Can India-born Satya Nadella be CEO of Microsoft? Forrester believes so

[Ayush]

NEW DELHI: Satya Nadella, 44, executive vice president, cloud and enterprise services Microsoft Corporation is among the front runners to occupy the CEO chair at Microsoft.

Can Hyderabad born Nadella, replace Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft who announced that he'll be stepping down in a year.

In an e-mail interaction with ET, Forrester research analyst Staten James looks at Nadella's strengths and weaknesses. Edited excerpts:

What are Satya Nadella's strengths?

He's a serious driver of his employees. Coming from the Bing (Microsoft's search engine) part of the business, Nadella recognized that for Microsoft to go faster and innovate it needed to accelerate the cadence of its development cycle. It had to move away from 1-2 per year monster releases to a more agile style he had experienced at Bing that gets more releases per year, with less dependencies.

Nadella also recognized the power and greater customer value that came from delivery over the Internet (SaaS and clud) and thus pledged to move Heaven and Earth to get the staid Server and Tools Group to move to this new development model. And for the most part he has done it.

Nadella also worked to break down the silos within softwaree technology group and other product groups. He pushed them all to get onto Azure to see Azure as their and their client's development platform and to push for simultaneous release of features for the Azure version and the on premise. And encouraged them to release new features and capabilities to the Azure version first.

This was a big culture change for the group and for the most part he has pulled it off.

What are Satya Nadella's weaknesses?

Satya, like many strong executive leaders, is strong willed and committed and as a result can run rough-shod over some folks at times. He does not have patience for dissent from the path forward but does have time to listen to tweaks in the strategy and when he sees a good plan change he empowers those who bring it to him.

What have been his significant achievement at Microsoft?

If Nadella can get all of Microsoft to move at agile, cloud speeds it will be a major accomplishment. The culture of Microsoft is fast-follower and he likely won't be able to change that (at least not unless he has the CEO job). But at a minimum he will accelerate the fast-following making MS a very worrisome competitor.

Is Satya Nadella a leader?

No doubt

Can he succeed Steve Ballmer at Microsoft?

That's not for me to decide but he was the first person I thought of when I heard the news.


http://www.defence.pk/forums/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=171

 

[IND151]

If the he is fit for the task, he should be selected

 

[Jade]

I think the chances are brighter for Stephen Elop, the ex-CEO of Nokia. Microsoft wants to become a gadget company like Apple, hence Stephen Elop fits the bill.

 

[Guynextdoor2]

I think the chances are brighter for Stephen Elop, the ex-CEO of Nokia. Microsoft wants to become a gadget company like Apple, hence Stephen Elop fits the bill.

Yeah and Elop has become a toughie working at Nokia-always on the verge of going bust, keeping things together and turning things around somewhat when everyone thought they're gonna die...I think Elop's experience will make him a great leader for the corporation.

 

[Levina]

Gosh Ayush you gotta read his letter to employees.....he sounds like a typical MARKETING MANAGER who talks of serving the community when he is actualing duping the ppl into buying his products.
I hope an year later I'll be as proud of this guy as I was till last nite(and it has dawned on me today).

Read his letter....marked in red are lines which shows his "Marketing manager skills"...and in blue are lines where he sounds overly ambitious.
To me this letter looks like a page from a Miss universe-contestant's folder.


Satya Nadella's letter to Microsoft employees

Feb 4, 2014, 08.37PM IST

Microsoft Corp named India-born Satya Nadella as its next chief executive officer.
Following is the text of Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella's letter to employees.

Today is a very humbling day for me. It reminds me of my very first day at Microsoft, 22 years ago. Like you, I had a choice about where to come to work. I came here because I believed Microsoft was the best company in the world. I saw then how clearly we empower people to do magical things with our creations and ultimately make the world a better place. I knew there was no better company to join if I wanted to make a difference. This is the very same inspiration that continues to drive me today.

It is an incredible honor for me to lead and serve this great company of ours. Steve and Bill have taken it from an idea to one of the greatest and most universally admired companies in the world. I've been fortunate to work closely with both Bill and Steve in my different roles at Microsoft, and as I step in as CEO, I've asked Bill to devote additional time to the company, focused on technology and products. I'm also looking forward to working with John Thompson as our new Chairman of the Board.

While we have seen great success, we are hungry to do more. Our industry does not respect tradition — it only respects innovation. This is a critical time for the industry and for Microsoft. Make no mistake, we are headed for greater places — as technology evolves and we evolve with and ahead of it. Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world.

As we start a new phase of our journey together, I wanted to share some background on myself and what inspires and motivates me.

Who am I?

I am 46. I've been married for 22 years and we have 3 kids. And like anyone else, a lot of what I do and how I think has been shaped by my family and my overall life experiences. Many who know me say I am also defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things. So family, curiosity and hunger for knowledge all define me.

Why am I here?

I am here for the same reason I think most people join Microsoft — to change the world through technology that empowers people to do amazing things. (As if they're doing social service in Microsoft )
I know it can sound hyperbolic — and yet it's true. We have done it, we're doing it today, and we are the team that will do it again.

I believe over the next decade computing will become even more ubiquitous and intelligence will become ambient. The coevolution of software and new hardware form factors will intermediate and digitize — many of the things we do and experience in business, life and our world. This will be made possible by an ever-growing network of connected devices, incredible computing capacity from the cloud, insights from big data, and intelligence from machine learning.


It will better connect us to our friends and families and help us see, express, and share our world in ways never before possible. It will enable businesses to engage customers in more meaningful ways.

I am here because we have unparalleled capability to make an impact.

Why are we here?

In our early history, our mission was about the PC on every desk and home, a goal we have mostly achieved in the developed world. Today we're focused on a broader range of devices. While the deal is not yet complete, we will welcome to our family Nokia devices and services and the new mobile capabilities they bring us.

As we look forward, we must zero in on what Microsoft can uniquely contribute to the world. The opportunity ahead will require us to reimagine a lot of what we have done in the past for a mobile and cloud-first world, and do new things.

We are the only ones who can harness the power of software and deliver it through devices and services that truly empower every individual and every organization. We are the only company with history and continued focus in building platforms and ecosystems that create broad opportunity.

Qi Lu captured it well in a recent meeting when he said that Microsoft uniquely empowers people to "do more." This doesn't mean that we need to do more things, but that the work we do empowers the world to do more of what they care about — get stuff done, have fun, communicate and accomplish great things. This is the core of who we are, and driving this core value in all that we do — be it the cloud or device experiences — is why we are here.

What do we do next?

To paraphrase a quote from Oscar Wilde — we need to believe in the impossible and remove the improbable.

This starts with clarity of purpose and sense of mission that will lead us to imagine the impossible and deliver it. We need to prioritize innovation that is centered on our core value of empowering users and organizations to "do more." We have picked a set of high-value activities as part of our One Microsoft strategy. And with every service and device launch going forward we need to bring more innovation to bear around these scenarios.

Next, every one of us needs to do our best work, lead and help drive cultural change. We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen and overestimate what others need to do to move us forward. We must change this.

Finally, I truly believe that each of us must find meaning in our work. The best work happens when you know that it's not just work, but something that will improve other people's lives. This is the opportunity that drives each of us at this company.

Many companies aspire to change the world. But very few have all the elements required: talent, resources, and perseverance. Microsoft has proven that it has all three in abundance. And as the new CEO, I can't ask for a better foundation.

Let's build on this foundation together.

Satya

 

[Dem!god]

ye kab ka news hai bhai......13 sep. 2013...
wo ban gaya CEO......