Satya Nadella Picks Successor, Starts Journey to Chairman + CTO

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I reflect on Nadella’s legacy and
the parallels to other tech icons like Larry Ellison and Bill
Gates.


Highlights


00:13 — Well, Microsoft seems to be setting out
to ensure that it is creating the new rules for its own future.
Its CEO, Satya Nadella, has picked a successor, and this is going
to allow Nadella to focus the vast majority of his time on
product development, product engineering, architecture, advanced
technology, and more. So, big changes are coming at Microsoft.


01:23 — Nadella has spent the last 12 years as
CEO, during which time Microsoft has achieved just phenomenal
results. It now has a market cap approaching $4 trillion,
rivaling NVIDIA. Nadella has totally remade the company. It was a
bit of a mess when he took over in 2014. Now, one blemish I would
say on Nadella's record is the issue of security.


02:35 — Nadella has named Judson Althoff, the
head of sales for Microsoft for the last nine years, overseeing
customers and partners, as CEO of the commercial business. His
new role will involve almost every part of the organization,
except product development and engineering. Marketing and
operations report to Althoff. Operations report to Althoff.


03:02 — What Nadella wants Althoff to do is use
this new role to get all parts of the company working in concert
— very smoothly and fluidly. They said Microsoft's customers are
moving faster than ever before, and this is going to require
Microsoft itself to move faster than it ever has.


03:55 — Very few people could ever understand
what it’s like to be in that role at a company of that size and
that influence and say “You know, it’s time for a new adventure
for me and a new way of operating for the company.” Bill Gates,
in 2000, he said, “I just want to be Chairman, and I’ll be Chief
Software Architect.” Hats off to Satya Nadella.


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