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Loading... Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyoneby Satya Nadella
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  Santhosh_Guru | Oct 19, 2023 |    ) zeh | Jun 3, 2023 |  ) Dilip-Kumar | Feb 7, 2023 | 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. (  ) troymcc | Jun 30, 2021 | It is challenging for anyone to write a book about a work in progress, but far harder when a CEO of a public corporation where the book will clearly influence the success of that company. Iâm looking forward to Nadellaâs future book in 30-40 years detailing his career. There is a core of a great message here â both Nadellaâs philosophy (which seems genuine) and some surface details of how the Microsoft turnaround happened. The problem is there hasnât been enough adversity described in the book to really show how effective these principles and changes have been; there was the success of Microsoftâs cloud business (primarily Office 365 SAAS; Azure is still in 2018 markedly inferior to AWS), but a lot of the other examples were of the form âwe tried this win/win strategy and the subsequent litigation still happened but we think it went better than it would have.â There was also the requisite business-book filter combined with philosophy. The best parts of the book, by far (especially in audiobook) were the Bill Gates intro and the intro/afterword written and read by Nadella himself. Based on that, Iâd be inclined to just watch a video interview of the man for an hour or so rather than read this book. ( ) octal | Jan 1, 2021 | no reviews | add a review
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. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)338.7Social sciences Economics Production Business EnterprisesLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.49)
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Wikipedia in English
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Usually, India born CEOs are either from IIT or IIM or Stanford. He studied at Manipal University. When many of the US migrated Indians are into baseball or basketball, Satya is into cricket and seems like he can play it well too. Satya's father is a Marxist but served in Indian Civil Service. His mother is a Sanskrit scholar. (In another book, Half-Lion, on the ex-Indian Prime Minister and polymath, Narasimha Rao, I read that Rao was present at the wedding of Satya.) Satya's challenge with his special needs kid and his graceful way of handling it. His love for books like Caro Dweck's Mindset or Marshall Goldberg's Non-violent communication. His emphasis on empathy and culture, I can go on. But hold on.
I was expecting this book to be a story about him, his transformation, his learnings on how he influenced such a big organisation like Microsoft and revitalising it. But it was a mega-bore. Other than the first two chapters where he talks about his personal life, cricket and his son, which was mildly interesting, the rest of the book was really boring for me. It read like an internal blog with frequent mentions about Skype or Windows or any Microsoft's product.
If you really want to know about Satya's life, you can simply skip this. This book reminds me of Bill Gates' Business @ Speed of Thought. (Bill is definitely my hero, I love his book recommendations but not this book đ. ) (