Satya Nadella at

Office: Instilling A Growth
Mindset
BY GROUP B:

• AFREEN ISLAM (MBA06014) • ANKIT HOODA (MBA06021)

• A J I N K YA B I N WA D E ( M B A 0 6 0 1 5 ) • A N K I T B H A R D WA J ( M B A 0 6 0 2 2 )

• AKRAM SIDDIQI (MBA06016) • ANKIT SINGH (MBA06023)

• AKSHIT SAINI (MBA06017) • ANSHU RAI (MBA06024)

• AMAN BASIL (MBA06018) • ANSHUMAN THAKUR (MBA06025)

• AMIT KUMAR RAI (MBA06019) • A K S H AY A G G A R WA L ( P H D 0 1 0 0 1 )

• AMIT SONI (MBA06020)

Introduction
• The case talks about the changes made at Microsoft
under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella
• Nadella took over from Steve Ballmer in 2014 and
made his mark in a short span of time
• Microsoft had been plagued by a culture of internal
competition and had focused on performance over
customers
• Satya Nadella fixed these issues and presided over
tripling of Microsoft stock price by just September
2018
Case Events
• Stack-Ranking Performance Management System - Unhealthy internal competition & practices of
character assassination led to dissatisfaction among employees.
• High Attrition rate - Due to stagnant career growth and external competition, the talent pool of MS
switched company faster than the replacement rate.
• Satya Nadella - on 4th Feb '14, Satya Nadella replaced Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft and things
started to change.
• Collaborative environment - A  new transparent, flexible  and inclusive communication system
within the organization was established.
• Forging new Partnerships - In 2014 MS made a pact with Apple to offer Office on all iOS devices,
consequently in 2015 MS launched its most popular Windows 10.
Case Events
• Putting the right people in the right place - Nadella brought some new
people with new culture who aligned with his vision.
• Transgressing Traditions - Nadella invited outside leaders for fresher
perspective and insights.
• “Know it all” to “learn it all” - He started focusing on learning while
working.
• Clearing the roadblock - Abolishment of stack ranking system and  placing
continual feedback and coaching system.
• Leading with example - Satya acknowledged the importance of humility and
imbibed the same in MS’s culture.
Key Decisions By Nadella
• Spring 2014 – Microsoft made Office available on all iOS devices despite their rivalry with Apple.
• Nadella Selected Jill Tracie Nicholas as Chief of Staff in 2014 because she treated people with
respect and he wanted his office to be about culture, not power.
• Nadella broke tradition by inviting the founder of the companies that Microsoft recently acquired
• Scheduled customer visits during the retreat
• July 2015 – global sales conference – revealed fresh company mission – “to empower every person
and every organization on the planet to achieve more”
• Formed three pillars of Microsoft – Customer Obsession, Diversity and Inclusion and One Microsoft
• Stack ranking performance system was abolished, replaced by “continual feedback and coaching”
and a compensation process
Case Q1: Reasons for Growth from
Balmer's to Nadella's Era
• Satya Nadella taking charge as new Microsoft CEO on Feb 4, 2014 Customer
Obsession
• Focused on innovation & growth
• Microsoft for a mobile and cloud-first world
Diversity
• More focused on culture than on power 3 Pillars &
Inclusion
• A call for Microsoft mission-oriented leaders Inventions
• From "know-it-all" to "learn-it-all" Windows
Azure One
10 Microsoft

AI
Hololens
Chatbot
Case Q2: Impact of Acceptance of
Mistake
Gave provocative
answer to Resulted in
Later conceded to
a question on increase of his
his mistake
women’s pay likeability
raise

Microsoft AI-
Resorted to
based Nadella Urged his
humility instead
chatbot, Tay, was took cognizance team members to
of denial of the
castigated by of the mistake be active learners
problem
twitter
 Case Q3: Employee's Perceptions of
Balmer vs. Nadella
Glassdoor Employee Approval
• Employee ratings were the priority Rating
• Fixed mindset culture promoting Sycophancy and 95
Competition
• Diversity was not promoted
• Senior leaders not taking responsibility for the mistakes.
• Employees not confident about their choices
51
• Employee’s quality of work was the priority
• Growth Mindset work culture promoting innovation and free ideas
• Promotion of Diversity was a major agenda
• Senior leaders, even Nadella himself, took responsibility for
mistakes Bal mer Nadel l a
• Employees highly confident about their choices for long term
success
4R Model of Transformational
Leadership
Conclusion
• Satya Nadella had practices which were new for a Microsoft CEO like visiting the Silicon Valley,
adding new perspectives by inviting outside speakers among other things.
• With him sending the letter on his first day of joining he made a connect with his employees who
were accustomed to the system like Stack Ranking Management.
• He also believed that empathy is universal and it is essential to deal with problems at Microsoft or
at home.
• He built a culture of innovation and a healthy environment at Microsoft which also helped the
people working at Microsoft to maximize their performance. 
• All in all Satya Nadella’s different approach to taking things and instilling empathy were the
reasons that Microsoft reached such wonderful heights.
Thank You...!