New Microsoft Satya Nadella CEO seeks to reinvigorate software giant
Satya Nadella wants his staff to step it up for a return to the innovative culture of the 1990s
The day Satya Nadella became Microsoft's chief executive, he invited several dozen vice-presidents to breakfast and had a simple, calm admonition for them: "Can you step it up?"
The engineer's tone was a departure from the yelling and wild gesticulations favoured by his salesman predecessor Steve Ballmer and the razor-sharp interrogations of co-founder Bill Gates. Nadella's approach underlines the low-key and analytical style he has brought to the chief executive's office since starting the job in February, as he seeks to revamp the world's largest software maker.
Nadella has unveiled plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs, killed off unpromising products and boosted sales of computing tools delivered via the internet, while seeking to reduce the company's reliance on software installed on personal computers.
He’s one of those people where you just hate to say no to the guy
"He's one of those people where you just hate to say no to the guy," Jeff Teper, Microsoft's head of corporate strategy, said in March. Teper hired Nadella into the company in 1992.
"Steve and Bill are a lot more confrontational - they challenge you to bring your A game," he said. "With him it's more like 'well I don't want to disappoint the guy, let me work a little bit harder here'. He's incredibly smart, he's gracious, but he's also super-demanding."
Nadella's lieutenants may need to work a lot harder to overcome the challenges facing Microsoft. The company's Surface tablet and Windows smartphones have failed to gain more than a few percentage points of market share, while the PC industry is on track to shrink for a third consecutive year.
The job reductions, mostly related to the integration of Nokia's handset unit, will result in US$1.1 billion to US$1.6 billion in charges over the next four quarters. Microsoft has not yet disclosed how much it expects to save from the firings. All the forecasts of analysts covering the company had gone "out the window", as they wait to hear what Nadella and chief financial officer Amy Hood have to say about the financial impact of the measures, said Mark Moerdler, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.