How to shape your meaningful life

"What is your ideal life?’"

What an incredible, complex question. ?

It’s something that psychologist Dr. Audrey Tang asked me when I interviewed her for my new podcast. She made the point that if we don’t know what we’re aiming for, how will we know when we have achieved it?

An ideal life is a meaningful life.

But the more I thought about it, I realized that my answer to the question has evolved over time. I am sure that’s true for many of you, too.

The pandemic has seen people around the world reflect and re-set. To ask the hard question of what they really want out of life and whether they are on the right path. I know also that for many others, the pandemic has not been about finding their ‘ideal’, but about facing hardships and simply surviving.

For those of us who have had the freedom to reflect, we are finding ourselves changing. There is no going back to the way things were. ?

My personal journey began before the pandemic but it did require many hours of contemplation.

I knew that I wanted to direct more energy towards making a positive impact on society both within Microsoft and outside of the company. And that my ideal life involves working closely with colleagues, friends and family towards this mission.

I know that this answer comes from a place of tremendous privilege.

That’s why I also know that it’s my duty to use my position to help enable a better, fairer future for all.

A new chapter at Microsoft

My work at Microsoft plays a huge part in this, particularly my new role as President and EVP of National Transformation Partnerships, focusing on helping nations build strong, inclusive digital economies.

This involves working with countries one at a time, to empower them through Microsoft’s trusted global cloud infrastructure. To use the power of the cloud and AI to positively transform the lives of all citizens and create more innovative and resilient businesses.

It’s also about ensuring this transformation is sustainable; that everyone in society benefits through our support for a new generation of social entrepreneurs and critically, skilling.

There simply cannot be digital transformation without skills transformation. Every single one of us needs to learn new skills and develop our current ones, to take advantage of digitally driven jobs. For many people, this can be daunting. Where do people start? Where can they get coaching and support? For others, it is exciting but how do they access the training to take that next step? Through our skilling initiatives, working with Governments, academic institutions, businesses and NGOs, we can help countries to empower their digital workforce and ensure that every person?has equal opportunities to thrive – the key to inclusive economic growth.

There is a still a big job to do. I can’t wait to work with teams, partners and governments all over the world.

Aligning my passions

I’m also so grateful for the opportunity to work with my family, through our Live for Good foundation. We aim to unleash the potential of youth from all walks of life by creating a diverse, supportive community of social entrepreneurs.

Let me give you just one example: Ma?monatou Mar is the co-founder of Gribouilli , a French learning community of 1,000 nannies enabling social inclusion and employability.?Live for Good provided her with the coaching, skills and resources she needed, to develop this social enterprise and broaden her societal impact.

Working with and learning from these young entrepreneurs allows me to explore my passion for Positive Leadership; how leaders can energize their teams to achieve success for individuals, their organizations and society. I’ve been energized by interviewing some truly inspiring leaders and experts about this topic for my podcast, The Positive Leadership Podcast with Jean-Philippe Courtois .

Once again, I recognize how privileged I am to have these opportunities. But if 37 years at Microsoft has taught me anything, it’s that opportunity also equals responsibility and I am willing to do my part and hold myself accountable.

So that one day, each and every person on our planet will have an equal opportunity to achieve their ideal life, whatever it may be.?