Hit Refresh

The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone

By: Satya Nadella, Greg Shaw, Bill Gates - foreword

Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki, Satya Nadella

Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Foreword by Bill Gates

Microsoft's CEO tells the inside story of the company's continuing transformation, tracing his own personal journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant technological changes in the digital era. As much a humanist as an engineer and executive, Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of intelligent technologies and a distinct call to action for leaders everywhere.

Hit Refresh is about individual change, about the transformation happening inside of Microsoft and the technology that will soon impact all of our lives - the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing.

It's about how people, organizations, and societies can and must transform "hit refresh" in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. At its core, it's about us humans and how our one unique quality - empathy - will become ever more valuable in a world where technological advancement will disrupt the status quo as never before.

Satya Nadella explores a fascinating childhood before immigrating to the US and how he learned to lead along the way. He then shares his meditations as sitting CEO - one who is mostly unknown following the brainy Bill Gates and energetic Steve Ballmer. He tells the inside story of how a company rediscovered its soul - transforming everything from culture to their fiercely competitive landscape and industry partnerships. Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of technology and by exploring the potential impact to society and delivering a call to action for world leaders.

"Ideas excite me," Nadella explains. "Empathy grounds and centers me." Hit Refresh is a reflection, meditations, and series of recommendations presented as algorithms from a principled, deliberative leader searching for improvement - for himself, for a storied company, and for society.

©2017 Satya Nadella; foreword copyright 2017 Bill Gates (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Great read for those into tech

If you’re into tech, this is a great read. The book is divided into three parts, each three chapters long. The first part is about Satya’s personal life, his childhood, and how he became the CEO of Microsoft. You can skip the first three chapters if you don’t care for that background (although it is quite fascinating). The next three chapters are about Satya’s vision for Microsoft and how he wants to transform the company culture from politics and power struggles to innovation fueled by empathy. Satya talks about how being a leader is about curating a culture designed to lift up the entire team. I highly recommend this section to managers and aspiring leaders. The last three chapters were perhaps my favorite. Satya gives a succinct and clear vision for the future — from data privacy to getting our outdated legal system caught up with the dynamic nature of technology to the economics of automation.

Simply Refreshing

Having just come off the high that is Microsoft Ignite I was curious in reading Mr. Nadella's book. Using Microsoft technology is the core of my career and I'm excited with what came from this year at Ignite. In the following days my colleagues and I have debated about the emergence of self for Microsoft during this years conference. This book lends a looking glass into just how that has happened. Mr. Nadella's has revitalized Microsoft's veracity to compete and push technology, while also being able to be comfortable with who they are and what they do. I anticipate this sense of identity and culture that Mr. Nadella's has inspired will continue to do wonders for Microsoft in the coming years and beyond.
Cheers to Mr. Nadella's and his team at Microsoft. I look forward continually using your tools in the growth of my career.

Hit Refresh is a must read!

Satya shares his story as well as the direction of Microsoft’s future. One of the big take a ways is to take a look at your own life to understand when, how often, and why to ‘Hit Refresh’. Hitting refresh means changing things that need to change but keeping those that don’t.

Most Inspiring

Hit Refresh is probably the most inspiring piece of “poetry” that I have read. As a STEM teacher this book motivates me to do some soul searching and find an answer to my own “why do we exist” question. My goal would be to somehow include in that answer the impact I can make on those 50 to 100 students on the 180 occasions they provide me.

Inspiring read. Should be required for all leaders.

Great story and instructive read for all who aspire to leadership. Leaders, hand this out to your people.

Good listen, intriguing thoughts

This was a good listen, worth the time and money. Microsoft's CEO is man worth paying attention to.

Two thirds interesting, one third advertisement.

The first and last third of the book offer insight and perspective on Satya Nadella, Microsoft and its role in a global economy. The middle third feels like a bit of cheerleading and revisionist history, often explaining decisions as strategic when common sense points more to necessary decisions forced by market realities. Overall, good book. I would recommend this to others.

Lesson for Empathy!

Really like the idea and importance of empathy shared throughout the book, Satya has role model it very well in the book. Overall, a great book, his story is inspiring.

Inspiring!

Informative, interesting and inspiring. Beautifully read. Highly recommended for those into tech and the future of technology.

Best chapters are in the end

If you are tech savvy this book does not offer many new or insights. Everything you already knew about Microsoft and their challenges in the past will be told. However the chapters towards the end on the role of technology (especially AI) in industry and society are great.