Join Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith as he sits down with our past and present CEOs in three enlightening interviews. Bill Gates discusses his memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, Microsoft’s impact over the past 50 years, and reflects on the journey. Steve Ballmer reflects on his time at Microsoft, the shift to becoming CEO, and passing the torch to Satya. And Satya emphasizes the importance of culture as a strategic asset that drives innovation, and accentuates how Microsoft has remained relevant by seizing opportunities to reinvent itself.
Satya Nadella: Leading through the AI Revolution
While growing up in India, Satya’s passion for cricket and poetry began to shape his unique approach to leadership. His father’s role as a civil servant at the UN coupled with his mother’s position as a professor of Sanskrit drama influenced Satya’s dedication to building a culture of learning at Microsoft.
Today, Satya believes a company culture that’s encouraging a growth mindset and pursuing new concepts will never stop changing for the better. The next step in the evolution of work is the implementation of AI in almost everything we do. Satya sees AI as the future of knowledge at work that can empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. He’s excited about a world where everyone can create and share information and express themselves to their fullest potential.
In this AI age, I’ve been thinking about what it means to build for the future. Two lines from Rilke are the best for anybody who wants to build anything: Let the future enter us then change itself in us before it becomes real.
Steve Ballmer: Scaling the digital revolution
Steve remembers the growing pains—including that time he and Bill didn’t speak for three days—and how irrational confidence, realism, and persistence sparked their vision. Steve’s commitment to innovation and developing new skills made Microsoft progress and stay accountable in the competitive tech industry.
Steve proudly remains a Microsoft booster, with an obvious affection, fondness, and loyalty for everything he helped build.
To be great, you have to have some combination of irrational confidence and realism that says, yeah, everything’s a mess right now, but it’s going to be okay. Oh, and persistence.
Bill Gates: Starting the digital revolution
Bill Gates and Paul Allen were driven by their vision of making computing accessible to everyone and were fueled by the incredible growth in technology along the way. Bill recalls the digital revolution transforming industries, enabling electronic solutions to replace manual processes, and emphasizes the role of software.
Bill’s excitement about advancements in AI and its potential to address global challenges in healthcare and education make him curious about where AI can take the world next.
The progress of the digital revolution is the biggest change agent in the world, and now we’re talking about real, deep intelligence. It’s moving quickly and there’s no upper bound to how good it gets.
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