Later this month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will publish his manifesto “Hit Refresh,” subtitled “The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone.” Nadella started to work on the book two years ago with two co-authors, and the CEO published a blog post earlier this week to look back at this interesting journey.
First of all, the title title of the book is pretty smart reference to what happens when you actually “hit refresh” on a web page: a lot of things will stay in place, but some other things will be replaced by new items and ideas. “We believed hit refresh was the perfect metaphor for all three storylines of the book — my personal journey so far, the company’s ongoing transformation, and the coming wave of technological and economic change,” explained Nadella.
The 288 pages long essay will feature a foreword by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, and you can expect a lot of thoughts about how to transform Microsoft to make it embrace disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence. Nadella explained:
Hit Refresh” isn’t a victory lap or a how-to manual. That would be premature. It’s a set of reflections, ideas and principles on transformation. It explores the renaissance of a storied company and the implications of the coming wave of technology — artificial intelligence, mixed reality and quantum computing — which will soon disrupt the status quo impacting our lives, communities and economies. It’s also a set of questions for anybody searching for improvement — for themselves as leaders, for their institutions and for society.
The book will be out on September 26, and Nadella will donate all proceeds to Microsoft Philantropies. “My hope is that it’ll start important conversations and spark new ideas, and that others will share their own hit refresh moments,” shared Nadella.
