Hit Refresh Book Summary

Book Summary

15 min

Audio available

Brief Summary

Satya Nadella changed Microsoft by trying to understand its force for good and revisiting its original values. He started by listening to the visions of employees, stakeholders, and competitors. He promoted positive company culture by encouraging collaboration and communication. Under his leadership, Microsoft products quickly became democratized through the creation of Cloud-based applications accessible from nearly every device. He also embraced the idea that technology could transform people’s lives and started to focus on high-potential tools. He emphasized that companies need to protect the rights of their users and that continuing to democratize technology could continue to improve lives around the world.

About the Author

Satya Nadella is the third CEO of Microsoft. Before, he served as the EVP of Microsoft’s Cloud and was responsible for building the company’s computing platforms. He holds a BA from Manipal Institute of Technology, an MS from University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Topics

Biography & Memoir

Hit Refresh Book Summary Preview

Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella, Greg Shaw, and Jill Tracie Nichols

Key Insights

When Satya Nadella took over Microsoft as its third CEO, Microsoft was lagging behind its competitors and in danger of becoming obsolete. To save the company, Nadella decided to “hit refresh” by locating the soul of Microsoft’s work and starting anew. In this book, he details how he restored a struggling Microsoft back into a thriving company with deep core values, a healthy company culture, and a mission to make the world a better place through cutting edge technological innovation. In the second half, he details Microsoft’s vision for the future.

After 24 years at Microsoft, Satya Nadella climbed the ranks and became CEO in 2014.

When Satya Nadella was a boy, chances that he would become CEO of one of the most powerful technology companies in the world were small. He grew up in India, where his passion was playing cricket, but his parents pushed him to pursue computer science. Eventually, he earned an electrical engineer degree from the Manipal Institute of Technology and then headed to the States on a visa to enroll in a master’s program at the University of Wisconsin.

After graduating, he worked for a software vendor, and then on the technology staff for Sun Microsystems. Finally, he found himself at Microsoft as an operations system specialist in 1992. Slowly, he rose through the ranks and was pushed into leadership roles throughout the company including heading the Bing search engine team. In these roles, he became familiar with “the Cloud”, or software that runs on the internet rather than on a computer, eventually heading Cloud operations.

As he ascended in the company, he noticed that the company culture was replete with competition and that the company was forgetting its core values. Employees were unenthusiastic and the company’s stock valued had plateaued. Companies like Apple and Google were dominating the markets, coming up with technology that Microsoft couldn’t match. So when Steve Ballmer stepped down as CEO and offered him the position, Nadella knew it was time for a big change.

To discover Microsoft’s soul, Nadella was inspired by the adaptive technology used by his disabled son.

Steve Ballmer, when leaving his post, told Nadella to “become his own man”. Nadella wanted to understand his unique role as CEO and asked fundamental questions: why am I in this role and why does Microsoft exist? He wanted to understand the heart of the company and its core values. He called this the “search for Microsoft’s soul”.

To begin understanding Microsoft’s core, he started to gather ideas. He asked employees to give feedback about Microsoft’s future and spoke to partners, stakeholders, and customers looking for fresh ideas. He hosted retreats, inviting all the founders of companies Microsoft recently acquired. He created a new team of leaders called the Legion of Superheroes. He wanted everyone’s opinion on what made Microsoft great.

During the same time, Nadella was going through difficulties in his personal life— his...