Satya Nadella – 10x’d Microsoft’s market cap from $300B to $2.75 TRILLION – Made them leaders in cloud computing, business networks, and gaming. And now put them in pole position in the AI race. He’s a humble Indian boy who got rejected from IIT. His story is wild. And full of lessons. Here are the top 5. 1. Growth Mindset Even in a legacy company. When Satya became CEO in 2014, Microsoft was a staid giant not known for innovating. They’d missed on mobile. And they were about to miss the cloud revolution. Satya pivoted the company away from its focus on Windows. They invested heavily in Azure, and went all in on the cloud. The result? Tens of billions in revenue from their cloud businesses, last year alone. Mind-bender. 2. Focus on Empathy Sympathy is feeling for someone. Empathy is feeling what someone else is feeling. Understanding their POV, internalizing their emotions, and seeing the world from their eyes. It was the core focus on Satya’s book “Hit Refresh”. “Empathy makes you a better innovator. If I look at the most successful products we [Microsoft] have created, at their core, they have come about because of a deep empathy for the people we're trying to serve.” Satya is a total innovator. And walking a mile in your customer’s shoes is the best way to do it. 3. Collaboration at work Microsoft under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer was notoriously competitive. Internal strife and competition were key features of the Microsoft of old. Satya Nadella changed all of it. He refreshed a legacy culture, and made it one of the most collaborative among global tech giants. The result? Well, you saw the numbers at the top. 4. Seek out partners For a legacy company with a massive bureaucracy, moving fast is often not possible. Microsoft was slow. And changing it took time. But what they had were tremendous resources. And Satya put them to good use. LinkedIn, Github, Activision Blizzard, OpenAi, and now, Sam Altman himself. Satya has made partnering with movers and shakers the hallmark of his tenure. It has propelled Microsoft to the top in every category of tech in 2023. 5. Flexibility The flexibility Satya showed last weekend was the stuff of legend. Microsoft was obviously caught off-guard with @sama suddenly being fired. And they (probably) fought like hell to get him reinstated. But when it didn’t work, Satya changed course. Onboarded Sam to lead Microsoft’s AI initiative. While staying publicly committed to OpenAI. Preserving reputation and present relationships while investing heavily in the future. Now that, That’s leadership.

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