Wired's latest cover story details Microsoft's transformation from a moribund has-been technological giant reaping the rent from yesterdays innovations to a leading edge company pioneering the future once again. Today the company is once again one of the world's most valuable companies, currently ranked third globally. Not too long ago the company was adrift.

“Nadella doesn’t say outright what everyone in the room knows: Just a decade ago, pundits had declared the company brain-dead.”

Today, under CEO Satya Nadella's leadership, the company has been transformed. It's no longer the Windows and Office rent seeking machine of the Balmer era. How'd that happen? Much of Satya's success stemmed from cultural initiatives to empower employees. That started at the top with creating a more curious and inquisitive management team:

"Every Friday at 10 am, the 17 members of Microsoft’s senior leadership team meet with Nadella in his conference room. The session, informally called “soak time,” goes on for hours."

That diffused into the rest of the organization, where the new CEO famously showed up to meetings carting in the book Nonviolent Communication:

“Before Satya it was difficult to show up to a meeting where you didn’t know the answer, or where you had a thought but you couldn’t prove it,” says Microsoft workplace exec Jared Spataro.

Another component of Microsoft's success was that the organization had ample amounts of latent talent within the organization. Unlike a Cisco or Sun Microsystems located in the Bay Area, Microsoft operated in Redmond, with fewer technology competitors to poach talent. This is very relevant to the industry where I currently work. Many large water utilities have tons of talent that can be underutilized and buried within large, rigid organizations.

In addition to empowering staff, Satya made several savvy strategic moves. From buying GitHub to making Linux a first class citizen on Azure, Satya embraced open source and modern web practices. In addition, he famously invested in OpenAI and cut a great deal that enabled Microsoft to leapfrog Google's capabilities - the company mind you that invented the underling big technical breakthroughs - and skyrocketed the companies valuation.

My favorite part of the piece though has to be hope Satya navigated the informal company politics and Roman-esque patronage system surrounding the company's founder, Bill Gates. There's several colorful senior management and strategic partner meetings documented at the Gates manor. The piece is well worth reading in full as an entertaining story and illuminating turnaround case study.

Microsoft at 50: An AI Giant. A Kinder Culture. And Still Hellbent on Domination

When Satya Nadella took over as CEO, the company was lumbering and uncool. He cleaned up a toxic culture, crafted the deal of the decade, and put Microsoft back on top.

https://www.wired.com