Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella

16 thoughts that stood out from the book – Hit Refresh

1. A leader must see the external opportunities, and internal capabilities and culture, and all of the connections among them; and respond to them before they become obvious parts of the conventional wisdom. It’s an art – batting average, cant get it right always.
2. Motivated to change through envy – but envy is negative and outer directed and not driven from within. it wouldn’t carry a firm far down the path of true renewal. Lead with a sense of pride and purpose.
3. The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.It divides the world between learners and non learners. Fixed mindset limits you, growth mindset leads you forward. The hand you were dealt is the starting point. Passion, toil and training can help you change your path.
4. We can have all the bold ambitions, but it’s only going to happen if you live your culture. Dynamic learning culture – attitude that you will overcome any constraint, stand up to any challenge, making it possible for you to grow.
5. We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen and overestimate what others need to do for us. We have to get out of the mode of thinking that others have more power over us than we do.
6. Fear of the unknown can send you in a million directions and sometime it just dead ends with inertia. A leader has to have the idea what to do, to innovate in the face of fear and inertia. We need to be willing to lean into uncertainty, to take risks and to move quickly when we make mistakes; recognizing that failure happens on the way to mastery. Sometimes it feels like a bird learning to fly – learning to fly is not pretty, but flying is.
7. Any advice that advocates passivity in the face of bias is wrong.
8. Once you become a vice president or a partner, the whining is over – you cant say the coffee is bad, i didn’t get the bonus, the promotion. To be a leader in a company, your job is to find the rose petals in a field of shit. 
9. Frenemies – build partnerships with competitors before you need them.
10. Fresh blood – Losing the baggage of history makes it easy for me to breakdown all walls of mistrust. 
11. Trust is built by being consistent over time. Respect, listening, transparency, staying focused. Formula for trust: E + SV + SR = T/t (Empathy + Shared Values + Safety and Reliability = Trust over time)
12. Partnerships are journeys of mutual exploration, so we need to be open to unexpected synergies and fresh ways to collaborate. 
13. Openness begins with respect – respect for the people at the table and the experiences they bring. 
14. Apple partnership – Don’t bring past history. I don’t let the limitations of the past dictate the contours of the future. Look at an existing relationship with a fresh set of eyes. The strategy that failed in the past might work in the future. 
15. When is a partnership appropriate over an acquisition? Answer: Can we create more value for customers by coming together as one entity or as 2?
16. Employees>customers>products>partners