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I finished listening to this book sometime in earlier in  2020 while COVID 19 was beginning to wreck havoc in China.  As I write this, worldometers.info reports that 188 countries have reported infections with 308,547 confirmed cases, 13,069 deaths and 95,829 recovered cases.

This backdrop definitely influences my writing this today.  What do we need as leaders to help our organizations to hit refresh; for our families, communities and organizations to tackle the immediate crisis and the underlying challenges and weaknesses that are not allowing us to respond optimally?  We need to learn so that we can keep doing better.  Here is what I learnt from Nadella.

Incredible Empathy

• Empathy undergirds how Nadella sees, hears, thinks, interacts, decides and acts.
• In chapter two “Learning to Lead” he talks about the birth of his first son, Zain and how caring for him and other experiences have led him to be “always searching to understand people’s thoughts, feelings, and ideas.  Being an empathetic father, and brining that desire to discover what is at the core, the soul, makes me a better leader,” he says.
• It also enables him to leverage technology for solutions that are “empathetic” that truly lives up to the Microsoft mission, to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, as stated on their company website.
• With this purpose, Microsoft started imagining a better future by focusing on “the mobility of human experience, experiences made possible by our cloud technologies.”

Culture and Courage

• Change needs to come from within, from the core, from the top.
• CEO and top leadership needed to be consistent and courageous about change.
• When momentum developed, he created a culture cabinet of trusted advisors and senior leaders who were committed to helping shape and lead the culture change in every part of the company.
• After over a year of driving change (Summer 2015),  the leadership team was coming together.
• Formula for trust
  • E + SV + SR = T/t
  • Empathy + Shared  values + Safety and Reliability = Trust over time

Growth mindset

• Permeated everything Nadella did and instilled as part of all facets of the refreshed Microsoft.
• It is as important to unlearn old habits as to learn new skills.
• When leading Bing he learnt to mobilize team to a common goal- he was always learning no matter what role he was in.
• This resulted in three business priorities and ambitions that are true to mission:
  • Reinvent productivity and business process
  • Build the intelligent cloud platform
  • Have users loving windows by creating more personal computing
• Transforming partnerships, Frenemies and opportunities
  • That put priorities first, e.g. making sure the needs of the 1 billion Microsoft customers are met; thus justifying and necessitating improving partnership with old rivals.
• Create impact towards world policies such as in digital transparency, as well as contribute towards restoring economic growth for everyone.