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Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone Hardcover – September 26, 2017

by Satya Nadella (Author), Greg Shaw (Author), Jill Tracie Nichols (Author),

4,859 ratings

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“At the core, Hit Refresh, is about us humans and the unique quality we call empathy, which will become ever more valuable in a world where the torrent of technology will disrupt the status quo like never before.” – Satya Nadella from Hit Refresh

“Satya has charted a course for making the most of the opportunities created by technology while also facing up to the hard questions.” – Bill Gates from the Foreword of Hit Refresh

The New York Times bestseller Hit Refresh is about individual change, about the transformation happening inside of Microsoft and the technology that will soon impact all of our lives—the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing. It’s about how people, organizations, and societies can and must transform and “hit refresh” in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal.

Microsoft’s CEO tells the inside story of the company’s continuing transformation, tracing his own personal journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant technological changes in the digital era. Satya Nadella explores a fascinating childhood before immigrating to the U.S. and how he learned to lead along the way. He then shares his meditations as a sitting CEO—one who is mostly unknown following the brainy Bill Gates and energetic Steve Ballmer. He tells the inside story of how a company rediscovered its soul—transforming everything from culture to their fiercely competitive landscape and industry partnerships. As much a humanist as engineer and executive, Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of technology and by exploring the potential impact to society and delivering call to action for world leaders.

“Ideas excite me,” Nadella explains. “Empathy grounds and centers me.” Hit Refresh is a set of reflections, meditations, and recommendations presented as algorithms from a principled, deliberative leader searching for improvement—for himself, for a storied company, and for society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In this thoughtful debut, the Indian-born Nadella tells the story of his personal life and his work as a change-making leader, and he explains the coming importance of machine intelligence. The author emerges as a modest, likable individual from an accomplished family… A valuable blueprint for techies and others in a culture-change state of mind.” — Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Satya Nadella is Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. Before being named CEO in February 2014, Nadella held leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company. Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly became known as a leader who could span a breadth of technologies and businesses to transform some of Microsoft’s biggest product offerings. Most recently, Nadella was executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. In this role he led the transformation to the cloud infrastructure and services business, which outperformed the market and took share from competition. Previously, Nadella led R&D for the Online Services Division and was vice president of the Microsoft Business Division. Before joining Microsoft, Nadella was a member of the technology staff at Sun Microsystems. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Nadella lives in Bellevue, Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. Nadella serves on the board of his alma mater the University of Chicago, as well as the Starbucks board of directors. He is married and has three children.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Business; Illustrated edition (September 26, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062652508
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062652508
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.97 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #65,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #68 in Computers & Technology Industry
- #106 in Company Business Profiles (Books)
- #242 in Biographies of Business & Industrial Professionals

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Greg Shaw
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Greg Shaw is the founding publisher, writer, and editor of Clyde Hill Publishing. He is author, co-author, and ghostwriter of more than a dozen bestselling, award-winning books.
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Satya Nadella
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Satya Nadella is a husband, father and the chief executive officer of Microsoft – the third in the company’s 40-year history.
On his 21st birthday, Nadella emigrated from Hyderabad, India to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. After stops in America’s Rust Belt and Silicon Valley, he joined Microsoft in 1992 where he would lead a variety of products and innovations across the company’s consumer and enterprise businesses. Nadella is widely known as an inspiring, mission-oriented leader who pushes the bounds of technology while crafting creative and sometimes surprising deals with customers and partners globally.
Nadella’s life is a journey of learning deep empathy for other people, which he brings into all he does personally and professionally. As much a humanist as an engineer and executive, Nadella defines his mission and that of the company he leads as empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In addition to his role at Microsoft, Nadella serves on the Board of Directors for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Starbucks. Satya and his wife, Anu, personally support Seattle Children’s Hospital as well as other organizations in the Seattle area that serve the unique needs of people with disabilities.
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Jill Tracie Nichols
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Jill Tracie Nichols is founder and chief executive officer of the Tracie Group - a boutique communications agency for visionary leaders.
Prior to founding the Tracie Group, Jill was chief of staff to Microsoft’s new CEO, Satya Nadella. She spearheaded Nadella’s transition and launch, led the Office of the CEO and was accountable for all of Nadella’s global communications. Jill also partnered closely with Nadella and his leadership team to drive culture change. Before this, Jill directed Steve Ballmer’s communications while leading a cross-company strategy and media influencer team. Prior, Jill spent about 10 years in Human Resources at Microsoft, Avaya and Lucent Technologies where she designed and implemented a variety of people programs and led broad scale global change initiatives.
Jill grew-up in Edison, NJ and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Houghton College where she studied Creative Writing and Communications. She is co-author of Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone. Years ago, Jill adopted two teenage girls and developed a passion for helping young women reach their full potential. Jill and her husband Mike currently call Seattle home.
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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and insightful, providing lessons on business management and helping understand larger business meanings. They appreciate Nadella's genuine empathy and humility throughout the text, and one customer notes how it captures both personal and technical aspects. The book receives positive feedback for its coverage of Microsoft's cultural transformation and technology use, with one review highlighting its focus on Satya's leadership journey.

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Readability Insight Empathy Microsoft culture Technology use Satya Security

136 customers mention "Readability"124 positive12 negative

Customers find the book well written and worth reading from a real leader perspective, though some note that only half of it was interesting.

"To me the first four chapters were the most impactful. It's a fascinating story on how Satya, as an immigrant with an emphasized sense of empathy..." Read more

"...It is a worthwhile read for Microsofties, for information technologists, for government policymakers, and for leaders of all kinds...." Read more

"...Satya did a brilliant job in this book of showcasing what it is like to steer a ship as big as Microsoft to a brighter future...." Read more

"...In a very readable book, Satya also shares some interesting gems on business strategy and the future of technology...." Read more

106 customers mention "Insight"104 positive2 negative

Customers find the book insightful, helping them understand the larger meaning of business and providing lessons for life.

"...an immigrant with an emphasized sense of empathy for others, constant urge for learning and democratizing technology for all, didn't just become a..." Read more

"...It is a worthwhile read for Microsofties, for information technologists, for government policymakers, and for leaders of all kinds...." Read more

"...The book can serve as a decent introduction to everything happening in the world of technology and its possible impact, but if you are looking for..." Read more

"With Hit Refresh, Satya has charted new age leadership principles (a fresh breath) that requires in transformational digital age. &#..." Read more

15 customers mention "Empathy"15 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's genuine empathy and humility throughout, with one customer noting how it blends topics from capitalism to compassion.

"...story on how Satya, as an immigrant with an emphasized sense of empathy for others, constant urge for learning and democratizing technology for all,..." Read more

"...Empathy increases oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding AND psychological safety...." Read more

"...The power of empathy, collaboration, and listening (to employees, customers, vendors, and competitors) are themes that weave a very worthwhile..." Read more

"...He harps on diversity, empathy, and humility throughout the book...." Read more

13 customers mention "Microsoft culture"13 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's portrayal of Microsoft's cultural transformation, with one customer highlighting Satya's leadership and another noting how it made the company more human.

"...Clearly he orchestrated a rebirth of Microsoft. His humility and open-mindedness are striking...." Read more

"...The book is broken out into two main parts, Microsoft’s culture and the future of the technology industry as Satya sees it...." Read more

"...I believe Satya has done an incredible job at Microsoft...." Read more

"Good insight into the connections between Microsoft, it's leader, and the world...." Read more

12 customers mention "Technology use"12 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to technology, with one customer noting how it helps stay abreast of advances in the field.

"...The book is very focused on new management mindset and new trend of the technology. It is a good book and I enjoy reading...." Read more

"...The key point i took away from the book is to stay abreast with the advances in technology and the key to success is to have a “Growth Mindset”" Read more

"Very helpful. Satya is the martin Scorsese of community building! A lot of the facts art recycled but you will still learn a ton...." Read more

"It was a good read for mindfulness and working in technology today. I would recommend this book to my co-workers." Read more

5 customers mention "Satya"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate Satya's leadership and journey, with one customer noting the great job he and Microsoft have done.

"This gives a great summary of Satya's journey. But I was hoping to see something inspirational...." Read more

"Inspirational book, great job Satya and Microsoft. Your journey and how you went about it should be valuable lesson to all the leaders...." Read more

"Amazing book by Satya, Glad to be part of Microsoft at such an exiting time!, this book is truly inspirational and motivational" Read more

"Great book, learned a lot from Satya, I totally recommend it to everyone." Read more

4 customers mention "Security"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to security, with one noting how it provides a sense of safety.

"...Good culture also provides a sense of safety and motivation for your employees...." Read more

"...that Satya is a leader who has no fear of being authentic and vulnerable...." Read more

"...Your personal story, unsecurities, decision making, understanding of culture and vision for the future really connected with me...." Read more

"Started strong and trailed off..." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

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S. Leuchanka
Inspiring!
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2021
Verified Purchase

To me the first four chapters were the most impactful. It's a fascinating story on how Satya, as an immigrant with an emphasized sense of empathy for others, constant urge for learning and democratizing technology for all, didn't just become a CEO of one of the most legendary tech companies, but launched a historic transformation that reversed its decline and put it on the path to being a tech innovations leader once again. Clearly he orchestrated a rebirth of Microsoft. His humility and open-mindedness are striking. What's even more striking is how different he is character-wise with Steve Ballmer (and his cut throat competitive spirit). Kudos to the board and the search committee for picking Satya. That must have been a really tough decision back in 2013/14, which turned out to be the right one in the most obvious way!

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Paul F. Ross
A personal mission statement
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2017
Verified Purchase
Review of Nadella’s Hit refresh by Paul F. Ross

It has been fashionable in recent decades for an organization, a corporation, to prepare a “mission statement” declaring its purpose. The process of preparing and publishing the statement is supposed to give the organization’s leaders and employees as well as its customers and other publics a sense of direction, a purpose, so that their efforts are better coordinated, better understood, better focused, more efficient, more deeply appreciated.

Nadella’s Hit refresh (2017) is a personal mission statement about his role as leader of Microsoft given expression in his third year as CEO succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014. It reads almost as his diary might read, begun in 2014, a journey in which business conditions for Microsoft from 2008 forward, Microsoft’s competitors’ recent successes, Microsoft’s recent mistakes, and Nadella’s personal sense of the technological world’s directions and Microsoft’s 2008 culture helped him muse to himself from day to day. He writes knowing he is making a
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Nadella, Satya, Shaw, Greg, and Nichols, Jill Tracie Hit refresh: The quest to rediscover Microsoft’s soul and imagine a better future for everyone 2017, HarperCollins Publishers, New York NY, xi + 273 pages
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publishable document and carefully cites contributions from his Microsoft teammates throughout his story and in his acknowledgements. Nadella points to the opportunities current circumstances offer for Microsoft and Microsoft’s customers and cultures worldwide … unlike Kello (2017), writing about the need for an international script for dealing with cyberwar, who points to the critics and skeptics, criticizing the skeptics roundly, and so building their resistance to Kello’s ideas. Nadella treats all the right topics. Nadella’s diary allows the reader to know Nadella in a very personal way.
Nadella writes about finding himself as the successor to Steve Ballmer, the second to serve as CEO at Microsoft. Nadella writes about his youth in India, his emigration to the United States, his career at Microsoft to this point in time, the challenges Microsoft was facing in 2014 … all this looking back. He spends most of his time looking ahead … the places Microsoft has fallen behind, the need for a change in culture at Microsoft, the need for Microsoft to gain empathy (understanding the emotions and points of view of others), the new endeavors at Microsoft, his expectation that multinational organizations must deliver local productivity boosters and benefits wherever the organization is at work. Nadella speaks of information technology’s need to protect the privacy of customers entrusting their data to technology, establish rules about government roles and technology-provider roles with respect to technology’s customers, protect against hackers and cyberwar, establish a code of ethics for users and providers of cyber technology. Nadella sees artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cloud-based services as key aspects of information technology’s future.

Nadella’s Hit refresh is his look ahead. He is fully aware that in five years, in a decade, his performance and Microsoft’s progress will be assessed using this “mark on the wall” as the reference point. He intends to shape Microsoft’s direction, the direction of information technology, the nature of governments’ roles in relation to its citizens, international relations, … and the like based on his mission statement. It is a worthwhile read for Microsofties, for information technologists, for government policymakers, and for leaders of all kinds.

Bellevue WA
22 November 2017
Copyright © 2017 by Paul F. Ross All rights reserved.

References
Kello, Lucas The virtual weapon and international order 2017, Yale University Press, New Haven CT
Nadella, Satya, Shaw, Greg, and Nichols, Jill Tracie Hit refresh: The quest to rediscover Microsoft’s soul and imagine a better future for everyone 2017, HarperCollins Publishers, New York NY

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Mark Goulston
Making the Case for ROE (Return on Empathy)
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2017
Verified Purchase
"Hit Refresh" makes an inspiring and compelling case for how a company can deliver ROE (Return on Empathy). To those who poo-poo empathy as too soft and who will need convincing, that can only will come from Microsoft's results and to the truly hard-nosed, will come from an increase in its stock price.

I truly hope that Satya and Microsoft do succeed because empathy is the only hope for the world.

Satya talks about going from a “know it all” fixed mindset to a “learn it all” growth mindset. That reminds me of a quote from the Dalai Lama who said: “When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you might learn something new.”

I hope what follows will entice you to learn more as opposed to my merely coming off as a “know it all.”

And as a psychiatrist, neuroscientist and author of: "Just Listen" Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone, I will tell you why empathy is so critical to the future of humanity.

Empathy increases oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding AND psychological safety. Antipathy increases cortisol, the hormone associated with stress and psychological danger. They have a reciprocal relation to each other. The higher your oxytocin, the lower your cortisol and vice versa.

The higher your cortisol, the more difficult it is to listen with an open mind and the more likely you will look at the world corrupted by your subjective filters that will cause you to seek confirmation to support your biases.

The higher your oxytocin, the more you feel safe, lower your guard and can listen with an open mind. And more than that, if your oxytocin has increased because someone has cared about you, the more inclined are you to “pay it forward” and care about others.

Satya's approach also reminds me of the concept of approaching life with a Beginner's Mind. It also reminds me of the late British psychoanalyst Wilfred's idea that the purest form of listening is to listen without memory or desire. By that he meant when you listen with memory, you have an old (personal) agenda that you're trying to plug someone into. When you listen with desire, you have a present or future (personal) agenda that you're trying to plug people into. In neither case, are you listening to the other person's agenda.

Satya espouses and lives not just listening to his people, his customers and the world, but listening into them, getting where they (and we) are coming from and then caring about everyone when he gets there.

Bravo, kudos and Godspeed Satya!

EPILOGUE: After reading “Hit Refresh” I remembered something I had long ago forgotten – and wanted to forget - which has to do with one of the worst days in my training as a psychiatrist and with when, why and how I discovered the need to develop empathy. I was in my psychiatry residency training at UCLA and I was serving as a consultant and liaison to the oncology unit at the UCLA Medical Center. I was paged by one of the oncology residents who told me I needed to come up to the intensive care unit and okay their orders for soft restraints (wrist and leg restraints) and write orders for an anti-psychotic medication for a patient, I will call Mr. Smith, with AIDS (just after if first became discovered) who was highly agitated and pulling at his IV’s and the respirator tube that was inserted through his throat and prevented him from speaking.

When I entered his room, Mr. Smith was already in those restraints and had been given an injection of Haldol (an anti-psychotic medication) AND he looked at me with wide eyes that looked like saucers. All the time he was grunting at me and seemed to be wanting to tell me something, but couldn’t speak because of the tube going down his throat.

I kept saying to him, “What is it? What are you trying to tell me?” All he could do was grunt and moan. I put a pen in is restrained right hand and told him to write down what he was trying to tell me and all he could do was scribble illegibly. So in spite of my believing that he was trying to tell me something, but I then thought that maybe he was just psychotic which is what the oncologists had told me about him.

I then calmly looked into his eyes wide open and said, “We had to restrain you arms and legs and give you a medication to calm you down, because you have been pulling at your IV’s and the respirator tube. Pretty soon you will calm down and when that happens we will remove the restraints.” All the time he just kept staring at me, holding my eyes with his eyes and groaning with a message that I was not understanding. I then left to attend to my other patients.

A day later, one of the Oncology Residents paged me and said: “Mr. Smith is off the respirator and out of restraints and he asked us to page YOU to come and see him.”

When I entered Mr. Smith’s room, he was sitting up in his bed without his respirator tube and without the restraints. As soon as he saw me, he again grabbed onto my eyes with his eyes and told me firmly, “Take a seat!” and then he literally sat me in a chair using his eyes.

He kept his riveting stare into my eyes and said in no uncertertain terms, “What I was trying to tell you yesterday was that a piece of the respirator tube had broken off and was stuck cutting into my throat. And you do know that I will kill myself before I have to go through that again! Do YOU understand me?”

I was horrified and quiet and continue to look into the vice grip of his eyes I replied, “I am so sorry that happened to you and that I wasn’t able to understand what you were trying to tell me. And yes, I do understand that you will kill yourself before you have to go through something like that again.”

And at that moment, I discovered the critical importance of empathy instead of presuming something that isn’t so and reminded me of another quote by Will Rogers:

“It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so.”

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M. Towler
The Gentle Giant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2017
Verified Purchase

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.

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在星猫
巨漢マイクロソフトをリフレッシュさせた男
Reviewed in Japan on March 24, 2018
Verified Purchase
著者はマイクロソフトの現CEO。
言うまでもなく同社の創業者はビル・ゲイツ。パソコン用のOSであるWindowsでコンピュータの標準を占めて、ビジネス用アプリであるOfficeで事務の革新を進めてきた同社も、アマゾンやグーグルの台頭の前に足踏みをしているように見えた。
そんな時、三代目CEOとして指名されたのがインド出身のサティア。
エンジニア出身であるサティアが巨漢マイクロソフトをクラウド、モバイルという時代の趨勢に自社の舵を切って走らせてきた経営手法がこの本では披露されている。テクノロジー論やグローバルジェーション、倫理観という大きな話と、それ以上に自社の価値・意味と従業員の意識に働きかける必要とその方法が示されている。
自社のフレッシュを目指す人にはお勧めの一冊です。

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Peter de Toma sen.
Satya Nadella – Hit Refresh-Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul – reflections on IBM
Reviewed in Germany on October 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
James Cortada in his new book “IBM The Rise and Fall and reinvention of a Global Icon” published in 2019, writes correctly the following without elaborating this phase of IBM’s history in details – original quotes:
Pg. 379: Over time, it became clear that the disappointing story of IBM’s PC mirrored the declining performance of the entire company.
Pg. 398: Known to few outside of IBM and Microsoft, in mid-1986 Gates had offered to sell IBM a portion of his company. He needed cash to fund development of new operating systems. … Bill Lowe (IBM) declined the offer, making what was perhaps the second-biggest mistake in IBM’s history up to that time, following his first one, not insisting on proprietary rights to Microsoft’s DOS operating system or similarly for the Intel chip used in the PC. … In fairness to Lowe, he remained nervous that such an acquisition might reactivate the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust concerns.
Pg. 407: Sam Palmisano (IBM chairman and CEO 2002-2011), commenting on the performance of IBM’s rivals, admitted, “They really outexecuted us.”
My comments (MC in the following review):
First, Microsoft’s offer became known to the public in 1993: “Big Blues - The Unmaking of IBM” Pg. 118/119/131.
Second, Microsoft was a company of fewer than a dozen employees in 1978; in 1980, when IBM approached Microsoft to produce or provide software for the forthcoming IBM PC, Microsoft at that point had only 31 employees!
Third, Palmisano was wrong: Microsoft & Co did not outexecute IBM, they, especially Bill Gates, outsmarted the whole IBM executive team working with Microsoft!

Now you can imagine how interesting it is, to re-read or read Satya Nadella’s very interesting book and reflect on the ways Microsoft versus IBM went along.
Below you will find original quotes taken from Nadella’s book with my comments (MC) in context with IBM’s way of doing business:
Pg. 002: So when I was named Microsoft’s third CEO in February 2014, I told employees that renewing our company’s culture would be my highest priority.
MC: Virginia Rometty became the nineth IBM CEO if you start counting with Thomas Watson Sr., what I am doing here – deviating from James Cortada. The IBM culture was not on her agenda, her first top agenda was the shareholder-value focused Roadmap 2015 – 20$ Earnings per Share (EPS) per year end 2015. This goal – far from any chance to achieve this futile goal - was abandoned in October 2014!
Pg. 045: By 2008, storm clouds were gathering over Microsoft. PC shipments … had leveled off. …
Meanwhile, Amazon had quietly launched Amazon Web Services (AWS), establishing itself for years to come as a leader in the lucrative, rapidly growing cloud services business. … The PC Revolution of the 1980s, led by Microsoft, Intel, Apple, and others, had made computing accessible to homes and offices around the world.
MC: Besides the fact, that Nadella does not mention IBM in the PC business, you would not find cloud computing on IBM CEO Palmisano’s agenda – he retired 2011.
Pg. 046: By June 2008, Amazon already had 180,000 developers building applications and services for their cloud platform. Microsoft did not yet have a commercially viable cloud platform. … Pg. 047: “You (Nadella) should think about it, though,” Steve (Ballmer, Microsoft CEO) added. “This might be your last job at Microsoft, because if you fail there is no parachute. You may just crash with it.”
MC: who told Rometty, IBM CEO 2012-2020, retiring this year, something like that? What is the marching order for Arvind Krishna and Jim Whitehurst starting as IBM CEO and IBM President respectively after the very expensive acquisition of Red Hat in 2019 and the forthcoming split of IBM into two separate companies?
Pg. 053: In late 2010, Ray Ozzie announced in a long internal memo that he was leaving Microsoft. He wrote in his departure e-mail, “The one irrefutable truth is that in any large organization, any transformation that is to ‘stick’ must come from within.” While Red Dog was still in incubation and had booked little revenue, he was correct that the transformation of Microsoft would come from within. … Steve had already proclaimed that the company was all-in on the cloud, having invested $8.7 billion in research and development, much of it focused on cloud technologies. Right around that time, Steve asked that I lead server and tools business (STB), which today has evolved into Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise business. … Pg. 054: When I took over our fledgling cloud business in January 2011, analysts estimated that cloud revenues were already multi-billions of dollars with Amazon in the lead and Microsoft nowhere to be seen.
MC: IBM was in a similar position. Instead of innovation from within IBM under Palmisano and Rometty focused on innovation by acquisition, starting with the acquisition of the privately held company SoftLayer for $2Billion; crowned with the acquisition of Red Hat for 34B$! IBM’s innovation from within despite leading US Patent List for 26 years in a row???
Pg. 055: Shortly after I took over, the company issued this statement: “Nadella and his team are tasked with leading Microsoft’s enterprise transformation into the cloud and providing the technology roadmap and vision for the future of business computing.” Pg. 057: It was important that the transformation come from within, from the core. It’s the only way to make change sustainable.
MC: IBM CEO Rometty did not take over any such responsibility, she focused on the Roadmap 2015, innovation by acquisition and blowing up the balance sheet with “Goodwill”. 2011: Good Will/Total Assets: 26.213M$/116.433M$ - 2019: 58.222M$/152.186M$ - see Red Hat acquisition in 2018/2019.
Pg. 061: We changed the name of the product from Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure to make it clear that our cloud was not just about Windows. … Today Microsoft is on course to have its own $20 billion cloud business.
MC: this was written in 2017; “IBM to acquire Red Hat in a deal valued at $34 billion” was the CNBC headline on CNBC.com October 28th, 2018. Lora Kolodny reported:
IBM announced plans to acquire Red Hat in a deal valued at about $34 billion.
Prior to the acquisition, Red Hat's market capitalization stood at approximately $20.5 billion.
The acquisition is by far IBM's largest deal ever, and the third-biggest in the history of U.S. tech.
According to a joint statement, IBM will pay cash to buy all shares in Red Hat at $190 each.
Shares in Red Hat closed at $116.68 on Friday before the deal was announced. Red Hat earned $259 million on revenue of $2.92 billion.
Pg.062: The cloud business taught me a series of lessons I would carry with me for years to come. Perhaps the most important is this: A leader must see the external opportunities and the internal capability and culture and all of the connections among them – and respond to them before they become obvious parts of the conventional wisdom. It’s an art form, not a science.
MC: with almost countless acquisitions since 2002 the question is, what is the inside IBM staff versus the staff acquired? What is the current business culture applied and lived within IBM?
Pg. 072: A few months after I became CEO, the Nokia deal closed, and our teams worked hard to relaunch Windows Phone with new devices and a new operating system that came with new experiences. But it was too late to regain the ground we had lost. We were chasing our competitors’ taillights. Months later, I would have to announce a total write-off of the acquisition as well as plans to eliminate nearly eighteen thousand jobs, the majority of them because of the Nokia devices and services acquisition.
MC: will the already announced split of IBM into two separate companies trigger a careful analysis of the Good Will in the balance sheet and with which consequences?
Pg. 094: I had essentially asked employees to identify their innermost passions and to connect them in some way to our new mission and culture.
MC: The new IBM CEO, the new IBM President and their teams are facing this challenge now, while there is the IBM Corporation on one side and Red Hat owned by IBM on the other side, both companies have different missions and culture – so far. See the book “The Open Organization” by Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, published in 2015!
Pg. 126: Every company is becoming a digital company, and that process begins with infusing their products with intelligence. Experts estimate between 20-50 billion “connected thins” will be in use by 2020.
MC: I hope and assume, that IBM is well prepared to be successful in this business.
Pg. 140: Here is one way to think about the convergence of these coming technology shifts. With mixed reality we are building the ultimate computing experience … Artificial Intelligence powers every experience, augmenting human capability. … Finally, quantum computing will allow us to go beyond the bounds of Moore’s Law. Pg. 160: … quantum computing … Among those racing to understand it are Microsoft, Intel, Google, and IBM as well startups … Pg. 161: Today we have an urgent need to solve problems that would tie up classical computers for centuries, but that could be solved by a quantum computer in a few minutes or hours. It would take a classical computer 1 billion years to break today’s RSA-2048 encryption, but a quantum computer could crack it in about a hundred seconds, or less than two minutes. Pg. 166: Don’t imagine that one day a quantum computer will take the form of a new stand-alone, super-fast PC that will sit on your desk at work. Instead, a quantum computer will operate as a co-processor, receiving its instructions and cues from a stack of classical processors. It will be a hybrid device that sits in the cloud and accelerates highly complex calculations beyond our wildest dreams. … Experimental development of qubits has progressed to the point where scalable qubit technology now exists. Looking ahead to the next few years, we can expect so see the development of small quantum computers. Pg. 183: We live in a time of what David Gelernter calls the “mirror worlds”; the physical world is mirrored in an online world where data is accumulating and taking on more and more significance. How big is our data becoming? So called Big Data – information stored and analyzed in the cloud – is on track to reach 400 trillion gigabytes by 2018. Pg. 198: AI will fail if it can’t complement its IQ with EQ.
Pg.204: Cynthia Breazeal at the MIT Media Laboratory said, “After all, how we experience the world is through communications and collaboration. If we are interested in machines that work with us, then we can’t ignore the humanistic approach. Pg. 208: In their first report, Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030, the study panel noted that AI and robotics will be applied “across the globe in industries struggling to attract younger workers, such as agriculture, food processing, fulfillment centers and factories.” The report found no cause for concern that AI is an imminent threat to humankind. “No machines with self-sustaining long-term goals and intent have been developed, nor are they likely to be developed in the near future.” Pg. 225: … by 2020 just 16 percent of people in the world’s poorest countries and only 53 percent of the total global population will be connected to the Internet. At this rate, universal Internet access in low-income nations won’t be achieved until 2042. And with no Internet access, there is no cloud access. Pg. 237: We’ve invested more than $15 billion in constructing thirty of the world’s most sophisticated regional data centers, positioning them to support local entrepreneurship and public sector services in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
MC: IBM today and again is here in a very tough head-to-head competition with Microsoft; IBM is very well focused and positioned in the areas of Artificial intelligence and Quantum Computing. On 20th August, 2020, IBM announced that it had doubled last year's quantum volume 32 to a quantum volume of 64 using one of its newest 27-qubit Falco processors. Arvind Krishna, 58 years old, with a PhD in electrical engineering and Indian roots – like Satya Nadella – runs IBM since April 6th, 2020. The IBM – Microsoft race is on – again!

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Alexandre González Rodríguez
Encuadernación perfecta, contenido espectacular
Reviewed in Spain on June 6, 2020
Verified Purchase
Es increíble ver la transformación por la que ha pasado Microsoft, en parte gracias a Satya. Sin embargo, lo interesante de este libro es la visión personal de Satya, no solo se centra en el trabajo y de hecho deja claro muchas veces que no es lo más importante.

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Laxminarayan
Hit Refresh: A Refreshing Take on Leadership
Reviewed in India on January 17, 2024
Verified Purchase
If you're looking for a book that blends insightful leadership lessons with an insider's view of corporate reinvention, then Satya Nadella's "Hit Refresh" is a must-read. As someone inspired by Nadella's approach, here's what I found particularly compelling:

1. Empathy at the core: The book dives into Nadella's core belief in empathy as a driving force for leadership. It's not just about understanding customers, but fostering it within teams and creating a culture of collaboration. This resonated with me, especially seeing how it contributed to Microsoft's shift towards a more open and customer-centric company.

2. Growth mindset & learning: Nadella's emphasis on "growth mindset" resonated deeply. He encourages embracing challenges, continuous learning, and a willingness to adapt. This resonated with Microsoft's transformation, where they moved beyond their comfort zone and embraced new technologies and markets.

3. Putting people first: The book highlights Nadella's focus on empowering employees and fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. This shift in culture is palpable within Microsoft today, creating a more engaged and productive workforce.

4. Embracing the future: Nadella's vision for the future of technology is both inspiring and thought-provoking. He explores artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing, offering a glimpse into a world full of possibilities.

Overall, "Hit Refresh" is a refreshing and insightful read. It's not just a leadership book for corporate executives; it's a story of transformation that holds valuable lessons for anyone navigating change and innovation in any field.

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Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone Hardcover – September 26, 2017

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Hit Refresh - a must read to understand Microsoft's transformation and importance of having a growth mindset

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