Scan barcode
Reviews
Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by
tocupine's review against another edition
3.0
A refreshing outlook on the future of robotics, quantum computing and AI through Satya's musings of his time as the current CEO of Microsoft
vantaesday's review against another edition
3.0
this man keeps asking me why i exist, which is like a very existential question that i can either give two words (i don't) or a long tirade of biology and philosophy. which one do you want lol?
cristiangarcia's review against another edition
5.0
Last year, I started reading Phil Kinght's Shoe Dog. It gave me a lot of energy and ideas to start my year. This time, I followed the same notion with Satya Nadella's Hit Refresh. I finished the whole book in just a couple of days. Nadella's writing is inspiring, insightful, wise and very emotional, his words convey so many feelings and emotions to describe his personal and professional life.
His vision is based on being empathic and also using technology to build a better world; his ideas and hopes for the future (with AI, Mixed reality and quantum computers) feel so real and at the same time, so magical, I can't wait to experiment it myself.
India CEO's have this heavy mind-work balance; I could not help but think about R Gopalakrishnan style as a CEO, very insightful, spiritual yet effective and always evolving.
Amazing book!
His vision is based on being empathic and also using technology to build a better world; his ideas and hopes for the future (with AI, Mixed reality and quantum computers) feel so real and at the same time, so magical, I can't wait to experiment it myself.
India CEO's have this heavy mind-work balance; I could not help but think about R Gopalakrishnan style as a CEO, very insightful, spiritual yet effective and always evolving.
Amazing book!
canoas's review against another edition
5.0
As an ex-employee (1997-2008) the read was an excellent refresh over the recent changes and made me believe the company is again committed to achieve the greatest impact. Values, culture, resposability are again the foundations that drive purpose. Satya is doing excellent bridges with everyone while shifting the platform wars to the cloud services.
In my opinion we will remember the mobile OS as just another browser war, that at the end no one really cares anymore. people will shift to the next UX (invisible voice assistants?) and phones will be the dunbest bricks we will be ashamed of wearing in public. only addicted people will depend on these time wasters.
In my opinion we will remember the mobile OS as just another browser war, that at the end no one really cares anymore. people will shift to the next UX (invisible voice assistants?) and phones will be the dunbest bricks we will be ashamed of wearing in public. only addicted people will depend on these time wasters.
richardiporter's review against another edition
4.0
Who: should read this book? Most broadly anyone who works in technology or interested one of the 3 most valuable companies in the world. Anyone interested in the biggest and most successful turn-around of a company and its culture in modern business history. Anyone who works in B2B technology, enterprise technology, or wants inspiration in how to lead authentically or improve a culture from a bad state to a good one.
Why: This can help you reflect on purpose-driven leadership in technology. Satya Nadella wrote this book to reflect on his perspective while in the midst of a transformation. As he led a turn-around from a company lampooned as literally warring fiefdoms to rediscover its purpose and mission, and become one of the three most valuable companies in history.
How: Satya focuses on mission, empathy, empowering users and institutions and how Microsoft can bring a unique value to and through each of these.
What: This is a contemporary record of a cultural transformation as it happens by a ceo guiding its change.
4 Star reviews mean I really enjoyed this book, I will likely read it again someday. I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important.
Why: This can help you reflect on purpose-driven leadership in technology. Satya Nadella wrote this book to reflect on his perspective while in the midst of a transformation. As he led a turn-around from a company lampooned as literally warring fiefdoms to rediscover its purpose and mission, and become one of the three most valuable companies in history.
How: Satya focuses on mission, empathy, empowering users and institutions and how Microsoft can bring a unique value to and through each of these.
What: This is a contemporary record of a cultural transformation as it happens by a ceo guiding its change.
4 Star reviews mean I really enjoyed this book, I will likely read it again someday. I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important.
schwarmgiven's review against another edition
4.0
I actually enjoyed this self serving book more thean I thought I would--this review comes off as much more negative then intended--there were some AMAZING quotes:
* We were already expecting a Christmas Day attack from Lizard Squad.
* Find the rose petals in the shit.
* Beer fuels their creativity.
for which I cannot thank Microsoft enough--I will likely be using these on a weekly basis for years.
Satya does do a great job of identifying some of the smartest people working at Microsoft which is helpful in an "IT Watch" kind of way...I respect Vista more now knowing who built it...
The focus on the International, on AI, on Merged Reality, and (mostly) on Quantum Computing is kind of missing the point in a lot of ways. The stuff on Cricket does not help. The frothy emotional appeal from the author is hard to hear...the Music Metaphor from a TED talk I am sure Satya never heard is odd...However, and this is coming out of a much more negative review thean I had hopedm the models of:
Employee, Customer, Products, & Partners
Concept, Customer, Capabilities, & Culture
are smart and worth thinking about...
I loved the recommendation for [b:MirrorWorld|22545462|MirrorWorld|Jeremy Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426664424s/22545462.jpg|42001562]...and[a:Tim O'Reilly|18541|Tim O'Reilly|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199698411p2/18541.jpg] ...
* We were already expecting a Christmas Day attack from Lizard Squad.
* Find the rose petals in the shit.
* Beer fuels their creativity.
for which I cannot thank Microsoft enough--I will likely be using these on a weekly basis for years.
Satya does do a great job of identifying some of the smartest people working at Microsoft which is helpful in an "IT Watch" kind of way...I respect Vista more now knowing who built it...
The focus on the International, on AI, on Merged Reality, and (mostly) on Quantum Computing is kind of missing the point in a lot of ways. The stuff on Cricket does not help. The frothy emotional appeal from the author is hard to hear...the Music Metaphor from a TED talk I am sure Satya never heard is odd...However, and this is coming out of a much more negative review thean I had hopedm the models of:
Employee, Customer, Products, & Partners
Concept, Customer, Capabilities, & Culture
are smart and worth thinking about...
I loved the recommendation for [b:MirrorWorld|22545462|MirrorWorld|Jeremy Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426664424s/22545462.jpg|42001562]...and[a:Tim O'Reilly|18541|Tim O'Reilly|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199698411p2/18541.jpg] ...
stralins's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciated the focus on culture in the first half and had some nice takeaways, didn’t love the latter part of the book (lack of critical analysis, I think, but the passion is great)
ppetropoulakis's review against another edition
4.0
I like big tech tentpole books. Hit Refresh is one of these titles that try to humanize the megacorporation that is Microsoft. Satya Nadella's narrative is intimate and reflective. He tries to make sense of the tech industry and give bright, optimistic predictions for the future. At times it reads like corporate propaganda but overall a collection of interesting anecdotes and contemplations.
nushhetti's review against another edition
1.0
This book was not for me, if I could have given it half a star I would have.
Perhaps as others have suggested this book is aimed at people working in the field rather than someone with a passing interest in the company.
The first half was annoyingly repetitive, wasting time defining acronyms but then pages later reverting to spelling the acronym out again grates on me, I am not sure how many time he really had to state he was the CEO of Microsoft/was about to become CEO of Microsoft/was about to be announced as the CEO of Microsoft - we get it already (and thats why I was reading your book in the first place). There is a lot of discussion about what Microsoft has done in the past and that it needs to change. To what though? There was very little information - spoiler- it's in the afterword (if I had known this I may have just skipped ahead). This front half of the book felt to me like disjointed factoids with no direction and little point (for me).
The one star rating is for the third quarter of the book where there is some actually discussion of issues such as legislation which was interesting and flowed well (and less mention of Microsoft and its CEO). My relief at finding out the last quarter of the book was taken up by an index was joyful! I wouldn't recommend this book, it could have been an email - albeit a very long and boring email, but an email nonetheless.
Perhaps as others have suggested this book is aimed at people working in the field rather than someone with a passing interest in the company.
The first half was annoyingly repetitive, wasting time defining acronyms but then pages later reverting to spelling the acronym out again grates on me, I am not sure how many time he really had to state he was the CEO of Microsoft/was about to become CEO of Microsoft/was about to be announced as the CEO of Microsoft - we get it already (and thats why I was reading your book in the first place). There is a lot of discussion about what Microsoft has done in the past and that it needs to change. To what though? There was very little information - spoiler- it's in the afterword (if I had known this I may have just skipped ahead). This front half of the book felt to me like disjointed factoids with no direction and little point (for me).
The one star rating is for the third quarter of the book where there is some actually discussion of issues such as legislation which was interesting and flowed well (and less mention of Microsoft and its CEO). My relief at finding out the last quarter of the book was taken up by an index was joyful! I wouldn't recommend this book, it could have been an email - albeit a very long and boring email, but an email nonetheless.