Since 2014, when Mr. Satya Nadella took over as CEO at Microsoft, the impression that one has got of him is a humble, approachable and emphatic individual . It is no wonder that at the promotion of his new Book – Hit Refresh, we got to find out a bit more about his approach towards life , leadership and work.
The event which was the launch of vernacular versions of the book, was held on 07th November at JW Marriott Hotel near Delhi Airport. It was a lavishly planned event where we got an invite as an erstwhile BizSpark member. The event had pretty good attendance despite the notorious Delhi smog.
It started off with a small chat with some noted Entrepreneurs: Mr. Vishal Gondal, Founder and CEO GOQii ; Ms. Swati Co Founder , Cashkaro.com ; Mr. Vivek Prabhakar,Founder and CEO at Chumbak Designs Pvt. Ltd.
The guests recounted the ‘Hit Refresh’ moments in their professional and personal lives with lively anecdotes and what that meant for them. Two of the members had co-founding spouses so some light banter around that livened the discussion further.
Hit Refresh with Satya Nadella and Anil Kumble – Image credits – Mr. Anil Kumble/Twitter a/c
Satya Nadella in Chat with Anil Kumble
Then came the main event of the session with Mr. Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft sharing his thoughts with.. surprise , surprise – Mr. Anil Kumble, India’s legend fast bowler. Or maybe… we shouldn’t be surprised, considering Satya has admitted to his love for cricket many a times, having donned the hat of an off-spin bowler in his younger days.
It was a lively 30 minutes with the leaders of their own fields discussing how empathy and values played a role in their outlook towards life, tough decisions and becoming who they are as well. They also talked about how they had to
In the case of Mr. Satya Nadella, for instance, he recounted how things changed for him when after the birth of his son who was born with severe cerebral palsy.
He talked about how the first few years were tough for the family. He was initially distraught and wondered why this had happened to him and his family.
But after watching his wife, Anupama, take their son to hospitals, take care, and just get on with the job of being a parent he realised that he too had to step up. This for him was a turning point where he realised that it was not for him to question ‘Why’ but to do everything to improve and care for their child. That was when he realised the power of empathy.
The talk soon moved inevitably towards technology and Mr. Nadella spoke about the 3 things he expected to be next path-breaking improvements in technology i.e Artificial Intelligence & Data Mining, Quantum Computing and Mixed Reality. Microsoft incidentally is making strides in Mixed Reality with the Holo Lens.
In fact, Satya Nadella believes that these three currently independent trends will ultimately converge in the future where quantum computing will make artificial intelligence more intelligent and mixed reality an even more immersive experience.
When asked about the role of Empathy in the context of business and customers, he noted “We cannot meet the unmet, unarticulated needs of our customers if we don’t have that deep sense of empathy,”
With Nadella at the helm and Microsoft push on empathy, it seems that the company will be become more competitive and responsive towards the B2C segment and the needs of small, mini and micro enterprises.
The Hindi edition of Hit Refresh will be available at the end of November. Mr. Nadella will donate all proceeds from his book to Microsoft Philanthropies. We wish him all the best in his new avatar as an author. You can find out more about the book here.
