The reason I am getting attracted to reading ” hit refresh” is because I saw the interview of Satya. In his interview, he spoke about the themes that have got me intrigued.

Empathy

He speaks about having empathy. I want to truly understand this concept. I came across this word for the first time while I was being coached for call centre etiquettes.  My trainers who had come down from the US spoke about having empathy towards customers. This was to understand the customer situation better and help him out. 

The simplest corollary I could arrive at was: putting yourself in the shoes of the customer. This means you try to imagine yourself being in the situation that the customer is in and then from there, thinking and providing a solution to the customer. I want to understand what Satya means by empathy. 

I am expecting a deeper understanding that may come from the book. I am so bullish on this feeling because of his personal story. His son who was born with special needs just passed away some time ago. Being a father, I am curious to know the full story. When we are reading a book, watching a movie or simply exploring things around, we are somewhere somehow trying to fix our own jigsaw puzzle called life. 

The leadership

The second thing that I want to understand is the story of the turnaround of Microsoft. I have used Microsoft products like most of us. Infact, I got started into computers with windows. I learned about office, powerpoint, word, excel which I often use to this day. But then came the softech companies with a wide variety of products. And the world wide web became even wider with online shopping, social networking etc. 

Then, I started to hear and experience too that Microsoft was somewhere losing its way. Its idea to launch a Microsoft phone failed. It did not participate in any social media space. So, I thought that windows would be soon going to be written off!! 

But, hey! I suddenly experience their strong comeback here. I am using their Microsoft Office 365. And suddenly starting to hear about Satya Nadella becoming the CEO of Microsoft(well! He became the CEO 10 years ago, I know). Initially, I shrugged it off looking at it as another bastion captured by an Indian on the world stage. And thought that this won’t be much more interesting beyond this. I didn’t expect it to resonate with my life beyond the fact that we both are Indians. 

Meaning of Work

And, alas again. Here, in his interview, he talks about the third important theme that I am most curious about – bringing meaning and purpose to work. He has spent more than 2 decades with the same company. He neither started a company of his own nor shifted to another one. Why?? What made him stick here for so long like we do in India for a safe and secure govt job. Was it for security or something more?

He says, in his interview, that he found a bigger meaning in his work than simply making a living. He mentions that he was told he would be spending more time at work than with his children. This is the same case with myself. Most of us hate to work and fantasize freedom from work, early retirement etc.  Looking forward to exploring how I can look at my own body of work with bigger and wider meaning and make it more fulfilling than just working for monetary rewards and promotions. 

So, I am all excited about the book and the wonderful story I am expecting to read between the pages. Let’s see what the book brings forth and what additions it makes to me!

If you wish to read the book along, you too can purchase the book and read by clicking here.  And let me know your ideas and opinions on the book, the person and even your correlations with him.