When Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft CEO from Steve Ballmer in 2014, the company was suffering from a dysfunctional, political culture that had missed every significant high-tech innovation in the past decade, including internet search, mobile phones, e-commerce, social media, and the cloud. In my own interactions with Steve, I found him abrasive, arrogant, and domineering. Satya observes, People would walk around our campus thinking we are Gods gift to mankind. Whether its in ancient Greece or modern Silicon Valley, theres only one thing that brought companies, societies, and civilizations downhubris. Upon taking the helm, Satya rapidly transformed Microsofts strategy and culture, exiting its failed acquisition of Nokia mobile phones, moving into social media with the acquisition of LinkedIn, broadening into games with Minecraft and Activision Blizzard, and expanding its cloud business Azure. Under Ballmer, Microsofts stock had been flat for 14 years. Since Satya became CEO, it has grown nine times to a valuation of $2.5 trillion, making Microsoft one of the worlds two most valuable companies. For all his success, Satya is extremely humble with unusually high levels of self-awareness and empathy, shaped by his life experiences and his crucibles. Ironically, a lack of empathy nearly cost him the chance to join Microsoft. During his interview, Microsofts Richard Tait asked him, Imagine you see a baby lying on the street, and the baby is crying. What do you do? Satya immediately responded, You call 911. Richard put his arm around Satya and said, You need to get some empathy. If a baby is lying on the street crying, you pick up the baby. Microsofts culture had become dogmatic, because everyone had to prove they knew it all and were the smartest people in the room. Satya committed to change Microsofts culture from know-it-alls to learn-it-alls. He sees the CEOs chief job is being the curator of the organizations culture. The key to culture change is empowerment that brings out the best in everyone. He asks all employees to adopt psychologist Carol Dwecks growth mindset, observing that a fixed mindset will limit your growth and a growth mindset can move you forward, centered on the belief that everyone can grow and develop. Satya believes that, with a growth mindset, all Microsoft employees could identify their innermost passions and connect them to Microsofts mission of empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. To enable his team members to improve their self-awareness, Satya brought in a psychologist who specialized in mindfulness training. At a remote spot on the Microsoft campus, his senior leadership team shared at a deep level who they are, their life stories, guiding beliefs, and struggles. Everybody talks about change, but everybody wants the other person to change and not change themselves. The reality is that the inner change is the hardest one, Satya remarks. That applies to human beings, societies, countries, and the world. Satya also speaks about his own weaknesses, including a fascination with new ideas and a propensity to move to the next idea too soon. He acknowledges, Im blessed to have a very capable team surrounding me who complement my strengths and weaknesses. How many business leaders can you name who put empathy at the centre of their leadership? Who guide their executive team in mindfulness exercises? Satya could only lead in this way because he possessed high levels of self-awareness and self-acceptance. He uses the empathy learned from dealing with his family crucibles to be a more vulnerable and open leader. Satya recognized that without empathy, Microsoft would never succeed in understanding customer needs and delivering solutions to meet those needs. He has transformed one of the worlds great businesses by refocusing it on the needs of customers, rebuilding the culture, and reinvigorating its mission to make a difference in the world.

Question One

In relation to the case study above, elaborate on how the FOUR (4) Typology of HR roles categories are applicable in the Microsoft's Transformation under the leadership of Satya Nadella.