Tired traditions will be questioned.
— Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, outlining his vision in a memo to employees. He used the t word in his first email to employees, saying no one respects tradition, as we wrote in February. This time, the CEO appears to be preparing for a major shakeup: Nothing is off the table in how we think about shifting our culture to deliver on this core strategy. Organizations will change. Mergers and acquisitions will occur. Job responsibilities will evolve. New partnerships will be formed… Our priorities will be adjusted. New skills will be built. New ideas will be heard. New hires will be made. Processes will be simplified. He also wrote that July would be a time of change: Culture change means we will do things differently. Often people think that means everyone other than them. In reality, it means all of us taking a new approach and working together to make Microsoft better.
As for what Nadella emphasized as areas of focus: Obsessing over customers. Cloud, mobile, productivity.
Photo: Satya Nadella, then executive vice president of cloud and enterprise, addresses employees during the One Microsoft Town Hall event July 11, 2013. (Microsoft)
