Leadership MBA PPT

1. Microsoft:
Instilling a
Growth Mindset
Group 1
Surbhi Kumari Gupta
Sumayya K P
Sarath
Sanchari Chattaraj
Shardul

2. An Overview of Case
● In less than five years as CEO, Satya Nadella has taken Microsoft from a
company perceived as a Windows-centric lumbering giant to a US$700
billion (£540 billion) tech player.
● Microsoft was plagued by internal knife fights, bickering and inertia When
Nadella took over from Steve Ballmer on 4 February 2014.Microsoft’s
infamous ‘stack-ranking’ performance management system was used.
● Employees prioritised what would help them get the highest ratings over
the quality of their work. Nadella had grown up a new approach
professionally inside the firm.

3. Nadella’s New Approach
● He said: “It’s the language, routines and mindset of my parents back in India and my
family in Seattle that helped form me and still guide me today.”
● He believe Empathy is essential to deal with problems everywhere, whether at
Microsoft or at home; here in the United States or globally. That is also a mindset, a
culture.
● He wrote a letter to all employees mentioning “We need to prioritise innovation that is
centred on our core value of empowering users and organisations to ‘do more’. He
devoted much of his first year to listening and learning from others.
● His to-do list for the first year included preparing Microsoft for a mobile- and cloud-first
world, building “new and surprising partnerships” and working to ensure that they
could truly empower every person on the planet, as their new mission stated.
● Debate and argument are essential. Improving upon each other’s ideas is crucial. He
wanted the office to be about the culture not about power.

4. From know-it-alls to learn-it-alls
● At Microsoft’s July 2015 Nadella revealed a fresh company mission: “To
empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.”
● He talked about living a “dynamic learning culture” based on a growth mindset.
“It’s about every individual, every one of us having that attitude – that mindset –
of being able to overcome any constraint, stand up to any challenge.
● In early 2015 his wife had given him Carol Dweck’s best-selling book Mindset:
The New Psychology of Success, which she had found helpful in thinking about
creating conditions for success. Dweck divides the world between learners and
non-learners,” explained “demonstrating that a fixed mindset will limit you and
a growth mindset can move you forward.

5. Three pillars
At an off-site meeting with 180 executives divided into 17 teams, Nadella and Hogan
started a dialogue on the kind of culture they wanted.
1.Customer obsession: We need to obsess about our customers. At the core of our
business must be the curiosity and desire to meet a customer’s unarticulated and unmet
needs with great technology. This was not abstract: We all get to practice each day.
2.Diversity and inclusion: The diversity of our workforce must continue to improve, In
every meeting, don’t just listen – make it possible for others to speak so that everyone’s
ideas come through. Inclusiveness will help us become open to learning about our own
biases and changing our behaviors so we can tap into the collective power of everyone in
the company.
3.One Microsoft. We are one company, one Microsoft – not a confederation of fiefdoms.
Throughout 2015 and 2016 Nadella spoke widely about the importance of mindset. The
stack-ranking performance system was abolished, replaced by continual feedback and
coaching and a compensation process that gives managers more influence.

6. About the Growth Mindset
● Growth Mindset - “The New Psychology of success” ( Fixed mindset - stick to activities and utilise
existing skills and closed mindset , growth focused mindset - learn new skills, understand the
lagging points, open mindset)
● A situation where Nadella has stated a statement which showed that he is aware of the pay gaps
in hi organisation, despite that he did not take proper action, when everyone highlighted this to
him, he readily accepted it and worked on that aspect, that’s how he is inculcating the growth
mindset in him, being ready to accept and learning from mistakes, and do what is good for
the company.
● As a result of growth mindset, Nadella has a Glassdoor employee rating of 95% and had one
among the top five best AI companies.
“We are going to learn, and we are going to get a lot smarter”
“We are making great progress, but we should never be done”

7. Nadella’s Contribution
● Helped to engineer the resurgence at
Microsoft ( Partnered with Apple and made
microsoft available on all iOS devices,
including iPhone and iPad)
● Abolished Stack-ranking performance and
introduced continual feedback & coaching
system for growth mindsets
● Stock Price increased, when he was
announced as the CEO of the firm
● According to FactSet, he owns more than 1.6
million shares of Microsoft, making him one
of the company’s largest individual
shareholders. His stake was worth more than
$450 million.

8. Steve Ballmer v/s Nadella

9. What’s in it for you?
1. Clarity
2. Generate Energy
3. Drive success - in any
condition
“It’s trying your best and
learning from mistakes
that matters.”

10. Key Learnings
1. Find an idea that resonates
● Filling the growth mindset
● Organisation’s stalled growth
● Behaviour of the employees
2. Get commitment through process
● Definable set of behaviours
3. Embody the transformation
● Seeing the change in oneself

11. Thank you