Bill Gates Is All Praise For Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had high words to say for the company’s third CEO Satya Nadella for stepping out of the shadow of previous leaders Steve Ballmer and himself, and increasing the technology giant’s market share by $250 billion.

Nadella, according to Gates, made most of the opportunities created by technology, and helped the company stand out in the computing industry. Gates writes in the foreword of Nadella’s book, Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone: “It was no surprise to me that once Nadella became Microsoft’s CEO, he immediately put his mark on the company. As the title of this book implies, he didn’t completely break with the past when you hit refresh on your browser, some of what’s on the page stays the same.”

Gates elaborates in the foreword that under the 50-year-old Indian American CEO, the company was able to move away from a purely Windows-centric approach.

“He led the adoption of a bold new mission for the company. He is part of a constant conversation, reaching out to customers, top researchers and executives. And, most crucially, he is making big bets on a few key technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, where Microsoft will differentiate itself,” Gates says.

It is a smart approach not just for Microsoft, but for any company that wants to succeed in the digital age, he adds.

The computer, Gates observes, is no longer the only computing device, or even the main one, that most people use.

“Despite all this rapid change in the computing industry, we are still at the beginning of the digital revolution. Take artificial intelligence (AI) as an example. Think of all the time we spend manually organizing and performing mundane activities, from scheduling meetings to paying the bills,” he writes.

“In the future, an AI agent will know that you are at work and have ten minutes free and then help you accomplish something that is high on your to-do list. AI is on the verge of making our lives more productive and creative.”

Gates goes on to say that Nadella has charted a course for making the most of the opportunities created by technology while also facing up to the hard questions.

“And he offers his own fascinating personal story, more literary quotations than you might expect, and even a few lessons from his beloved game of cricket. We should all be optimistic about what’s to come. The world is getting better, and progress is coming faster than ever.”