 118)
“A Harvard Business Review survey found that senior leaders inside companies spend less than 10 percent of their time developing high potential leaders. If even top executives cannot find the time to unlock employee potential, the growth path for most corporate team members looks pretty static.”
November 12, 2017 (page 118)
“I told these high-potential leaders that once you become a vice president, a partner in this endeavor, the whining is over. You can’t say the coffee around here is bad, or there aren’t enough good people, or I didn’t get the bonus.
“To be a leader in this company, your job is to find the rose petals in a field of shit.”
Notes From: Satya Nadella. “Hit Refresh.” iBooks.
Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/dk/book/hit-refresh/id1128878569?mt=11
