How Satya Nadella 'Indianised' Microsoft

NEW DELHI: Satya Nadella has turned around Microsoft in many ways since taking over the helm from Steve Ballmer in 2014 -- least of all, convincing investors that it still matters (stock price has tripled under his watch). But Nadella's most significant contribution could be more cultural. Sample these:
Last week, Microsoft said there should be "thoughtful government regulation" of facial recognition.Ponder that -- a tech company wants authorities to control one of its innovations, even before anyone had asked for it.
Under him, Microsoft has embraced open source (first Linux, then this, and this). Open source aids developers to test, learn and develop new skills and tools. In contrast, Ballmer once called "Linux a cancer".
Nadella has linked executive compensation to diversity progress. In his words: "If we are going to serve the planet as our mission states, we need to reflect the planet" -- meaning not just white men.
Ballmer once snatched an employee's iPhone during a meeting. Nadella encourages Microsoft to publish its tools and softwares on Apple's store as well as on Android.
Under Ballmer, young employees who point out emerging trends were waved away. Nadella made Microsoft break silos, and encourage young employees to innovate.
In 2012, Forbes said Ballmer was the worst CEO of a publicly traded company, and should be fired. Nadella, in contrast, is on the magazine's Most Powerful People list, at 40.
Nadella -- born in Hyderabad and schooled in a privately-funded public school in the city -- brought India’s co-operative approach to a US corporate firm schooled in competitive environment. And it is working:
Microsoft’s revenue exceeded $100 billion for the first time in fiscal year 2018.
The tech giant has been investing heavily to bolster the fast-growing cloud business and catch up with market leader Amazon.com Inc's Amazon Web Services. It also competes with Alphabet Inc, IBM and Alibaba.
"Our early investments in the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge are paying off, and we will continue to expand our reach in large and growing markets with differentiated innovation," Nadella had said.
Analysts expect the investments to pay off in the long run and provide rich dividends to shareholders, allowing Microsoft to rival Apple Inc and Amazon in the race to be the first company worth $1 trillion.