I will always be a Hyderabadi, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella has said that the company plans to focus on a productivity for a mobile first, cloud first world in an exclusive interview to the Times of India. However that doesn’t mean software will lose focus for Microsoft. “I want to see us remain convinced that software matters in the future,” he told the newspaper.
 
As far as focus is concerned on software, Nadella had emphasised on this even when he had become CEO.  “This is a software-powered world. It will better connect us to our friends and families and help us see, express, and share our world in ways never before possible. It will enable businesses to engage customers in more meaningful ways. I am here because we have unparalleled capability to make an impact,” he had said at the time.
 
So does he have any special plans for Microsoft’s R&D India unit now that he is the CEO? Nadella said that he only India’s importance in Microsoft’s plans will only grow. ”India is one of the few countries where Microsoft has the entire range of our operations — including basic R&D and customer services. We have more than 6,000 employees, and over 10,000 partners in India,” he said, adding that in India the focus cloud growth would help with entrepreneurial growth in the country.
 
“The cloud is going to be a huge enabler of consumer services and entrepreneurial growth. We are working with our partners to provide a wide range of Azure cloud offerings to accelerate economic growth and breakthrough cloud services in India,” he added.
 
Before Nadella became CEO, he was heading Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, working towards developing and running computing programmes, developer tools and cloud services. As the resident “cloud guru” for Microsoft, Nadella helped the company post a 107 percent growth in revenue in its second quarter fiscal results.
 
And what has the response been from India to his becoming CEO? According to Nadella he has received thanks and support from people all across India. Nadella was born in 1967 in Hyderabad. Ge got his Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from the Manipal University, in India. He soon moved to the US in order to continue his education and received his Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Nadella also went on to get an MBA degree from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
 
When he had become CEO, Nadella had famously said that he tends to buy more books than he can read, sign up for more courses online that he can complete.  So what books is he currently reading? “I went through a phase of reading Urdu poetry, thanks to the great transliterated versions now available. Now I am into (Walt) Whitman and WH Auden. My all-time favourite is Keats — Ode on a Grecian Urn. Who is not haunted by those final lines — Beauty is truth, truth beauty — that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know,” Nadella told Times of India.
 
The Microsoft CEO also insists that he will “always be a Hyderabadi.”