''Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone'' is a nonfiction book by

Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO ...

and co-authors Jill Tracie Nichols and Greg Shaw, with a foreword by

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, published in 2017. Nadella announced that the profits from the book would go to Microsoft Philanthropies and through that to

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

s. ''Hit Refresh'' entered the New York Times Bestseller List in the nonfiction category at #5 and reached #4. A special annotated version of the book was given to each

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

employee.

Summary

In ''Hit Refresh'', Nadella interweaves his story of growing up in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and moving to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, his experiences at Microsoft before becoming

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

, and his ideas for changing the corporate culture. He often illustrates his statements with anecdotes about cricket and the challenges he has personally faced with his son's medical problems. Nadella includes three areas of future interest for Microsoft:

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

(AI),

quantum computing Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Thou ...

, and

mixed reality Mixed reality (MR) is a term used to describe the merging of a real-world environment and a computer-generated one. Physical and virtual objects may co-exist in mixed reality environments and interact in real time. Mixed reality is largely synony ...

Reception

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' said "''Hit Refresh'' is optimistic about ways that tech will augment humans, grow the number of mid-tech jobs, and lead to social surplus." ''

The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tech ...

'' described the book as "a sanitised rather than revelatory account of change at Microsoft". The reviewer at the '' Star Tribune'' notes "He is cautious in his storytelling but does delve into some of the decisionmaking, including buying Minecraft and repairing the company’s relationship with Samsung." The ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' characterizes it as "Part memoir, part leadership guide, part futurist vision of technology". ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' says "Unpretentious and stirring, this well-written book provides surprising and welcome insights into a corporate giant." '' Kirkus Reviews'' says ''Hit Refresh'' is a "valuable blueprint for techies and others in a culture-change state of mind".

References

{{reflist

External links

The Backstory Behind The Microsoft Refresh (podcast)
2017 non-fiction books American non-fiction books HarperCollins books