N|150 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
University Communication
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04/18/2019
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Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft Corporation who has led the company’s recent successes, is featured in a conversation with Jeff Raikes, co-founder of the Raikes Foundation, April 18 at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The presentation is part of the university’s 150th anniversary celebration and organized in partnership with Nebraska’s Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management.
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- [00:00:04.001](dramatic music)
- [00:00:10.800]Imagine the bravado, the courage, the creativity,
- [00:00:15.150]and the outright grit that our founders had to have
- [00:00:18.460]to establish a university in 1869.
- [00:00:29.830]This year, 2019, marks the 150 year anniversary
- [00:00:34.330]of the University of Nebraska,
- [00:00:36.770]and what an incredible opportunity
- [00:00:38.730]to reflect on all the amazing things
- [00:00:41.600]that have happened in that time frame.
- [00:01:13.340]I Pete Ricketts, Governor of the State of Nebraska,
- [00:01:15.350]do hereby proclaim University of Nebraska Charter Week.
- [00:01:18.830](intense percussive music)
- [00:01:31.090](audience cheers)
- [00:01:43.499](fireworks explode)
- [00:01:48.169](audience chants)
- [00:01:51.528](emotional orchestral music)
- [00:02:17.260]There truly is no place like dear old Nebraska U.
- [00:02:23.097](piano echoes)
- [00:02:29.357](intense building music)
- [00:02:44.678](TV rewinds)
- [00:02:51.522](optimistic music)
- [00:04:25.540]Good afternoon.
- [00:04:27.050]I'm Steve Cooper, I'm the Director
- [00:04:29.140]of the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science
- [00:04:31.540]and Management at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
- [00:04:34.890]I'd like to start by thanking Jeff and Tricia Raikes
- [00:04:38.480]and their team for helping to make this event possible.
- [00:04:42.210]The UNL Chancellors Office in the Raikes School
- [00:04:44.360]are honored to be sponsoring Satja Nadella's visit
- [00:04:47.170]to campus and this forum.
- [00:04:49.700]The Raikes School combines design thinking,
- [00:04:52.010]model thinking, and innovation
- [00:04:54.130]as we seek to prepare students
- [00:04:55.680]to become leaders in technology and business.
- [00:04:58.720]Students spend four years living, studying,
- [00:05:02.300]working, and even playing,
- [00:05:04.440]as they get the opportunity to work
- [00:05:06.090]on challenging team projects.
- [00:05:08.660]The Raikes School admits some of the very best
- [00:05:10.690]high school students from across Nebraska,
- [00:05:13.650]and from the mid-west, and increasingly from across the U.S.
- [00:05:17.890]These students, after graduating from the Raikes School,
- [00:05:21.030]they're needed transform Nebraska businesses.
- [00:05:23.900]Whether in agriculture, finance, insurance,
- [00:05:27.140]or pretty much just about anything else,
- [00:05:29.210]to incorporate modern technology
- [00:05:31.180]to help them lead their industries
- [00:05:32.760]into the 21st century and beyond.
- [00:05:35.620]Before I get started introducing Chancellor Ronnie Green,
- [00:05:38.750]I'd just like to say a few words
- [00:05:40.250]about an important event
- [00:05:41.400]the Raikes School is running tomorrow
- [00:05:43.560]starting at 1:30 til 4 o'clock in the afternoon
- [00:05:46.080]over in Innovation Campus.
- [00:05:47.940]You're welcome to stop by
- [00:05:49.380]our design students Studio Showcase.
- [00:05:51.880]There you can see the solutions 18 teams
- [00:05:55.670]of Raikes School students,
- [00:05:57.130]together with some really special
- [00:05:58.740]computer science associates
- [00:06:00.920]helped their industry partners to solve real problems.
- [00:06:05.650]But that's enough about us.
- [00:06:07.170]You've come here to see and hear a conversation
- [00:06:09.070]with Satya and with Jeff.
- [00:06:10.750]To introduce them, let me introduce our Chancellor,
- [00:06:13.360]Ronnie Green, who's a huge fan of the Raikes School.
- [00:06:16.250]Ronnie. (audience applauds)
- [00:06:25.360]Well let me be the first to welcome you today here
- [00:06:27.730]to the University of Nebraska
- [00:06:29.207]and the Leeds Center for the Performing Arts.
- [00:06:31.810]I am a huge fan of the Raikes School
- [00:06:33.950]of Computer Science and Management.
- [00:06:35.930]Give Steve Cooper a big round of applause
- [00:06:38.020]as our director. (audience applauds)
- [00:06:43.000]And I would like to ask all of the Raikes School students
- [00:06:46.570]who are in the audience to please stand
- [00:06:48.210]and receive a round of applause from our guests. (claps)
- [00:06:52.852](audience applauds)
- [00:07:02.430]It's such a pleasure for me to introduce
- [00:07:04.820]two incredibly special guests today to our campus.
- [00:07:08.450]The CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella,
- [00:07:11.730]and Mr. Jeff Raikes.
- [00:07:13.760]Jeff is certainly a familiar face to us,
- [00:07:16.190]and a great friend to our university.
- [00:07:18.870]His visionary leadership has made the Raikes School
- [00:07:22.040]the tremendous success that it is today.
- [00:07:25.340]Jeff and his wife Tricia are the cofounders
- [00:07:28.480]of the Raikes Foundation, based in Seattle, Washington.
- [00:07:32.420]The Raikes Foundation works towards a just and inclusive
- [00:07:35.580]future where all young people have the support
- [00:07:38.520]they need to reach their full potential.
- [00:07:41.470]Jeff is also the former CEO
- [00:07:44.050]of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- [00:07:46.980]Prior to joining the field of philanthropy,
- [00:07:49.330]Jeff enjoyed a 27 year career at Microsoft,
- [00:07:52.880]where he helped set overall strategy and direction
- [00:07:55.510]for the company as a member of Microsoft's
- [00:07:58.180]senior leadership team.
- [00:08:00.110]He was president of the Microsoft business division,
- [00:08:03.040]and oversaw the information worker, server,
- [00:08:05.770]and tools business, and Microsoft business solutions group,
- [00:08:10.430]and was also the chief strategist
- [00:08:12.690]behind the company's creation
- [00:08:14.380]of the Microsoft Office Suite of business applications.
- [00:08:18.810]Jeff is a proud native son of the state of Nebraska.
- [00:08:22.750]He serves on the boards of Costco and Hudl,
- [00:08:26.270]and is also chair of the board of trustees
- [00:08:28.740]of Stanford University at the current time.
- [00:08:31.880]He and Tricia both serve on the advisory board
- [00:08:35.130]of the Jeffrey S. Raikes School
- [00:08:36.570]of Computer Science and Management,
- [00:08:38.560]and I'm delighted that many of our students
- [00:08:41.110]as you saw here earlier are here today,
- [00:08:43.380]and alumni here with us today from the program.
- [00:08:47.300]And, it is an incredibly true honor and privilege
- [00:08:52.180]to welcome Satya Nadella to the University of Nebraska.
- [00:08:56.560]Satya is the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft.
- [00:09:00.850]Before being named the CEO in February of 2014,
- [00:09:05.410]he held leadership roles in both enterprise
- [00:09:08.050]and consumer businesses across the company.
- [00:09:11.510]Joining Microsoft in 1992,
- [00:09:14.140]he quickly became known as a leader
- [00:09:16.420]who could span a breadth of technologies and businesses
- [00:09:19.970]to transform some of Microsoft's biggest product challenges.
- [00:09:24.590]Most recently, Nadella was Executive Vice President
- [00:09:28.700]of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise Group.
- [00:09:31.700]In this role, he led the transformation
- [00:09:34.120]to the cloud infrastructure and services businesses,
- [00:09:37.500]which outperformed the market,
- [00:09:39.760]and took a market share from the competition.
- [00:09:43.430]Previously, he led R&D for the online services division
- [00:09:47.910]and was Vice President of the Microsoft Business Division.
- [00:09:52.170]Before joining Microsoft, Satya was a member
- [00:09:55.160]of the technologies staff at Sun Microsystems.
- [00:09:59.490]Originally from Hyderabad, India,
- [00:10:02.390]Nadella lives in Bellevue, Washington.
- [00:10:05.300]He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
- [00:10:08.320]from Mangalore University,
- [00:10:10.270]a master's degree in computer science
- [00:10:12.260]from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
- [00:10:14.760]and a master's degree in business administration
- [00:10:17.820]from the University of Chicago.
- [00:10:20.120]He and his wife are the proud parents of three children.
- [00:10:24.490]There are two topics from his book, Hit Refresh,
- [00:10:27.140]which I'm sure you're going to hear about today,
- [00:10:29.780]that I believe are particularly relevant
- [00:10:31.890]today for higher education.
- [00:10:34.360]The first is the need for greater empathy.
- [00:10:37.790]In a polarized world, where civility
- [00:10:40.550]is increasingly at a premium,
- [00:10:42.780]empathy, or the ability to try and put
- [00:10:45.660]yourself into someone else's shoes
- [00:10:48.130]is our best hope for greater unity as a people.
- [00:10:53.260]This is especially true on a college campus,
- [00:10:55.960]where young people are confronted with new ideas,
- [00:10:58.650]new experiences, and those from different backgrounds
- [00:11:02.160]and cultures than their own.
- [00:11:04.390]Satya also has made a convincing case
- [00:11:06.780]for working with competitors in his book,
- [00:11:09.200]because that collaboration can yield greater levels
- [00:11:12.190]of overall achievement and impact,
- [00:11:14.900]and at the same time, spur on individual success.
- [00:11:19.160]We've certainly seen that here
- [00:11:20.530]at the University of Nebraska,
- [00:11:22.420]as becoming a member of the Big 10 Conference
- [00:11:24.770]in Academics and Athletics,
- [00:11:26.700]and we work on that everyday
- [00:11:28.750]to achieve greater together as a group.
- [00:11:32.090]Now Satya, I know you're a cricket fan.
- [00:11:34.630]I'm not sure if the Big 10 is quite ready
- [00:11:36.630]to put cricket in, but after your visit,
- [00:11:38.830]we might just be thinking about it.
- [00:11:41.050]Thank you, and please welcome,
- [00:11:42.790]a big red husker welcome to Jeff Raikes and Satya Nadella.
- [00:11:47.923](audience applauds)
- [00:12:03.500]Well good afternoon everyone.
- [00:12:05.780]It's great to have all of you here today.
- [00:12:09.550]We're getting Satya introduced to the midwest, to Nebraska.
- [00:12:14.980]How was that spring game on Saturday?
- [00:12:17.783](audience cheers) Anybody go?
- [00:12:23.120]How's Scott Frost doing? (audience cheers)
- [00:12:28.727]He's the current head coach.
- [00:12:30.220]On the way here, Satya noticed in the stadium,
- [00:12:33.340]the last time we won a national championship was 1997.
- [00:12:36.620]He said, "It's been kind of a while!"
- [00:12:38.697](laughs) Hurt me, I'll just say the current coach
- [00:12:42.670]was the quarterback when we won that national championship.
- [00:12:46.920]As we get started, I just want to take a moment,
- [00:12:48.950]I may not have a chance to do this publicly elsewhere,
- [00:12:52.860]but I want to acknowledge Hank Bounce,
- [00:12:55.240]President of the University.
- [00:12:57.570]I get a chance to work with university leaders
- [00:13:00.830]at Stanford, here at Nebraska,
- [00:13:03.570]at UW and elsewhere, and I just think,
- [00:13:06.420]Hank's done a terrific job for all of you,
- [00:13:08.380]and I hope you celebrate him.
- [00:13:10.370]And I just want to remind you how important it is
- [00:13:12.840]to support our public universities,
- [00:13:15.640]support the University of Nebraska,
- [00:13:17.580]and to be committed to the leadership here.
- [00:13:20.420]Truly, our universities are geese laying golden eggs.
- [00:13:24.490]The Raikes School, Hudl, other examples of that,
- [00:13:28.847]and I just think it's very important,
- [00:13:30.090]so as we move to the future,
- [00:13:31.617]I want to say thanks to Hank, Ronnie,
- [00:13:33.770]Donde, all of the university leadership for what they do.
- [00:13:38.313](audience applauds)
- [00:13:48.120]We, if you haven't, I'm gonna have dialogue,
- [00:13:51.350]conversation, I'm gonna stimulate some questions with Satya
- [00:13:55.560]but we also want to engage you.
- [00:13:57.850]And I don't think you have cards there,
- [00:14:00.430]but if you want to ask a question,
- [00:14:03.940]put your hand up, or get the attention
- [00:14:05.600]of one of the people in the aisle,
- [00:14:06.990]and we'll get that question delivered to me.
- [00:14:10.100]There's also a hashtag, #MicrosoftAtNebraska.
- [00:14:14.100]You know, hashtag MicrosoftAtNebraska,
- [00:14:17.450]so you can use that to ask questions.
- [00:14:20.440]One of the folks here is gonna be handing me
- [00:14:22.730]questions along the way as well.
- [00:14:25.620]So, Satya, as you can tell,
- [00:14:27.160]we're very happy to have you here in Lincoln.
- [00:14:29.480]We had to kind of raise the volume of the venue for you,
- [00:14:33.640]so we're here at the Leeds Center
- [00:14:35.040]so that we can handle a couple thousand folks.
- [00:14:38.140]I've had a chance to get to know you over the years.
- [00:14:41.350]We overlapped at Microsoft.
- [00:14:43.250]Many of the people here have heard about you,
- [00:14:45.470]know you as a CEO, but I think your personal history,
- [00:14:50.600]your journey is very compelling.
- [00:14:52.700]So maybe you start out by sharing a little bit
- [00:14:55.600]about your personal journey.
- [00:14:58.590]First of all, Jeff, thank you so much
- [00:15:01.400]for hosting me here and welcoming me to Nebraska,
- [00:15:04.810]and I had an amazing time already
- [00:15:07.020]in meeting a variety of folks from academia,
- [00:15:10.010]the start up community, the research community,
- [00:15:13.040]and just to me, it energizes me to see
- [00:15:16.757]how people are passionate about not only what they're doing
- [00:15:19.980]but also the place they belong to.
- [00:15:21.880]And since you asked about sort of where
- [00:15:25.080]my own personal story.
- [00:15:28.210]You know, I feel, I always say this,
- [00:15:30.850]which is I'm a product of two amazingly American things.
- [00:15:36.970]I grew up in a country where
- [00:15:41.000]I was blessed to be born to two parents
- [00:15:46.420]who were very, I would say,
- [00:15:48.720]gave me a lot of intellectual confidence and freedom.
- [00:15:53.730]My mom was a professor at a university in Sanskrit,
- [00:15:59.400]and my dad was also a professor
- [00:16:02.100]before he became a civil servant.
- [00:16:03.580]He was a Marxist economist.
- [00:16:05.520]There was very little my mother and father could agree on.
- [00:16:08.991](audience laughs) And so it gave me
- [00:16:11.020]a lot of freedom to make up my own mind.
- [00:16:14.670]But I must say, in that, growing up in India
- [00:16:18.040]in the late '70s, in the '80s,
- [00:16:22.930]also made it possible for me,
- [00:16:26.100]as a middle class kid, to even get exposed to technology.
- [00:16:29.730]In fact, and I always say this,
- [00:16:31.423]there's no way my journey would have been possible
- [00:16:35.170]if it was not for Microsoft's technology
- [00:16:36.970]reaching me where I was growing up.
- [00:16:39.660]And then the second part to my journey
- [00:16:42.520]was the enlightened immigration policy of this country
- [00:16:45.470]that let me come and go to school here,
- [00:16:50.970]get a job, and then, of course,
- [00:16:53.830]now I've been in the Seattle area for 27 years,
- [00:16:56.670]which is the place where I've lived
- [00:16:58.890]the most in my life by a large margin.
- [00:17:03.495]Throughout this, the thing that I would say
- [00:17:06.700]I have at least come to appreciate a lot more
- [00:17:09.220]now that I've turned 50 is,
- [00:17:12.581]the opportunities we get.
- [00:17:19.040]And the choices we make
- [00:17:20.830]out of those opportunities shapes us.
- [00:17:24.420]But the thing that I have come to respect,
- [00:17:27.590]and come to really value,
- [00:17:30.260]is the people around us, the communities around us,
- [00:17:34.770]who give us those opportunities,
- [00:17:37.650]guide us through those choices.
- [00:17:39.960]In the beginning it's your parents,
- [00:17:41.800]then it's your family, then it's the universities,
- [00:17:45.120]and then, at work.
- [00:17:46.770]You know, I had a chance to work for Jeff,
- [00:17:48.530]and there are things that I still remember,
- [00:17:51.170]there's not a person I met who is so meticulous.
- [00:17:54.170]One of my nightmares was to go to a one-on-one with Jeff
- [00:17:57.527](audience laughs) because I would always think
- [00:18:00.070]that, my god, he's going to know everything
- [00:18:02.120]I've committed to, and there's no way out!
- [00:18:05.400]But that level of ability to have people around you
- [00:18:08.810]who are supporting you throughout your experience
- [00:18:10.390]has been a real blessing.
- [00:18:12.540]Well, that's terrific.
- [00:18:13.540]Now, we have many students here.
- [00:18:15.330]Some of 'em are gonna be graduating relatively soon,
- [00:18:18.940]and they're undertaking their first job interviews.
- [00:18:24.100]Maybe, you have an interesting story
- [00:18:25.880]about your interview, your first interview at Microsoft.
- [00:18:29.300]Maybe you'd share that with the group,
- [00:18:31.477]and what it taught you.
- [00:18:34.980]It was a very typical Microsoft interview, which is,
- [00:18:41.610]seven hours, back to back. (Jeff laughs)
- [00:18:46.500]Code on-- We lightened it up
- [00:18:47.780]a little for him. (laughs) That is right.
- [00:18:52.090]That's the only way I got through.
- [00:18:54.490]But it's like a lot of coding,
- [00:18:57.450]it's kind of like these puzzles,
- [00:18:59.010]and you're like, god, man,
- [00:19:00.260]I've not thought about this a long time.
- [00:19:02.190]But nevertheless, I went through seven hours of that.
- [00:19:04.720]The last question, there was this gentleman
- [00:19:07.280]who you know well, Richard Tate,
- [00:19:11.420]who was my last interviewer.
- [00:19:13.040]And when you make it there,
- [00:19:15.310]it is known that, look, you've now got,
- [00:19:17.500]maybe close to getting a job offer.
- [00:19:21.380]But he also took me through the same,
- [00:19:24.530]asked me questions and puzzles,
- [00:19:26.660]and then I solved them, and I was feeling
- [00:19:28.090]very confident at that point,
- [00:19:29.560]and then he asked me this question.
- [00:19:31.270]A baby's just fallen, you're at a crossroads.
- [00:19:35.090]The light turns green, what are you gonna do?
- [00:19:42.170]God, I look at him, and say,
- [00:19:43.080]god, this is not something I learned in school about.
- [00:19:48.820]There was no algorithm that said, shortest path
- [00:19:52.100]after a baby has fallen. (audience laughs)
- [00:19:55.178]And so I was like, really flummoxed,
- [00:19:58.430]and I thought about it for awhile,
- [00:20:00.820]and then I said, I'll call 911,
- [00:20:02.213]this was pre-cellphone era, from a phone booth.
- [00:20:06.960]So Richard gets up from his chair,
- [00:20:10.440]walks me out, and he says,
- [00:20:13.775]"You know, you need some empathy.
- [00:20:16.857]"Because when a baby falls,
- [00:20:18.887]"the first thing you do is pick up the baby and hug them."
- [00:20:23.279]And I said, I was devastated.
- [00:20:26.450]I thought, that's it, there's no way I'm getting a job.
- [00:20:31.053]And I did finally get the job,
- [00:20:35.160]but it was probably one of the things that I go back to,
- [00:20:37.960]this notion of empathy being so central,
- [00:20:41.000]and probably not the best places to learn,
- [00:20:44.300]which is on your last interview question,
- [00:20:46.160]but it's so important to learn.
- [00:20:48.786]Well it's a great story,
- [00:20:49.690]and I'll just say Richard Tate
- [00:20:51.310]made a good decision in hiring you.
- [00:20:54.150]So you're gonna be heading back to Seattle soon,
- [00:20:59.912]and I, I'm always kind of,
- [00:21:05.210]disappointed when people describe
- [00:21:08.490]our part of the world, my homeland, as flyover country.
- [00:21:12.660]I think that's very dismissive.
- [00:21:15.590]And I do think that, and one of the things
- [00:21:18.330]that I strive to in my life is to make sure that,
- [00:21:21.260]Nebraska, the midwest, the great people
- [00:21:23.790]that we have here, the culture that we have built,
- [00:21:26.970]gets the attention, the recognition it deserves,
- [00:21:31.210]and the investment.
- [00:21:32.680]So you've had a chance here, and again,
- [00:21:35.160]I'm grateful for the investment of time you've made.
- [00:21:38.010]You've met with leaders from research from the university,
- [00:21:43.410]you've met from R&D, leaders from great companies.
- [00:21:48.770]We've spent some time at Hudl today,
- [00:21:51.207]you had a round table with a set
- [00:21:53.020]of tech entrepreneurs and other business leaders.
- [00:21:56.460]Time on Innovation Campus, time at the Raikes School.
- [00:21:59.940]You've packed a lot in a very short period of time.
- [00:22:03.160]Share with us what you will take away
- [00:22:06.570]and then share back in Seattle with your colleagues,
- [00:22:10.680]and/or with other leaders around the world.
- [00:22:15.370]You know, to me,
- [00:22:18.360]what is central to us as a company,
- [00:22:20.950]what is central to me, I always think about this,
- [00:22:23.350]which is, as a CEO of a multinational company,
- [00:22:28.090]what is our true sense of purpose?
- [00:22:29.940]What gives me and everyone else who works at Microsoft
- [00:22:34.700]a real sense that we're doing things
- [00:22:37.090]obviously that are great for business,
- [00:22:38.730]but are having an impact,
- [00:22:39.960]is to be able to visit a community,
- [00:22:42.700]visit a state like Nebraska,
- [00:22:45.180]and be able to see in action the large companies here
- [00:22:51.030]becoming globally competitive, globally ambitious.
- [00:22:53.960]See small businesses or startups becoming more productive
- [00:22:58.380]and bringing new innovation.
- [00:23:02.460]Looking at public institutions,
- [00:23:05.264]and seeing, how are they becoming more efficient
- [00:23:10.175]in the services they offer?
- [00:23:12.580]Or the education outcomes, the health outcomes.
- [00:23:15.740]And that's what I got to experience, right?
- [00:23:18.043]When I think about what I had a chance
- [00:23:21.330]in even just the day and a half I've been here
- [00:23:24.330]to see health startups, right?
- [00:23:27.130]Which are basically saying,
- [00:23:29.180]using the latest and greatest computer vision technology
- [00:23:32.270]to say, how can we take anyone falling off
- [00:23:36.500]of a hospital bed and make it a thing of the past?
- [00:23:40.100]That's a startup that, in fact,
- [00:23:42.540]I had not known this, that they were from Nebraska.
- [00:23:44.950]I was referencing them in a keynote
- [00:23:46.730]I gave in Barcelona at the launch of HoloLens,
- [00:23:49.640]and you sent me a mail saying hey, Ocuvera's from Nebraska.
- [00:23:54.560]And I had a chance to meet
- [00:23:56.040]the founder-- Steve King, Steve.
- [00:23:57.340]Yeah, today, and that is a great.
- [00:23:59.620]I had a chance to meet, you call it the FitBit of--
- [00:24:02.680]Cattle! (laughs) Cattle, and um--
- [00:24:05.393]Vishal. Vishal, and he went
- [00:24:08.010]to school here, and then he was telling me about
- [00:24:10.460]how he then came up with the idea
- [00:24:12.770]working with the people in the university
- [00:24:14.730]in the ecosystem, and he's using our cloud,
- [00:24:18.010]but most importantly he's got an ambition
- [00:24:20.240]of how he can transform this industry.
- [00:24:23.810]I had a chance to meet your nephew yesterday,
- [00:24:26.850]and what he was talking to me,
- [00:24:28.153]I mean, it was fantastic to see
- [00:24:31.300]the types of companies and startups,
- [00:24:34.290]and Hudl is another example.
- [00:24:35.907]We had a chance to see them,
- [00:24:37.800]I had a chance to go to their offices.
- [00:24:40.470]It's one, I have office envy now.
- [00:24:43.995](audience laughs) And I'm looking and saying,
- [00:24:46.180]this is a cool place!
- [00:24:48.380]But even again, their entire mission
- [00:24:51.080]of democratizing what it means
- [00:24:53.970]to equip all teams in the world with technology.
- [00:24:58.380]So that's what's truly exciting to me.
- [00:25:00.730]And if anything, the message I would go back,
- [00:25:03.250]the thing it reinforces me is what is my core belief.
- [00:25:07.180]That every part of the world has talent.
- [00:25:11.420]There is opportunity, there is comparative advantage
- [00:25:14.760]of a region, and in this age,
- [00:25:17.780]where the resource, or the natural resource
- [00:25:20.270]is digital technology, it's much more malleable,
- [00:25:23.020]much more easier to in some sense get into your ecosystem.
- [00:25:27.620]The question is, how do you use it
- [00:25:29.210]in this ecosystem with intensity?
- [00:25:32.004]And I, I know you call it the Silicon Prairie,
- [00:25:34.770]and I think it has its own unique texture,
- [00:25:39.450]and unique character, and I see great things happening.
- [00:25:42.770]And I don't limit it to just the tech industry
- [00:25:45.360]as it's defined today, but every industry
- [00:25:47.420]that can be defined through technology.
- [00:25:49.380]Yeah, actually I want to pick up
- [00:25:50.700]on that last point of Silicon Prairie,
- [00:25:53.210]because I think you shared with many of the leaders here
- [00:25:56.600]that the goal shouldn't be Silicon Valley envy,
- [00:26:00.240]the goal should create our identity.
- [00:26:03.250]Maybe you can say a little bit more
- [00:26:04.690]about that and what you've seen here?
- [00:26:06.280]Yeah, the thing I've been thinking a lot about
- [00:26:09.680]is technology diffusion.
- [00:26:11.100]If you think about again our own business
- [00:26:13.410]and our own mission, what is most important to us
- [00:26:16.580]is taking technology that we invent or innovate on
- [00:26:20.400]and then making sure it gets distributed
- [00:26:22.160]more evenly in the world.
- [00:26:24.610]So there was this economist, Ari Daatmet,
- [00:26:27.320]who's done one of the best longitudinal studies
- [00:26:29.840]of technology diffusion,
- [00:26:31.830]and he studied the industrial revolution, Europe,
- [00:26:35.160]and sort of saw that there were two qualities
- [00:26:37.940]for making progress for a given country or community,
- [00:26:40.650]which is how quickly can some new technology,
- [00:26:43.840]developed elsewhere, come into your region, your country,
- [00:26:47.740]as a factor of production.
- [00:26:49.490]And then for your country, your region,
- [00:26:52.080]your entrepreneurs to use it with intensity
- [00:26:55.340]to create new value, right?
- [00:26:56.763]So that was true in industrialized,
- [00:27:00.010]or in the industrial revolution in Europe,
- [00:27:03.000]and it's true I think in 2019
- [00:27:04.980]in the United States and everywhere in the world.
- [00:27:07.000]And so to me, that's what Silicon Prairie's doing.
- [00:27:09.490]If I look at the research,
- [00:27:11.300]the cutting-edge research that's happening
- [00:27:13.280]in biology, agriculture, sciences,
- [00:27:16.850]in the University of Nebraska.
- [00:27:21.200]In fact, one of the questions we were talking about
- [00:27:24.280]was, what's the computational need
- [00:27:27.350]for all of the places where there's great labs here,
- [00:27:31.340]and how are they thinking about data and computation?
- [00:27:34.900]That IP, that knowledge is spreading in this ecosystem.
- [00:27:38.850]So when I look at the startups
- [00:27:40.180]and even the larger companies in this region,
- [00:27:43.330]or large companies who come here to set up offices,
- [00:27:47.610]it's because of that comparative advantage
- [00:27:50.230]that this region has in a variety of different fields.
- [00:27:54.590]And that I think is the key thing.
- [00:27:56.240]So whether it's risk capital, whether it's local policy,
- [00:27:59.500]whether it's skill building by the university,
- [00:28:02.930]all of these activities should reinforce
- [00:28:06.260]what I think can be uniquely from Nebraska.
- [00:28:10.800]It's not about trying to copy something from somewhere else,
- [00:28:14.420]but I think there is a lot of value the world can get
- [00:28:18.330]because of that sensibility that comes more naturally
- [00:28:21.390]to this place, the research,
- [00:28:22.960]the structural position that is already here.
- [00:28:25.530]Yeah, and if I could just add
- [00:28:27.210]to Satya's comments for the benefit of the audience.
- [00:28:30.120]A couple of things that we talked about
- [00:28:31.840]is that in the 20th century,
- [00:28:33.250]the university was a fabulous research
- [00:28:37.350]and education institution for the technologies
- [00:28:40.930]associated with production agriculture.
- [00:28:43.270]In the 21st century, we need to be leaders
- [00:28:46.240]in the intellectual property associated with agriculture.
- [00:28:50.010]So things like Epicrop, where we're looking at epigenetics,
- [00:28:54.500]or the Water for Food Institute I think are great examples.
- [00:28:58.230]But I also mentioned that actually,
- [00:29:00.300]we really do love sports here.
- [00:29:02.420]And there's a lot of computational power
- [00:29:04.980]with Hudl and others,
- [00:29:06.630]so I think those are some great examples of where,
- [00:29:09.070]in the 21st century, we can pivot.
- [00:29:11.590]In terms of talking about transformations,
- [00:29:14.410]let's actually go from the meta-level to Microsoft.
- [00:29:18.100]As CEO, you're known as being a fabulous leader
- [00:29:22.430]in transforming Microsoft.
- [00:29:24.980]You've built a tremendous reputation for that.
- [00:29:29.130]You've shared a lot about your journey
- [00:29:31.070]and the cultural transformation.
- [00:29:33.020]Let's kind of peel the layers here,
- [00:29:35.300]and first have you share what your perceptions were
- [00:29:40.590]of Microsoft culture.
- [00:29:42.870]What you saw and wanted to build on,
- [00:29:45.310]what you wanted to change, and how do you see
- [00:29:47.680]that Microsoft culture today?
- [00:29:51.120]I mean, I mean at some level, Jeff,
- [00:29:54.630]as you know, I'm a consummate insider.
- [00:29:56.820]I've grown up at Microsoft.
- [00:29:59.190]I did work for a few years at Sun before joining Microsoft,
- [00:30:02.710]but pretty much all of my professional career,
- [00:30:06.040]I've now spent 27 years at Microsoft.
- [00:30:08.930]So when I became CEO in 2014,
- [00:30:12.910]it's not as if I,
- [00:30:16.450]even today I can't clearly mark that day.
- [00:30:19.410]Of course, there's responsibility
- [00:30:21.370]that I had to make sure I took on and I was ready for,
- [00:30:24.380]and so on, I absolutely don't take
- [00:30:27.550]that as a trivial moment.
- [00:30:29.210]But it is a continuous tenure, from 1992 to 2019.
- [00:30:37.130]And all my time there I have learned.
- [00:30:40.930]And I feel that, in fact,
- [00:30:44.703]I remember very distinctly when I joined
- [00:30:47.570]the company in '92, we used to talk about our mission,
- [00:30:49.680]it was even there in the video,
- [00:30:50.830]that we want to put a PC
- [00:30:52.570]in every home and every desk.
- [00:30:54.630]And in fact, that's what brought me to Microsoft,
- [00:30:57.220]because I said, well, that's how I got to the States,
- [00:30:59.900]and I'm excited.
- [00:31:01.850]It was also so quantifiable as a mission.
- [00:31:04.480]You could even do an Excel spreadsheet,
- [00:31:06.370]and do P times Q on it. (Jeff laughs)
- [00:31:09.000]And, it was just, it was great,
- [00:31:11.620]except that by even the late '90s
- [00:31:14.410]we had achieved more or less that mission, so to speak,
- [00:31:18.460]at least in the developed world.
- [00:31:20.720]And since then I felt like we as a company
- [00:31:23.920]needed to go back and ask ourselves what our mission is.
- [00:31:27.790]And that's when I started asking that question,
- [00:31:29.860]I realized that, that was a great, audacious goal,
- [00:31:33.460]to say we'll put a PC in every home at every desk.
- [00:31:36.470]But it was not our mission.
- [00:31:38.350]Our mission was something deeper and bigger,
- [00:31:40.990]and so I went back all the way to the origin of Microsoft,
- [00:31:45.490]which was also in the video interestingly enough,
- [00:31:47.480]because after all Bill and Paul
- [00:31:49.600]created Microsoft as a tools company.
- [00:31:52.460]The first product we built
- [00:31:53.990]was the basic interpreter for the Altair.
- [00:31:57.230]And I realized that that's what it is,
- [00:31:59.340]that is who we are, and that's the sense of purpose we need,
- [00:32:02.480]which is we want to empower people and organizations.
- [00:32:06.380]We want to build technologies so that others
- [00:32:08.680]can build technology.
- [00:32:10.000]And so one of the core pillars
- [00:32:12.670]of what I said we need to reinforce
- [00:32:16.420]in our journey going forward is a sense of purpose.
- [00:32:19.810]The second pillar, I felt, was culture.
- [00:32:23.610]I'm, as I said, I'm a product of Microsoft.
- [00:32:26.630]All that is good and all that is bad
- [00:32:28.750]about Microsoft in all these years, I'm a product of it.
- [00:32:31.330]I can't somehow say I just came from the outside,
- [00:32:34.310]and so therefore, let me just sort of criticize the company.
- [00:32:38.610]Because I am the company.
- [00:32:42.040]But at the same time, objectively looking at,
- [00:32:45.440]where we were, and again,
- [00:32:47.950]I've pattern-matched, we are at our best
- [00:32:50.730]when we are learning, when we are exploring,
- [00:32:53.190]when we are innovating.
- [00:32:55.000]We are at our worst when we come across
- [00:32:57.700]as the know-it-alls.
- [00:33:01.462]So I was inspired by this work by Carol Dweck
- [00:33:05.720]and her work on mindset, and I'd read this book,
- [00:33:08.720]long before I had become CEO.
- [00:33:10.580]But it had a lasting impression on me,
- [00:33:12.880]which is it's true for kids in school.
- [00:33:15.930]It doesn't matter what innate capability you have,
- [00:33:18.610]but if you are a know-it-all
- [00:33:20.290]you will ultimately lose out to somebody
- [00:33:22.640]who has even, perhaps, less innate capability,
- [00:33:25.040]but is a learn-it-all.
- [00:33:26.430]And I said that applies to even CEOs,
- [00:33:29.120]and it applies to companies.
- [00:33:30.800]And so we have taken that cultural meme of growth mindset,
- [00:33:36.240]and are now trying to exercise it,
- [00:33:38.800]and we have framed our journey more importantly
- [00:33:42.470]not as some destination,
- [00:33:44.390]but as confronting our fixed mindset each day, right?
- [00:33:48.100]That time to time, someone will come to me,
- [00:33:49.870]and say at Microsoft, Satya,
- [00:33:51.640]we've found the 10 people at Microsoft
- [00:33:53.470]who don't have a growth mindset.
- [00:33:55.589]And that's not the point,
- [00:33:57.300]the point is not to go look for those 10 people.
- [00:34:00.200]But for us, starting with me, to be comfortable
- [00:34:04.370]with confronting my own fixed mindset,
- [00:34:07.530]and it's been very helpful in reframing.
- [00:34:10.390]Especially for a company like Microsoft.
- [00:34:12.400]If you think about the success,
- [00:34:14.500]I distinctly remember even today,
- [00:34:16.540]I think it was in '98, or maybe '99,
- [00:34:18.977]'98 is when Microsoft first became
- [00:34:21.010]the highest market cap company in the world.
- [00:34:24.460]And we had crossed GE at that time,
- [00:34:29.012]and I always just remember this,
- [00:34:31.250]which is at Microsoft I felt like we had this great gift.
- [00:34:35.099]There was Bill Gates.
- [00:34:38.510]And yet, you would suddenly run into somebody
- [00:34:41.450]who thought they were Bill Gates,
- [00:34:42.800]and the thing was, how do you have that humility,
- [00:34:48.650]and that curiosity to learn?
- [00:34:50.240]And those are things that we're trying to recapture.
- [00:34:52.130]Which definitely is the way we got
- [00:34:54.524]to all this success in the first place.
- [00:34:56.290]And I think that that's a great emphasis
- [00:34:59.550]on the individual and the culture,
- [00:35:01.110]having that growth mindset.
- [00:35:02.250]Just as a comment to Satya's point,
- [00:35:07.410]one of our closest friends
- [00:35:08.880]is a gentleman named Doug Burgum.
- [00:35:11.430]He used to be on the Raikes School Advisory Board.
- [00:35:14.680]He's no longer on the board,
- [00:35:15.690]'cause he did this other thing,
- [00:35:17.690]like being Governor of North Dakota,
- [00:35:19.860]and they don't allow Governors of North Dakota
- [00:35:23.000]to be on the Raikes School Advisory Board.
- [00:35:25.290]But Doug and I worked together a lot,
- [00:35:27.330]Doug worked with Satya,
- [00:35:28.900]and one of the things Doug said to me
- [00:35:30.380]that I think really epitomizes
- [00:35:31.870]Satya and this cultural element,
- [00:35:35.040]is that we grew up with Bill and Steve, amazing people,
- [00:35:40.090]sometimes battling to be the smartest guy in the room.
- [00:35:43.520]Actually, they were the smartest guys in the room.
- [00:35:46.660]But what Doug said about Satya
- [00:35:48.330]I think is very important for all these students.
- [00:35:51.210]Satya doesn't strive to be the smartest guy in the room,
- [00:35:55.840]which would lack humility.
- [00:35:57.190]He strives to be the most intellectually curious
- [00:36:01.970]person in the room.
- [00:36:03.780]And I think that's a very important attribute,
- [00:36:06.830]and I think it represents the kind of humility,
- [00:36:09.060]the kind of growth mindset that's important.
- [00:36:12.420]I also think that Microsoft had some issues
- [00:36:15.190]on teams and team culture.
- [00:36:18.830]You were kind enough to invite me over,
- [00:36:21.020]your first week as CEO, you wanted to have lunch.
- [00:36:24.300]I went over and shared my thoughts,
- [00:36:26.090]and we talked about a number of changes
- [00:36:28.180]I thought you should make.
- [00:36:29.710]But one of the things in that conversation
- [00:36:31.960]was I recommended a book to you
- [00:36:33.910]called Boys in the Boat, which is about the 1936
- [00:36:38.540]Olympic Rowing Team, and there was a particular
- [00:36:41.670]reason I recommended it to you.
- [00:36:43.630]I'm wondering if you recall the conversation.
- [00:36:46.470]No, I distinctly remember that conversation.
- [00:36:52.510]The thing, as any professional sports team,
- [00:36:58.270]and its success, you recognize that it's the team.
- [00:37:03.420]And, that notion, when you,
- [00:37:06.670]look, the reality is we need people
- [00:37:08.677]who are very, very capable.
- [00:37:11.310]But if you have people who are very, very capable
- [00:37:13.360]who don't put the team's interest first,
- [00:37:17.690]then you're not going to achieve much success.
- [00:37:20.600]We learned this, and since we are in Nebraska,
- [00:37:23.430]you learn this most inherently through sports.
- [00:37:28.950]And to me, what I took away.
- [00:37:31.300]I mean, the Boys in the Boat, and that story,
- [00:37:33.510]it's just an amazing story of these kids
- [00:37:36.050]who come together and strive for perfection.
- [00:37:39.760]There's that one particular metaphor
- [00:37:41.620]of when they find the swing, which I love.
- [00:37:45.060]A great leadership team is one that finds its swing.
- [00:37:49.874]And that is what I had to do,
- [00:37:52.180]which is I needed make sure that people,
- [00:37:56.150]in fact, having grown up at Microsoft,
- [00:37:58.290]where we had always amazing leaders,
- [00:38:00.550]amazingly capable leaders,
- [00:38:02.010]and yet we would sometimes probably not perform
- [00:38:04.890]to our capability, because we didn't focus on the team.
- [00:38:09.180]And that was the key lesson that,
- [00:38:11.180]in fact, when I worked for you Jeff,
- [00:38:12.870]and even in that division of yours,
- [00:38:15.780]that used to be one of your core things.
- [00:38:17.550]Of look, we're all in it together.
- [00:38:21.410]And in many cases, and I say this now,
- [00:38:24.640]publicly, even, sometimes.
- [00:38:27.360]Is I think, in the long run, EQ trumps IQ.
- [00:38:35.113]And unless and until you have that ability
- [00:38:38.940]to connect people, lead people,
- [00:38:42.260]create energy around people,
- [00:38:44.090]I think you're going to have a tough time achieving success.
- [00:38:46.280]Whenever I see a startup or a large corporation,
- [00:38:49.480]it's all about team effort.
- [00:38:51.010]And I think even today when I had a chance
- [00:38:53.540]to see some of these projects
- [00:38:54.940]that some of the students at the Raikes School
- [00:38:57.890]were presenting, you could see.
- [00:38:59.670]They had multiple functions, they were product managers,
- [00:39:03.100]designers, hardware, software.
- [00:39:05.440]It's team work, and that's what we learn
- [00:39:09.040]through sports or school projects,
- [00:39:11.080]and it's what even the seniormost
- [00:39:13.260]leadership team and the largest of companies
- [00:39:15.580]will have to exhibit.
- [00:39:17.370]So I think in addition to purpose,
- [00:39:19.300]and the culture relative to the individual growth mindset,
- [00:39:23.530]that sense of team is really important.
- [00:39:26.807]For those of you who haven't read the book,
- [00:39:28.610]and I'd highly recommend it, Boys in the Boat,
- [00:39:31.800]the key thing in order to get into the swing,
- [00:39:34.530]to get into that highest performance,
- [00:39:36.770]is that you have to have trust
- [00:39:39.660]in everyone else in the boat.
- [00:39:43.100]And I think to your credit,
- [00:39:45.630]that is a big part of what you have driven
- [00:39:48.280]in the transformation of the culture.
- [00:39:50.570]Growth mindset and that building of trust amongst teams
- [00:39:53.780]in order to get the collective benefit.
- [00:39:56.600]I want to remind all of you that,
- [00:39:58.070]if you do have a question, make sure you flag down
- [00:40:01.400]one of the ushers, slip a piece of paper with the question.
- [00:40:05.440]Also, the hashtag, hashtag,
- [00:40:09.801]#MicrosoftAtNebraska, if you have any questions,
- [00:40:12.410]we'd love to take them.
- [00:40:14.220]While I'm waiting for any questions coming in,
- [00:40:18.260]I have another question. Yeah?
- [00:40:20.290]In July 10, 2014, so very early in your tenure,
- [00:40:26.040]you wrote an all-company email,
- [00:40:29.900]and my recollection is that you described it as a manifesto.
- [00:40:33.920]Or it got viewed as a manifesto
- [00:40:35.540]that Microsoft needed to rediscover its soul,
- [00:40:38.880]embrace what employees contribute,
- [00:40:41.854]and once again change the world.
- [00:40:45.620]You've talked about this a little already,
- [00:40:48.070]but I wonder if you want to say a little bit more
- [00:40:50.110]about the importance of that manifesto,
- [00:40:53.780]and what you were trying to communicate in terms of purpose.
- [00:40:57.660]To me, I felt it was very important,
- [00:41:01.620]at that particular time in our company's history.
- [00:41:06.960]And especially, given as a new CEO,
- [00:41:10.240]I was able to clearly articulate that sense of purpose.
- [00:41:16.500]In fact, asking even perhaps the more existential question
- [00:41:21.720]of if Microsoft disappeared
- [00:41:23.770]from the surface of the earth, would anybody miss us?
- [00:41:28.305]It's a harsh question, but you have
- [00:41:30.880]to be intellectually honest enough
- [00:41:32.350]to ask and then answer it, more importantly.
- [00:41:34.857]And that's kind of what led me down that journey
- [00:41:39.010]all the way down to the origin of the company,
- [00:41:41.180]and what got us started.
- [00:41:44.110]Who are we when we are at our best?
- [00:41:47.870]We are a platform company, we are a tools company,
- [00:41:50.690]we create technology so that others
- [00:41:52.690]can create more technology.
- [00:41:54.210]All these things became so much more clearer to me.
- [00:41:57.950]And the opportunity of being able to express
- [00:42:00.850]that core sense of purpose or identity,
- [00:42:05.120]in a completely new way.
- [00:42:06.540]I can't go back and say, I hope the world buys more Altairs.
- [00:42:09.820]That's not what I meant.
- [00:42:10.910]I mean, that is not, we may not go back to 1975,
- [00:42:13.570]but how do we confront the world
- [00:42:15.200]in 2014, 2019, and beyond,
- [00:42:17.660]but stay true to that identity?
- [00:42:20.060]I'm a big believer in that.
- [00:42:21.220]To your point about the soul.
- [00:42:22.660]I do believe, just like us as humans,
- [00:42:25.230]companies have something that is core identity
- [00:42:28.770]which comes more naturally to them.
- [00:42:31.160]There are times when let's face it,
- [00:42:32.760]we all do things out of envy,
- [00:42:35.640]and then there are things that we do
- [00:42:36.860]because out of the pride,
- [00:42:38.380]or the sense of purpose we have.
- [00:42:40.720]And the times we do it with that true sense of purpose,
- [00:42:43.500]probably the percentage chance
- [00:42:44.940]is of us being more successful.
- [00:42:47.780]And to me, that was what I wanted to really recapture.
- [00:42:52.519]And since then, in anything that we have done,
- [00:42:55.010]whether it's with Azure and our cloud infrastructure,
- [00:42:58.130]or what we are doing with Microsoft 365 and Office 365,
- [00:43:01.920]or quite frankly, even with what we're doing with our Xbox
- [00:43:06.320]and how we're transforming even our approach to gaming.
- [00:43:10.800]All of these have the same stream, right?
- [00:43:13.830]Which is how, can we put our customers in the center,
- [00:43:17.930]how can we empower them to do more,
- [00:43:21.100]and that has been a super helpful way
- [00:43:22.710]to reframe even our opportunity.
- [00:43:25.160]Yeah, it's fabulous.
- [00:43:28.291]I have a question.
- [00:43:29.124]Oh, we have questions, okay, your book,
- [00:43:31.550]Hit Refresh, you talk about the Microsoft transformation.
- [00:43:37.950]Not complete, but you were very proud of the progress.
- [00:43:42.530]Share more of the meaning of your pride in the progress
- [00:43:47.630]versus complete, and then maybe talk a little bit
- [00:43:50.181]about if you think it's ever complete.
- [00:43:53.050]Yeah, in fact, the reason why
- [00:43:56.470]I came up even with that frame,
- [00:44:00.460]or metaphor of Hit Refresh, we borrowed from the browser.
- [00:44:06.530]And Bill writes in the foreword on that,
- [00:44:09.280]because to me, I think transformation
- [00:44:11.760]is just a continuous process.
- [00:44:14.570]It's not a destination.
- [00:44:16.320]Because the context changes,
- [00:44:19.046]and you need to able to keep up
- [00:44:21.180]with that changing context.
- [00:44:24.170]The key, though, is to know what to change.
- [00:44:29.480]When you really hit refresh on a browser,
- [00:44:32.530]it doesn't change the entire page.
- [00:44:35.070]At least if you have a smart browser.
- [00:44:37.370]It changes only the things that need to be changed.
- [00:44:41.060]And that logic is what I think
- [00:44:44.430]is super important for any leader.
- [00:44:47.070]Because after all, there's institutional knowledge,
- [00:44:51.430]tradition even, which can be very helpful.
- [00:44:55.180]In fact, your point about trust,
- [00:44:57.150]trust gets built by having consistency
- [00:45:00.970]on a core set of principles over time.
- [00:45:03.710]You can't claim trust, trust is earned.
- [00:45:06.610]So if you go ahead and hit refresh,
- [00:45:10.310]and all that trust got refreshed, then that's a problem.
- [00:45:15.274]And so therefore I think,
- [00:45:16.107]in our transformation journey,
- [00:45:17.820]we've been conscious of those choices
- [00:45:20.840]that we have tried to make.
- [00:45:22.590]But at the same time,
- [00:45:24.050]it's super important to recognize
- [00:45:25.530]that we've not reached any destination.
- [00:45:27.560]Yeah, great.
- [00:45:31.114]One of the questions that came in
- [00:45:32.530]also relates to culture, but I also think
- [00:45:35.120]it relates to leadership of Microsoft
- [00:45:39.530]in a broader context.
- [00:45:41.700]How does Microsoft make an active effort
- [00:45:43.920]to lead the way in increasing diversity
- [00:45:46.770]and opportunity within technology?
- [00:45:49.160]Why do you think that's important?
- [00:45:51.640]It's a great question, such an important question.
- [00:45:57.680]The case for diversity, at least in our case,
- [00:46:01.970]and I think it's the case for everybody,
- [00:46:04.200]is so straightforward.
- [00:46:05.740]I mean, we start with our mission.
- [00:46:07.180]We say we want to empower every person
- [00:46:08.880]and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
- [00:46:12.340]There is no way we're going to make
- [00:46:14.340]a real dent in that mission
- [00:46:16.410]if we don't look like the planet.
- [00:46:19.400]On the gender, on ethnicity, LGBTQ, everything
- [00:46:25.000]that is required in our workforce,
- [00:46:29.210]in our own colleagues and team members
- [00:46:31.410]so that we can do our work
- [00:46:34.940]in such a way that we can serve the planet.
- [00:46:39.690]So the key thing that I've sort of learned is,
- [00:46:44.060]once you make that business case,
- [00:46:46.150]or that business case becomes self-evident across the org,
- [00:46:50.100]the real thing is action.
- [00:46:52.110]And in the tech industry, let's face it,
- [00:46:53.900]we have more of a challenge.
- [00:46:55.850]In fact, Melinda Gates writes about this,
- [00:46:58.580]where she says when she graduated
- [00:47:01.803]in the '80s with a Computer Science degree,
- [00:47:04.030]I think something like 35% of the students
- [00:47:07.430]graduating in computer science at that time were women,
- [00:47:11.540]and now it's dropped to 15, 17%,
- [00:47:17.987]and the good news is, it's on the rise, and it's fantastic.
- [00:47:22.910]But the question is, why did it drop?
- [00:47:25.990]And of course, how did it percolate into the tech industry?
- [00:47:29.160]And that's a really important thing
- [00:47:31.820]for companies like Microsoft to reflect on and address.
- [00:47:36.060]And so what we are doing is multiple things,
- [00:47:37.970]starting with, for example,
- [00:47:39.610]having real aspirations and goals for representation,
- [00:47:44.130]because you can't change anything
- [00:47:46.040]if you don't first start with representation.
- [00:47:49.800]And we've made some concrete changes
- [00:47:51.370]even in how we compensate people, including me,
- [00:47:54.260]on making sure that we're making progress on representation.
- [00:47:58.150]But representation is just the beginning.
- [00:48:00.300]Every intern class that comes into Microsoft each year
- [00:48:04.810]is more diverse than the previous year,
- [00:48:07.990]and they always ask me, hey, we look around Microsoft,
- [00:48:11.770]it doesn't look like the class that I belong to.
- [00:48:16.557]And so that means inclusion.
- [00:48:17.810]That means that we not only need to bring in
- [00:48:19.920]people who represent diversity, but make them successful,
- [00:48:22.810]and that's only gonna happen
- [00:48:24.310]if they feel that sense of inclusion,
- [00:48:26.550]that sense of belonging.
- [00:48:28.840]And that starts, though,
- [00:48:31.490]you talked about it even in Hudl,
- [00:48:33.940]about how it starts by really thinking
- [00:48:36.000]about this is a family.
- [00:48:37.730]And to us, we've even made inclusion a core priority,
- [00:48:44.130]where just like you say, hey,
- [00:48:45.540]you've got to achieve a set of business metrics.
- [00:48:48.440]Inclusion happens when everyday behaviors
- [00:48:52.130]in a meeting, in a recruiting call,
- [00:48:55.680]you are showing up where you are being an ally,
- [00:48:58.840]a mentor, you are really creating
- [00:49:01.140]through your everyday actions a more inclusive environment.
- [00:49:04.060]And that's the journey we're on.
- [00:49:06.080]That's the hard work.
- [00:49:07.350]It's hard to change it overnight.
- [00:49:10.730]But to recognize that that's the journey we're on
- [00:49:14.730]I think is something that's very very exciting,
- [00:49:17.410]and Kate Johnson, who's traveling with me,
- [00:49:20.260]who runs the United States business for us.
- [00:49:25.020]We were talking just yesterday,
- [00:49:26.880]and one of the things that we were reflecting on is,
- [00:49:29.430]in 2019 I feel something markedly is different
- [00:49:33.670]around this topic of diversity and inclusion,
- [00:49:36.330]but more importantly around the action
- [00:49:38.820]around diversity and inclusion.
- [00:49:40.160]And we were thinking that five years from now,
- [00:49:42.000]maybe even less, what is the modern workplace?
- [00:49:45.570]Definitely the workplace in tech
- [00:49:48.920]is going to be very transformed, very different,
- [00:49:51.110]and it's going to be much better for all of us.
- [00:49:52.990]Very good, very good.
- [00:49:54.500]I want to pivot, a lot of people here in the audience
- [00:49:57.070]do want to hear about the future of technology.
- [00:49:59.260]You have named three key elements, or components,
- [00:50:03.740]in how you see the future.
- [00:50:06.020]Mixed reality, artificial intelligence,
- [00:50:09.000]and quantum computing.
- [00:50:10.610]And of course there's this context,
- [00:50:12.850]on I think especially around AI, or artificial intelligence,
- [00:50:16.900]where people sort of paint the fear
- [00:50:19.130]that we're just gonna be zombies,
- [00:50:21.780]or it's gonna completely undermine the workforce.
- [00:50:28.310]When you think about the future of technology,
- [00:50:31.550]what do you think we should take away
- [00:50:34.760]from your vision as to what it means for us here today,
- [00:50:40.050]and where it will take us in the future?
- [00:50:43.700]Yeah, I mean, it's, it's pretty,
- [00:50:51.260]amazing in terms of like, for example,
- [00:50:52.930]one of the things, the way I come at it is,
- [00:50:55.000]take economic growth.
- [00:50:59.030]You know, we sit in our modern economies
- [00:51:01.890]and take it for granted, right?
- [00:51:04.110]I mean, sometimes I sort of pinch myself
- [00:51:07.700]to remind myself, even,
- [00:51:09.600]that all of what we see as modern life
- [00:51:12.550]is what, 150, 200 years old?
- [00:51:15.940]Right, in some sense, it's the industrial revolution,
- [00:51:21.610]it's that coming together of technology,
- [00:51:26.430]democracy, and capitalism in some form
- [00:51:31.060]that really unleashed innovation in every walk of life,
- [00:51:36.800]from healthcare to education,
- [00:51:40.630]to agriculture, and made what is modern life possible.
- [00:51:44.040]There's this fantastic book by Robert Gordon.
- [00:51:49.150]I think it's called The Rise and Fall
- [00:51:51.290]of American Productivity where he describes 1870 New York
- [00:51:56.092]and 1940 New York, and he says,
- [00:51:59.510]if you walk, any of us can go into 1940 New York
- [00:52:03.420]and live our lives.
- [00:52:04.253]We may miss Netflix or what have you,
- [00:52:06.690]but other than that, pretty much all of the amenities,
- [00:52:13.530]everything from the drainage system
- [00:52:15.770]to electricity is all there, and it's pretty amazing.
- [00:52:19.070]So then I say, okay, in this next phase,
- [00:52:22.720]what's going to be transformative?
- [00:52:24.820]Like, the fact that the geography of New York,
- [00:52:27.450]the life in New York was so different
- [00:52:30.350]between 1870 and 1940, what's going to be modern
- [00:52:33.360]equivalent of that?
- [00:52:35.430]Between 2019 and let's say 2050 or what-have-you?
- [00:52:39.630]I think it's going to be driven by digital technology.
- [00:52:42.490]Digital technology is a new factor of production.
- [00:52:45.890]People talk about it as the fourth industrial revolution
- [00:52:48.410]or what have you, and that to me
- [00:52:50.530]is what's going to be the defining tech.
- [00:52:54.220]Now, that means construction is going to be different,
- [00:52:57.540]agriculture is going to be different,
- [00:52:59.050]health care is going to be different,
- [00:53:00.410]education is going to be different.
- [00:53:01.670]So we cannot have just consumer Internet innovation
- [00:53:06.300]define the future of our economies.
- [00:53:08.870]It has to be much broader.
- [00:53:10.900]That's one of the reasons why I'm so passionate
- [00:53:12.870]about whether it's cloud computing,
- [00:53:14.980]or it's future, like quantum.
- [00:53:16.870]Or whether it's mixed reality, or whether it's AI.
- [00:53:20.690]All of these technologies, first and foremost,
- [00:53:23.290]I think should have a much more broader application
- [00:53:26.400]in every sector of the economy,
- [00:53:28.410]and that's where I think we will have the best returns.
- [00:53:32.000]To your point about what happens to us humans,
- [00:53:35.660]I at least am of the opinion
- [00:53:38.270]that it's actually even a choice we get to make.
- [00:53:40.720]We shouldn't abdicate.
- [00:53:43.030]After all, all this technology is being designed by us,
- [00:53:45.890]defined by us, built by us,
- [00:53:48.430]and so we get to make these design choices.
- [00:53:51.790]We can choose to build technology
- [00:53:54.550]to augment human capability.
- [00:53:58.270]And I'll give you an example.
- [00:53:59.780]One of the things that was one of the most
- [00:54:03.230]stunning uses of AI was EyeGaze technology,
- [00:54:06.070]which is built into any Windows computer today.
- [00:54:08.650]The ability for you to be able to use your gaze as input.
- [00:54:13.480]And in fact, it was inspired by Steve Gleason,
- [00:54:17.550]because he came and challenged us,
- [00:54:19.470]and said, you know, "You guys say you're good at tech,
- [00:54:22.517]"and I as someone who has ALS
- [00:54:25.327]"would like to communicate with my kids.
- [00:54:29.367]"I want you to develop an input mechanism that I can use."
- [00:54:33.090]And that inspired a bunch of people
- [00:54:35.580]in Microsoft research and our product teams.
- [00:54:38.580]And so it's AI technology brought to bare
- [00:54:42.360]to help people with ALS to be able to communicate.
- [00:54:46.600]We have learning tools.
- [00:54:47.620]So anyone with dyslexia who has challenges with reading
- [00:54:50.530]now can read by using learning tools in Word and OneNote.
- [00:54:55.590]We have a computer vision based app called CAI,
- [00:54:58.760]so anyone with visual impairment
- [00:55:00.620]can now interpret the world
- [00:55:02.430]by looking through this application.
- [00:55:05.000]So in other words, AI can in fact help people
- [00:55:08.360]who today cannot participate
- [00:55:10.240]even in our economy and in our society fully,
- [00:55:12.880]fully participate.
- [00:55:14.520]So we should grab hold of those opportunities,
- [00:55:17.790]while we also build in a set of design principles,
- [00:55:22.990]a set of ethical principles,
- [00:55:25.920]sort of to make sure that the AI we create is not biased.
- [00:55:30.420]AI we create is augmenting human capability.
- [00:55:33.840]And we as humans are accountable even for the AI.
- [00:55:37.100]There's some challenges, there's no question,
- [00:55:38.730]but I think we have to step up to those challenges.
- [00:55:40.760]Yeah, I think it's a great way to make the statement.
- [00:55:43.350]You're really saying that AI should be human-centered,
- [00:55:46.360]all of this technology should be human-centered.
- [00:55:49.810]I got a question that came in,
- [00:55:52.210]that I'm gonna merge with one of mine,
- [00:55:53.870]which is how you see Microsoft's role,
- [00:55:55.770]and then this question that came in is,
- [00:55:57.120]what is Microsoft's commitment to open source in the future?
- [00:56:01.250]Yeah, I mean look, we,
- [00:56:04.080]a lot of people ask me and say,
- [00:56:07.430]hey, this GitHub thing, that's pretty interesting.
- [00:56:10.330]How did you guys get around to that idea?
- [00:56:13.980]You know, one of the things was,
- [00:56:15.470]we were the largest contributor to Github.
- [00:56:18.710]And it's one of those interesting facts,
- [00:56:20.590]which is Microsoft's contributions
- [00:56:22.010]whether it's to the core Linux,
- [00:56:23.160]or the Hadoop ecosystem,
- [00:56:25.191]or us open sourcing .Net, or making Linux support
- [00:56:29.690]first class on Azure, these are all
- [00:56:31.700]very very mainstream projects for us.
- [00:56:34.240]And we fundamentally believe that,
- [00:56:38.430]ultimately we want to make sure
- [00:56:40.750]that we have the best support
- [00:56:44.600]for the open source communities
- [00:56:47.750]so that we can have more of this diffusion.
- [00:56:50.720]Because it's in our interest as a business
- [00:56:54.030]to have more technology get created,
- [00:56:57.040]and in that spirit, I think yes,
- [00:56:58.990]we'll have to change perhaps even
- [00:57:01.220]how we've thought about intellectual property,
- [00:57:04.550]and what it means to really make sure
- [00:57:06.960]that you're building intellectual property,
- [00:57:08.570]but also using open source as a mechanism
- [00:57:11.010]for creating diffusion of that technology
- [00:57:13.460]so that there's more opportunity.
- [00:57:15.160]I always make that distinction which is,
- [00:57:16.930]if you're a platform company,
- [00:57:18.810]you have to measure yourself by the total opportunity
- [00:57:21.633]that is created above you, not just for you.
- [00:57:25.160]And if you don't, then you're not a platform company.
- [00:57:28.210]And to me that's what's going to guide us,
- [00:57:30.260]whether what we're doing with Github,
- [00:57:31.800]or what we're doing with .NET, or VS Code,
- [00:57:34.740]or all of these projects, and we'll stay true to that.
- [00:57:38.090]Right, so I'm gonna shift a little bit
- [00:57:42.040]and merge again a question that came in from the audience.
- [00:57:46.650]What do you tell students and others
- [00:57:49.080]who are not necessarily tech majors and experts
- [00:57:52.520]about how to think about their futures and careers,
- [00:57:56.660]and what advice for quote-unquote non-techies
- [00:57:59.290]in terms of setting their goals
- [00:58:00.690]and approaching their career?
- [00:58:02.695]And then a question that came in from the audience,
- [00:58:04.290]I'm just gonna give a quick answer.
- [00:58:05.817]"At age 23, I realized that I'm really passionate
- [00:58:08.427]"about computer programming.
- [00:58:09.657]"Am I too late to pursue my passion?"
- [00:58:12.792]No, you're not! (everyone laughs)
- [00:58:17.346]You know, one thing that I must say is,
- [00:58:23.300]when I look at even at Microsoft, the people we hire,
- [00:58:26.600]the people who are thriving at Microsoft,
- [00:58:29.037]and I go visit even our product teams,
- [00:58:31.780]I'm always stunned by the diversity of disciplines
- [00:58:37.070]that come together to create these products
- [00:58:40.730]and innovations and hits.
- [00:58:43.529]It's not just computer scientists we need.
- [00:58:46.310]We need anything, from anthropologists to do user research,
- [00:58:51.993]to design folks who can help us get that sensibility
- [00:58:58.320]in the product, to people who are fantastic
- [00:59:01.870]at project management, people who are amazing at sales,
- [00:59:05.300]people who are great at marketing and business.
- [00:59:08.470]These are all the skills that are required
- [00:59:10.880]to run an enterprise, and sometimes I think we forget
- [00:59:15.120]the need for that cross-functional coming together.
- [00:59:19.700]And so even in a university setting,
- [00:59:23.860]it's not like everyone needs to graduate with one major.
- [00:59:27.560]But what I think we need to develop
- [00:59:29.460]is perhaps two things.
- [00:59:30.550]One is this inherent ability to work in teams,
- [00:59:35.540]because that's where real work gets done,
- [00:59:38.070]that's how high-ambition projects get done.
- [00:59:41.520]And two, perhaps that ability to say,
- [00:59:45.090]I'm going to learn to learn.
- [00:59:47.160]If somebody asks me what should I major on?
- [00:59:49.560]I say, major on learning.
- [00:59:52.460]Because in some sense that to me is what it is.
- [00:59:54.753]What the jobs of the future, the skills of the future,
- [00:59:57.760]in fact, one of the things we're excited about with LinkedIn
- [01:00:00.930]is to create more of that realtime feedback loop
- [01:00:04.940]between skills required in the marketplace
- [01:00:08.900]and your own capability
- [01:00:11.140]and the learning that needs to happen.
- [01:00:13.360]To me that needs to be a continuous process, not a one time.
- [01:00:17.980]And that is only going to happen
- [01:00:20.180]if you sort of not define yourself just by the major,
- [01:00:23.920]but you define by yourself with this pace
- [01:00:26.170]with which you are learning to do high-impact things.
- [01:00:30.080]So I would say that's sort of at least
- [01:00:32.350]what I have come to recognize
- [01:00:33.720]as the most important attributes.
- [01:00:35.520]Very good.
- [01:00:36.480]Well, we'll have to make this one quick.
- [01:00:39.150]I'll help fill in.
- [01:00:40.640]What has surprised you or been most unexpected
- [01:00:43.410]about your visit to Nebraska?
- [01:00:45.420]I think it was probably when I put you
- [01:00:46.620]on the corn planter yesterday. (laughs)
- [01:00:49.815]You know, as someone who grew up in mostly cities
- [01:00:53.300]with at least seven million people,
- [01:00:55.900](audience laughs) coming to Nebraska
- [01:00:58.890]and getting on a farm and a tractor,
- [01:01:02.180]the thing that made me most comfortable
- [01:01:04.010]was a Surface computer that Jeff had.
- [01:01:06.666](audience laughs)
- [01:01:09.210]Well, very good, we'll end with a question,
- [01:01:11.960]and then I'll come back with a comment.
- [01:01:14.090]And it builds on both your interview experience,
- [01:01:17.920]but also what you shared at Hudl today.
- [01:01:20.060]You said empathy is a key to success.
- [01:01:23.560]How has empathy helped you succeed,
- [01:01:26.410]and why do you see it as good for business?
- [01:01:29.590]So I've reflected quite a bit on this.
- [01:01:34.240]The interview question apart,
- [01:01:38.131]I've come to recognize, for example,
- [01:01:39.460]when we say we're a company that's customer-centric,
- [01:01:42.700]we're a company that is deep in innovation.
- [01:01:46.050]If you ask yourself, what is innovation?
- [01:01:48.960]Innovation is about being able to meet
- [01:01:50.670]these unmet, unarticulated needs of customers.
- [01:01:54.840]And then you say wow, that's pretty hard.
- [01:01:56.650]How do you meet unmet and unarticulated needs of customers?
- [01:02:00.360]You can't say just go to the customer and listen to them,
- [01:02:02.690]you've got to be able to listen between their lines
- [01:02:05.640]and between what they're saying.
- [01:02:08.588]And that's empathy.
- [01:02:09.510]So to me, I would claim that the way
- [01:02:12.750]you really build innovation,
- [01:02:17.130]or create innovation, is through empathy.
- [01:02:18.930]And there are modern terms for it,
- [01:02:21.270]like design thinking is one way to build empathy.
- [01:02:25.750]And to me, that is existential for any business.
- [01:02:30.310]And it's just not a tech thing.
- [01:02:32.320]If you're in healthcare, you're in education,
- [01:02:34.380]in anywhere, you need this design thinking or this empathy.
- [01:02:37.780]Now here's the most interesting thing for me.
- [01:02:40.600]I reckon you can't go to work
- [01:02:42.340]and say I'm gonna turn on the empathy button today,
- [01:02:44.920]and I'm gonna be more empathetic today.
- [01:02:48.390]The best way to build this muscle around innovation,
- [01:02:52.040]or the necessary condition for innovation which is empathy
- [01:02:55.530]is to let your life's experience help you grow.
- [01:03:00.330]At least, that has been the case for me.
- [01:03:01.900]I look at this and say,
- [01:03:05.830]what I was at 24, when I joined Microsoft,
- [01:03:09.210]to the birth of my son,
- [01:03:12.950]and how that had a profound impact in who I was,
- [01:03:16.830]not only as a parent, but even the impact it had
- [01:03:20.210]as me as a coworker and a manager at Microsoft.
- [01:03:25.660]And then everything else that has happened subsequently.
- [01:03:29.965]To me, that perhaps is more defined who I am today,
- [01:03:35.310]and what's happening to me and around me today
- [01:03:39.230]is what's going to define me tomorrow.
- [01:03:40.870]And I think that that's really what I've come to recognize
- [01:03:43.830]as the true power each of us has.
- [01:03:48.740]Even if we don't explicitly talk about it as such,
- [01:03:52.100]perhaps tapping into that is what makes us excel.
- [01:03:56.800]But more importantly, makes the institutions,
- [01:03:59.310]the organizations that we're part of excel,
- [01:04:01.700]if we can collectively harness that.
- [01:04:04.190]That's a great note to end on.
- [01:04:06.760]I want to just circle back to the Raikes school.
- [01:04:09.380]Something that I shared with Satya last night.
- [01:04:14.680]The Raikes School, the original idea
- [01:04:18.100]dates back to a conversation that I had
- [01:04:21.670]multiple times with Bill Gates during the 1990s.
- [01:04:25.660]And that is that, in Microsoft,
- [01:04:29.630]we could find, or when we were trying to recruit,
- [01:04:32.610]we could find people who were deep in technology,
- [01:04:35.600]but didn't necessarily have the business acumen,
- [01:04:38.770]or business leadership skills.
- [01:04:42.710]Or we'd find people who had the business background,
- [01:04:45.600]the business leadership, but didn't have the tech skills.
- [01:04:50.450]And so one of the most important principles
- [01:04:52.480]of the Raikes School from the very beginning
- [01:04:54.770]was interdisciplinary education.
- [01:04:57.900]Learning to be a learner in both of those domains,
- [01:05:02.640]all of those domains as they come together.
- [01:05:05.400]And I think one of the things that you've seen today,
- [01:05:08.320]in terms of that combination,
- [01:05:11.370]I don't think that there's anybody that I know
- [01:05:13.850]that epitomizes that ability to be deep in technology,
- [01:05:18.930]have the empathy, business leadership, than Satya Nadella.
- [01:05:23.890]Satya, I'm grateful for our friendship,
- [01:05:25.800]I'm grateful for you being here
- [01:05:27.620]today to share these thoughts with the audience.
- [01:05:30.160]Thank you very much. Thank you so much Jeff.
- [01:05:32.011](audience applauds)
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