Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone

by Satya Nadella, Greg Shaw Narrated by Shridhar Solanki, Satya Nadella

Overview

Foreword by Bill Gates

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. As much a humanist as engineer and executive, Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of intelligent technologies and a distinct call to action for leaders everywhere.

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 ""hit refresh"" in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. At its core, it's about us humans and how our one unique quality-empathy-will become ever more valuable in a world where technological advancement will disrupt the status quo as never before.

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 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. 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 reflection, meditations, and series of recommendations presented as algorithms from a principled, deliberative leader searching for improvement-for himself, for a storied company, and for society.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

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

Publishers Weekly

Unpretentious and stirring, this well-written book provides surprising and welcome insights into a corporate giant.”

Kirkus Reviews

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

2017-07-17
Microsoft CEO Nadella describes the empathetic leadership he hopes will spark a renaissance at the software giant in "the coming era of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence."Three years ago, when he succeeded Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, the author found the once-dominant software company was "sick" and its employees "disheartened" after a period of stalled growth. The world, once PC-centric, had given rise to mobile and cloud technologies, and Microsoft lagged behind others. 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; his mother, a Sanskrit scholar, taught him the importance of balance, and his economist father the value of intellect. Arriving in the United States just before the 1990s tech boom, he earned a computer science degree at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and a master's degree at the University of Chicago; he joined Microsoft in 1992. He writes with candor about his challenges as CEO: "hierarchy and pecking order" reigned at the fiefdom-ridden company, stifling spontaneity and creativity. His response has been to listen with empathy to employee concerns and to help build and curate a new, open culture that empowers staffers to act on their passions and "make a real difference" in a "mobile-first, cloud-first world" in which 3 billion people will soon be connected to the internet, sensors, and the internet of things. To achieve that culture, the company "must exercise a growth mindset by being customer-obsessed, diverse, and inclusive and act as One Microsoft." His book includes descriptions of experimental retreats, "hacks" meant to fire passions, and leadership principles and other tips. A valuable blueprint for techies and others in a culture-change state of mind.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170211951
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/26/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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