Hit Refresh with Satya Nadella
And while I was refreshing Instagram and LinkedIn way too frequently the last few weeks, I decided to finally read Hit Refresh By Satya Nadella!
We all have cracked the ‘Meet me in 15 years from now when I become a CEO’ joke with a pinch of wishful thinking amongst our friends. And while it takes an imaginative brain to picture ourselves up there as we dream in broad daylight, reading Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella left me 245 pages wiser about what it takes to be a leader. What it offers are lots of insights and perspective on how leaders battle with dilemma, take calculated risks and make well-informed choices.
It is an unputdownable read for anybody who has an overwhelming appetite for technology and is curious to know where Science, AI and Quantum Computing are headed. And an edifying one, for those who aspire to be great leaders. As I got sucked into the pages, I started to comprehend and digest how the leader of one of the biggest IT firms of our generation thinks, the kind of questions he asks to himself and to others as he weighs his options to make intellectually and emotionally invested decisions.
The ‘wisdom per sentence’ quotient in most parts of the book is very high. Anticipated questions like “ When is a partnership appropriate as opposed to an acquisition” are answered in turn, by reflecting “ Can we create more value for customers by coming together as one entity or as two”. In his chapter “Friends or Frenemies” he discusses the thinking that goes behind getting together and partnering with competitors like Google and Apple to offer us customers products and services we use daily, but give little thought to. Not many pause to question how and why the Microsoft Office365 is readily available on an iPhone,do we? From the very beginning, he talks about empathy. Empathetic way of thinking, empathetic way of making decisions, empathetically letting go of the profit numbers and choosing to mend, foster and forge trustworthy reliable relationships. I particularly remember the story of how Microsoft lost Samsung’s support when it bought a division of Nokia. And a few years down the line, Samsung and Microsoft shake hands gleefully once again, and Samsung now supports and promotes Microsoft apps on its devices.
What I found most intriguing about this book is how it openly identifies, finger-points and discusses instances where Microsoft had made mistakes, and reveals how they then went onto correct those with empathy and vision. It is not everyday that we get to hear leaders think out loud. Hearing and watching Microsoft stand by what they believe in, even as it involved discussions with the government and owing clarifications to the customers, left me with a deeper understanding of how a great company guards its ethics,morals and intent.
The book has undoubtedly left me wanting to be the kind of leader who is compassionate and invested in keeping his employees engaged and motivated. A leader who is unafraid of owning up to mistakes, who can gauge and anticipate what’s coming next and prepare for it well in advance.
