Source | LinkedIn | Yasser Hassan |Leading MEA Corporate, Small and Medium Segment at Microsoft
On 4 February 2014, Satya Nadella became the 3rd CEO of Microsoft, one of the first global technology titans. At the time, Microsoft’s stock performance had been sluggish, and many questioned the wisdom of promoting a Microsoft insider.
Four years later those naysayers have been proved spectacularly wrong. Microsoft stock has rebounded, customer feedback never more positive and, for an organization once renowned for its hyper-competitiveness, Microsoft’s culture – not just its technology – is being touted as the game-changer.
This kind of top-down approach to leadership culture is inspirational for all business leaders, regardless of size. Particularly for small and medium business, the ability to create a culture that operates at all times with growth in mind, is sure to lead to increase innovation and even more success.
Leading the MEA SMC organization which is a scale and growth segment taught me many things including how to utilize and maximize the resources and their impact and also it reminds me with the start-up organization & environment from the agility, new things you have to experience, deal with, from empowerment that we have so I will summarize here this experience here into three key steps to enforcing a culture of growth in my organization:
1. Skill up your employees
A growth mindset believes that intelligence can be developed. This desire to learn leads to persistence in the face of challenges, learning from feedback, and finding inspiration in the success of others.
This growth mindset is central to everyone’s success – and one that, at Microsoft, every employee from the CEO down has fully embraced. The desire to push ourselves defines our company culture, with people encouraged to develop their skills, to the benefit of the individual and the wider business. It’s difficult, if not impossible, for you and your employees to gain new skills if you work in a culture that says ‘we’ve learned all we can.’
