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Hit Refresh
The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
Hit Refresh (2017) charts the journey of Satya Nadella, from his childhood as a cricket-obsessed boy in Hyderabad, India, to working at the very top of global tech powerhouse Microsoft. Packed full of illuminating reflections on everything from the psychology of the cricket field to what parenthood can teach us about business, these blinks provide a rare insight into the life and thoughts of one of the world’s most influential men.
- Tech-heads and computer whizzes
- Business students and entrepreneurs
- Anyone interested in the past, present or future of Microsoft
Satya Nadella is an Indian-American business executive and the current CEO of Microsoft. Before taking up his current position, Nadella was in charge of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group. He holds three degrees from institutions in India and the US, including an MBA from the University of Chicago. He’s also a father, a husband and a keen cricketer.
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Hit Refresh
The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
- Read in 16 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 10 key ideas
Synopsis
Hit Refresh (2017) charts the journey of Satya Nadella, from his childhood as a cricket-obsessed boy in Hyderabad, India, to working at the very top of global tech powerhouse Microsoft. Packed full of illuminating reflections on everything from the psychology of the cricket field to what parenthood can teach us about business, these blinks provide a rare insight into the life and thoughts of one of the world’s most influential men.
Key idea 1 of 10
Nadella grew up in India, and there was little he cared more about than cricket.
Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India, in 1967. His father was a civil servant, and his mother was a scholar of Sanskrit, the ancient language of many of the country’s religious texts. As a young boy, however, Nadella wasn’t interested in politics or religion. What he really cared about was cricket.
But his parents had other ideas for him. In fact, his father even hung a poster of Karl Marx in his son’s room in the hope of inspiring him to become a great economist and intellectual. His mother responded with a poster of the Indian goddess of fortune and prosperity, which she hoped would remind him of the value of spiritual contentment. Nadella wasn’t having any of it. His favorite poster? A blown-up image of the Hyderabadi cricket star ML Jaisimha!
Nadella’s love affair with the sport gradually became a source of real concern. What, his parents wondered, would he do if his dream of becoming a professional cricketer didn’t come to anything? The answer Nadella came up with was banking. His father wasn’t happy with that either, however, and told him one day, “You’ve got to get out of Hyderabad. Otherwise, you’ll ruin yourself.”
That got Nadella thinking. At 18, he dusted off his old Sinclair ZX Spectrum personal computer – a gift his father had given him three years earlier. As he played around with the gadget, his thoughts increasingly turned to engineering, software and the great potential of personal computing. He enrolled at the Manipal Institute of Technology to study electrical engineering and graduated in 1988.
It was during his studies that Nadella’s dream of playing cricket professionally finally came to an end. At Manipal, he fell in with a group of entrepreneurial peers whose passion was positively infectious. After a single match for the Manipal college team, Nadella hung his cricketing gear up for good and decided to devote himself to a career in technology.
Key ideas in this title
- Nadella grew up in India, and there was little he cared more about than cricket.
- Swapping the warm hills of Hyderabad for the chilly plains of Wisconsin changed Nadella’s perspective on the world.
- Starting at Microsoft, Nadella set himself up for leadership.
- To successfully develop Microsoft’s cloud technologies, Nadella established an environment of trust in his team.
- Cricket taught Nadella the art of leadership.
- The birth of Nadella’s son made him a more empathetic leader.
- When he became Microsoft’s third CEO, Nadella set out to rediscover Microsoft’s soul.
- Nadella believes there’s great value in keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.
- A balanced approach to automation offers companies the best chance of thriving in the new economy.
- Final summary
