New Microsoft CEO – Satya Nadella

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
On February 4th Microsoft announced a new CEO. His name is Satya Nadella and he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Nadella, 46, is the third CEO of the company and it’s his “youth” and background in both business AND engineering that make him an excellent choice.  What’s clear in this decision is that Microsoft is placing as much emphasis on business acumen as it is on technical knowledge and the ability to understand what it is they’re doing and how to work with those that do it.  The hope is (in my mind anyways) that this will help them  avoid some of the past major blunders of their past such as their inability to capitalize to their potential on the growth of mobile and let’s not forget the decision to not go into search earlier that lead to them to a hard uphill battle with Google.

To aid in this transition Bill Gates is stepping down as Chairman (at Nadella’s request) to take a more active role with the product groups.  You have to know that they have faith in his skills to have Bill spending more of his time working at the company.  Here’s the video Mr. Gates put out about the announcement:

At only 46 he has over 20 years with the company and there’s no doubt that he’s paid his dues and understands the culture and their strengths and weaknesses.

The Future

In the near future we can expect to see a reorganization as Nadella moves to (as he calls it) amplify their ability to adapt and move on new technologies.  The interesting part is that you probably won’t hear much of Nadella himself who’s tended to remain in the background, clearly quietly making a huge impact at one of the world’s largest and most respected companies.

I personally wish him luck and that he avoid some of the disasters I see on the horizon for Yahoo! and their CEO Marissa Mayer.  If rumors are right, Yahoo! is working on their own search engine.  Search didn’t work for them the first time Marissa, just because you came from Google doesn’t mean you can make it work now.

If You’re Interested …

There’s a good piece on the Satya Nadella (to get you started anyways) over at Wired.  You know … if you want to know more about the man who will be driving the future of your PC, gaming and mobile experience.  No biggie though. 🙂