Satya Nadella email to employees on first day as CEO

robodale wrote: post #2

As I read that email, I wondered - would the typical MS employee read this with skepticism...or truly be inspired, hopeful, and ready to take action?

It seems like the usual "Hi, I'm the new CEO" letter can't be very inspiring. I mean, it would be rude for him to slam Steve Ballmer right after replacing him -- he needs to have some tact. And, he can't be to enthusiastic and claim that they'll be making devices with rainbows shooting out of their SD card slots -- that'd make everyone say, "Who does this guy think he is?"

I'm sure everyone read it with a neutral response, because it was pretty boilerplate (as it kind of has to be).

Re: Satya Nadella email to employees on first day as CEO

#7

Post by doppenhe » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 4:55 PM UTC

As an ex-MSFT employee and somebody who actually got a chance to talk to Satya I found the letter to be very true to his personality. Excited to see what he does in Redmond.

Re: Satya Nadella email to employees on first day as CEO

#8

Post by aytekin » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:22 PM UTC

Pretty weak when you compare it with Steve Job's “Fuck Michael Dell” talk when he came back to Apple in 1997. http://lilly.tumblr.com/post/11230723028/steve-jobs

Re: Satya Nadella email to employees on first day as CEO

#9

Post by legutierr » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:34 PM UTC

> Today is a very humbling day for me.

The first sentence of the email, statement that seems entirely appropriate given the circumstances.

Nonetheless, I find it curious that we expect people who reach the highest levels of accomplishment to describe those accomplishments as humbling. It seems natural to us for someone promoted to the heights of their profession, such as Satya Nadella in this case, or the winner of a Nobel prize or an academy award, for example, to describe the accomplishment as "humbling", when logically speaking it should be anything but.

Is such a statement part of a defense mechanism against egotism that prevents the honored individual from loosing the discipline that allowed them to excel in the first place? Is it an attempt to say, "this doesn't change me, I am still who I was before"? Is it just a manipulation, a defense against envy and derision, an attempt to reduce the motivation of others to "take them down a notch"? Or is it something else?

Without thinking about it too deeply, it seems right to read that Satya Nadella is humbled to become one of the most powerful corporate executives in the world, but why? And is it correct?

Re: Satya Nadella email to employees on first day as CEO

#10

Post by sjg007 » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:52 PM UTC

legutierr wrote: post #9

> Today is a very humbling day for me. The first sentence of the email, statement that seems entirely appropriate given the circumstances. Nonetheless, I find it curious that we expect people who reach the highest levels of accomplishment to describe those accomplishments as humbling. It seems natural to us for someone promoted to the heights of their profession, such as Satya Nadella in this case, or the winner of a…

It is humbling because you are elected by a group of your peers to lead. It also gives implicit credit to all the people that helped make him successful. Leadership is not zero sum and it doesn't follow specific rules. If anything the rules of promotion are codified by practice and not necessarily logical and prescribed but in general most people aspire to be fair and merit based.