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CEO
SPECIAL OUR INDUSTRY DOESN’T VALUE TRADITION, ONLY INNOVATION
New
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talks about growing up in ‘laid-back
Hyderabad’, the future of tech, his abiding faith in software and Indian
talent, his parents, Bill Gates, and his passion for poetry and cricket in
an interview with Sudipta Sengupta
Q. Congratulations on your taking
over as Microsoft CEO. How has the ride been so far?
I’ve been in the role for little over a month,
and it has been incredible. I’ve been impressed by the passion and energy
of Microsoft employees, and their willingness to commit to driving the company
forward. I’ve worked in many areas of the company over 22 years, but there
are some pieces of the business I’m getting to learn more about and it’s
been exciting to dig in deeper with those teams. Together with the
leadership team, I’m focused on driving clarity and alignment on the
strategy for our path forward with a laser focus on listening to customers
and delivering our next waves of innovation. As a side note, I’ve to admit
I was humbled by, and grateful for, the response in India to my appointment.
I received congratulations and best wishes from so many people – not just
friends and former colleagues, but many I had never met before. I deeply
appreciate the encouragement from people across India.
What’s your priority number one as CEO?
Microsoft is an amazing company that has
changed the world. I firmly believe our best days are ahead of us. I want
us to move faster and advance our innovations to deliver new value to
customers. I’ve spent a lot of time with our leadership team talking about
these opportunities and focusing on driving clarity and alignment on
strategy, providing our teams with the resources and environment to do
their best work, and removing internal barriers so our teams can deliver
breakthrough innovation faster.
On Day 1 as CEO, you said your aim would be to take Microsoft towards a
“mobile first, cloud first” world. How will you do that?
Microsoft was built on productivity, now we’re
reimagining productivity for a mobile first, cloud first world. I’m focused
on zeroing in on what we can uniquely deliver for customers that they
really value – this will manifest itself in our cloud services and in the
rich experiences we create on devices that enable customers do more in
work, life and play.
Microsoft seems to have lost its mojo. How do you get the momentum back?
Our industry doesn’t value tradition, it only
values innovation. Our 39-year history gives us a strong foundation and
capabilities to build on, as an organization. Our quest is to continually
renew ourselves, be persistent and push the limits on what is possible.
I’ve been inspired as I’ve met with our product and R&D teams and got
feedback from customers. We are on the brink of boundary-less innovation in
this industry and, I’m focused on investing in areas where we can drive
unique value for customers, and move faster.
Where do you wish to see Microsoft five years down the line?
I want to see us remain convinced that software
matters in future. Software is one of the most valuable
resourceswehave,whichwillbethe driving force in advancing our devices and
services and driving the next wave of innovations. Culturally, I’d like to
see us be known as a learning organization. The ability in this industry to
take new learnings, accrue it to what you’ve done in the past and make it
relevant for the future is valuable – I’m energized when I think of the
potential here in harnessing the collective brainpower and talent of our
soonto-be 130,000 employees.
With you at the helm, the software industry here is hopeful of
Microsoft’s R&D units in India (especially Microsoft’s India
Development Center, Hyderabad) getting a boost. Anything specific in mind
for India?
India has always been a vital part of
Microsoft’s plans. I think that only increases going forward. India is one
of the few countries where Microsofthastheentire rangeof our operations –
including basic R&D and customer services. We have morethan
6,000employees, andover 10,000 partners in India, creating thousandsof jobs
and a vibranttechnologyecosystem.Twenty of thetop 20 companies in India use
our technology. Five of the top five IT companies, five of the top five
manufacturing companies,fiveof thetop five banking organizations – across
virtually every sector, Microsoft technology is helping support the
economic infrastructure of India. I’m excited about the future technology
advancements possible in India in this mobile first, cloud first world. The
cloud is going to be a huge enabler of consumer services and
entrepreneurial growth. We are working with our partners to provide a wide
range of Azure cloud offerings to accelerate economic growth and
breakthrough cloud services in India. I’m passionate about the work we do
to support education and other societal goals across India. Microsoft has
been running one of the largest not-for-profit education and skills
programmes in India. Over the last two decades, our programmes have helped
over 40 million students, teachers and budding Indian entrepreneurs.
Your story is an inspiration to many. Some critics argue that your
success highlights the unfortunate reality of Indian students who shine
only when they give up on their country to work in the US. Your comments..
There are many examples of Indian students who
have remained in India and built great companies and done great things.
Truth is that India is a tremendous source of technology talent, both at
home and around the world. That’s something we can all take pride in.
What or who has been your inspiration?
My parents have been among my biggest inspirations
– they gave me the freedom and confidence to pursue what I wanted to.
Beyond that, my teachers, friends and colleagues played a critical role in
both introducing me to new things and pushing me to raise my game each step
of the way. Bill Gates has also been an inspiration – from his vision of
how technology could unleash the potential of every human being, to the
curiosity and intellectual rigour that he brings to every interaction. I’ve
learned so much from Bill, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to
work closely with him again as a Technology Advisor to me and the company.
When you are not at work or, like you’ve confessed, signing up for online courses, what do you do? We know you like poetry. Any favourites?
I do buy more books than I can read and sign up
for more online courses than I can finish. My love of poetry has grown.
Maybe it’s my attention span that needs more work, but I do love the
compression in poetry. I went through a phase of reading Urdu poetry,
thanks to the great transliterated versions now available. Now I am into
Whitman and W H Auden. My all-time favourite is Keats — Ode on a Grecian
Urn. Who is not haunted by those final lines — Beauty is truth, truth
beauty — that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
How about cricket? Do you now get any time to play? Or even watch Tests?
I love the game. I was an ordinary player, but
was lucky to play under some great captains and other solid players at
school who went on to play a decent amount of First Class cricket.
You were born and brought up in Hyderabad. What memories do you have of
the city?
Cumulatively I spent five years in Hyderabad.
But I will always be a Hyderabadi. It was a laid back place in the late 70s
and early 80s when I was growing up there. One got to do what they wanted
versus being in a rush to do what others were doing. I enjoyed that
freedom. I have lots of friends from Hyderabad Public School with whom I am
pretty close, both in Hyderabad and elsewhere. It was great to get emails
from all the CEOs who happen to be HPS alumnus — Shantanu Narayen at Adobe,
Prem Watsa at Fairfax Holdings, T K Kurian at Wipro and Ajay Banga at
Mastercard. It’s surreal.
What’s that one message you would want to give young professionals?
Find something you are truly passionate about,
and throw yourself into it fully. Life is too short to just go through the
motions on something you are not truly passionate about. Stay curious,
never stop learning.
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