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

by Satya Nadella

Other authorsBill Gates (Foreword)

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Genres

Publication

HarperBusiness (2017), 288 pages

Description

The New York Times bestseller 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 and "hit refresh" in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. 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. 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 a 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. As much a humanist as engineer and executive, 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 set of reflections, meditations, and recommendations presented as algorithms from a principled, deliberative leader searching for improvement-for himself, for a storied company, and for society.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member varwenea

3 Stars for the book + 0.5 Stars for the extra scribbles and highlights in the Employee Edition

Full disclosure – I didn’t read everything.

This is definitely a book about Microsoft first and foremost (well, duh!). If you’re not interested, move along. What makes this book ‘worth

picking-up’ is due to 1) Satya’s immigrant background, and 2) that his earnestness is on full display, notably having included his sizeable mistake during his 2014 Grace Hopper interview. Skipping that would have been a deal-breaker. He spoke candidly of different technology business segments and his perspective of inclusiveness in the organization. It’s his personal mission statement for the world to see. On the tech and business side, he is pushing the agenda he envisioned. On the organization side, the proof is still in the pudding. The best parts to read are his scribbles found only in the employee edition – more personal, more to the point of his expectations within the company.

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LibraryThing member deldevries

Well written and interesting perspective from the inside of the technology industry. The chapters on security/privacy and AI are particularly relevant at the beginning of 2018 when I read this book.

LibraryThing member troymcc

I was curious about how Satya Nadella (the CEO of Microsoft) thinks about technology and Microsoft, so I asked for this book as a Christmas gift. I was quite surprised.

While he has formal education in electrical engineering and business (so he understands "technology" and tech businesses), I'd

describe him as a humanist. To me, that explains a lot of why he has been such an inspiring and successful CEO.

He has thought deeply about why Microsoft exists, i.e. its mission. Why were Bill Gates and Paul Allen creating software back in the mid-1970s? Was it really just about getting a computer on every desktop (running Microsoft software)? He dug deeper and realized that the underlying goal was to give the power of computing to everyone, i.e. to _empower_ everyone, not just rich people or smart people. Then he translated that realization into a succinct one-page mission document for all of Microsoft's 100,000 employees.

The book might be summarized as, "Here's where I come from and how I think, so you can understand me." That makes it useful as a guide for Microsoft employees, partners and customers.

I'm not sure I'd want to work for the Bill Gates of the 1990s, or for Steve Ballmer. They seem too driven and too focused on winning at all costs. But Satya Nadella, I can totally understand why people would want to join his team.

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LibraryThing member Dilip-Kumar

An obviously important book, since it comes from the CEO of the most influential and epoch-forming IT corporations of the modern world. Microsoft has shaped, even determined, how we do our day-to-day work, starting with their DOS operating systems, then Windows in its numerous versions, their

office productivity suites, communications software, and many more that most of us wouldn't even be able to name, let alone analyse. The CEO, Satya Nadella, describes his humble origins from a remote corner of India, his early years with Microsoft (he is unusually for the present times, a person who has stuck to the same company), and his approach to his grand new position as CEO. He lays emphasis on certain growth areas as the priorities for the future, such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. He also stresses the importance of imbuing all the employees and agents of the company with a sense of personal vision and mission. Some of the areas may seem to pander to the self-indulgent lot of computer users, such as games and the alternative universe, but he shows how all these new developments have huge potential in serious applications like medical, educational, science and technology, poverty reduction, and so on. What MS says today, will be the shape of the world tomorrow, so this is a boo worth reading, especially as it is written in an engaging and personal style and is fairly compact.

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