No, you didn’t read the headline wrong. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took part in the “Ice Bucket Challenge,” which is a campaign to raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Nadella allowed a group of Microsoft employees to dump a bucket of ice cold water on his head.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a social media movement where people post videos of themselves dumping a bucket of ice water over their heads. Once they complete this, they are able to challenge others to either do the same or make a donation to an organization dedicated to fighting ALS. This is exactly what Nadella did.
After being doused in cold water, Nadella challenged Google CEO Larry Page and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to join him in the Ice Bucket Challenge. “Now, let me take this opportunity to challenge Jeff Bezos and Larry Page to take their own ice bucket challenge. And let me tell you again from personal experience, it’s better to have your head in the clouds than under a bucket of ice.”
This challenge was in recognition of a Microsoft team that won the company’s recent hackathon event. The team, known as “Ability Eye Gaze,” leveraged the Microsoft Kinect and Surface tablet to create a series of new features for people with ALS and other disabilities to easily control a tablet with their eyes.
You can watch the video below, embedded for your convenience.
Further reading: Microsoft, Satya Nadella
