Microsoft - Powered by Satya Nadella

Today, as we take Microsoft Word to begin our work, we can feel the connection between the Redmond-based software giant and its India association. The corporation started by Bill Gates in the early 80s, now has a CEO of Indian origin, Satya Nadella. He took to the chair succeeding Steve Ballmer in Feb 2014.

Who is Satya Nadella?

Satya Nadella is a 46 year old American, born and brought up in India. He's been in the tech industry for more than 2 decades now, and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Microsoft Corporation. More precisely, he is the Cloud Computing Head at Microsoft.

His Work

Nadella started his career with Sun Microsystems as a member of the technology team and later joined Microsoft in the year 1992. He's been with Microsoft ever since and has worked with the who's who of the company including Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

He's held various positions during the tenure including that of Senior Vice-President of Research and Development for Online Services Division, Vice-President for the Business Division, and Executive Vice-President of Cloud and Enterprise Group.

After 22 years and many different positions in the company, Satya Nadella was appointed to the highest position i.e. of the Chief Executive Officer. The day he officially took over the position, the media was abuzz with his success at Microsoft and his Indian connection. Indian media left no stone unturned to project him as one of the most successful migrants stories ever.

On one hand, he was humble enough to share the memories of the times he spent in India. On the other, he started his new journey as a CEO by sending an email to the employees at Microsoft. He thanked everyone for their contribution to the company and conveyed his vision, the bold steps that lie ahead, and the need for innovation rather than taking a traditional approach. Microsoft published that letter to the employees on their official website so it be accessible to everyone. .

His Family

Nadella was Born in Hyderabad, India in a Telugu family to father Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar, a civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service, and mother Prabhavati Yugandhar. He makes it a point to visit them every year with his wife Anupama Nadella.

Anupama is also from Hyderabad and have studied in the same school as Satya Nadella, Hyderabad Public School. They together have three children - one son and two daughters, all resident of Bellevue, Washington.

His Education

He completed his engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications from the Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India and flew to the US for further studies. Pursued MS from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 1990. Then an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

His Passion

Satya Nadella have always been a disciplined person with passion for technology and love for Cricket. His passion to create new things took him places and finally to the United States.

The Wikipedia page quotes him saying "always wanted to build things," and as there was no program for computer science available at Manipal University then, he took electronics as his major. "And so it [electronic engineering] was a great way for me to go discover what turned out to become a passion," he said.

His Fun and Human Side:

Microsoft's CEO took the ALS Ice Bucket challenge to create awareness about the disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Here's a quick video of the same.

Nadella and Cricket

An avid Cricket enthusiast and a team player at Hyderabad Public School, Nadella said, "playing cricket taught me more about working in teams and leadership that has stayed with me throughout my career."

One recently published article on Bloomberg, quoted Chandrasekhar, a Human Resource Manager, for a company based out of Hyderabad said about his Cricket experience with Nadella, "Before he bowled that first ball, I had the swagger of the guy who would score the winning run and he had the demeanor of someone who was nervous and anxious to perform," Nadella got him out on the first ball, he further added "that says a lot about how he approaches things, with a lot of humility and a lot of anxiety to do well."

Nadella's Advice to People:

In his interview to the Deccan Chronicle, he gave an extremely valuable advice which is applicable to people of all ages : "Never, ever stop learning." He said, "You stop doing useful things if you don't learn."

Y-Axis on Satya Nadella

Satya Nadella's achievements are an inspiration for all Indian students and professionals alike - within India and on foreign shores. His accomplishments are truly commendable.

Manager from Immigration Department at one of Y-Axis offices said that, "We are happy to see Satya Nadella make it to such heights. He has inspired many professionals to apply for migration to Australia, and Canada under various skilled visas. And we hope to have more of such people becoming the Global Indians in the months and years to come."

Find Satya Nadella on Twitter: 

Handle: @satyanadella

Followers: 273,000 (as on 25/9/2014)

Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/satyanadella