From 1997-2006 I was fortunate enough to spend almost ten years employed by Microsoft. Microsoft is an amazing place for many reasons, not the least of which include the company’s incredible generosity towards its employees, and the massive amounts of talent, passion, and intelligence in those employees.
This past week was a hard one for Microsoft and as someone with friends and family who are Microsoft employees I hope everyone lands on their feet no matter what happens. I also know that at any company, missives from former employees are usually greeted dismissively. Especially from someone who hasn’t been there in over seven years.
That said, even if I didn’t owe Microsoft an enormous amount for all it taught me, I would root for Microsoft to go through a renewal and resurgence because multiple successful tech industry leaders is a good thing for all of us.
In that spirit, I offer seven thoughts on areas where I think Satya Nadella and his leadership team can make a real difference in the company’s culture. To me, culture dictates what products a company makes.
So for Microsoft to get past
14 percent device market share, the culture is what needs to change first. These seven areas are ones where I believe I was only able to get true clarity after being outside of the Microsoft ecosystem.
