SATYA NADELLA AT MICROSOFT: GOING BEYOND THE CASE

Student name

It was nice to evaluate your paper! I can’t wait to read your upcoming Assignment 2 – Part B paper as well. I made highlights in your actual paper and may have made comments for your review. Your paper has structural and content issues and I awarded you a pass. You have some wonderful ideas and I can see some solid analysis within your paper, and for that I commend you. And let’s face it, few if any papers are ever perfect and all papers benefit from close proofreading and rewriting!

This was a challenging effort for your first case study. I can see how you are identifying and thinking about some of the issues presented in the case study with several links to the concepts we have learned in class. You did not source (citations) your paper well and this will challenge you even more in Assignment 2 - Part B.

This was a relatively complex case study for your first case analysis and you made a valiant effort to analyze some of the biggest issues facing Nadella and Microsoft.

Satya Nadella represents a wonderful case study on how a leader can move an organization from good to great, adding to its value, increasing morale, stabilizing the workforce, and helping its global consumer base “do great things". When Satya Nadella took over as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he inherited a firm fading toward irrelevance, plagued by internal fights and inertia. Earlier that year his wife, Anu, had given him a best-selling book by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck entitled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, suspecting it might give Nadella some ideas for Microsoft. He adapted the idea to encourage employees to shift from Microsoft’s historical “know-it-all” culture to embrace a “learn-it-all” curiosity. The case study provides background on Nadella’s challenges and context, as well as how he and his leadership team executed their culture change effort.

I think you will enjoy the YouTube video of Nadella: Who is he as a leader?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66VQ8QxgjYY.



For content on culture, see 3:29-7:32; for diversity see 8:00-11:07 and 17:43-20:33; for empathy see 
14:18-17:35.

Good work on Part A, Now that you are discovering writing at the graduate school level, I am confident that you have a strong foundation for what I expect will be an excellent final paper in Week 10! Incorporate my suggestions and you will have a very strong final submission!

This will help you bring specifics to your recommendations in Part B for the highest quality paper as you demonstate your mastery of the material.

As a company grows, the vision, direction, and leadership empowerment (and accountability) must evolve, as well. With that in mind, I will look forward to how you bring this case study analysis forward with specific recommendations as you dive into Part B. Assignment 2 – Part B assignment is a continuation of the work you did in Part A, but the questions in Part B will challenge you to go beyond simply analyzing what Satya Nadella did at Microsoft.

In Part B you will consider how you can apply the leadership principles presented in the case to your own career. You will be asked to write a 6-7-page paper that draws links between the Nadella-Microsoft case and your own leadership journey. Of the six topic areas provided in your course shell, you will select four you want to focus on. These include:

-Learning from Nadella’s Example

-Building a High Performing Culture

-Channeling Conflict

-Effective Communication

-Fostering Diversity and Learning

-Building a Learning Organization.

Beyond considering each question in your response you will (a) show you understand what happened in the case, (b) apply tools and citations from course materials, and (c) offer insights into how you can apply the case and course materials to your own leadership journey. I am eager to read your next paper, Keep at it!