I LOVE this company

Today I am 10 years with Microsoft. I worked for several large companies. All of them have been great but Microsoft is unique. It makes me terrific proud to work for this company. It is challenging. It is fast but it is great to collaborate with many stake holders, work on innovation and enable others to achieve more.

It could not be better described as Satya Nadella did it in 2018: "You join here, not to be cool, but to make others cool.".

Reviewing the past ten years I served two CEO’s with different styles. Yes, I got goose pimples seeing and listening Steve Ballmer in Atlanta in my third week working for Microsoft and celebrating the recent fiscal year. I learned that even in business passion is something valuable. It makes individuals authentic and it is a strong element of any individual. In 2008 Microsoft was not the coolest company on the planet. Other large IT companies were much cooler for kids to start their career, but I initially understood what makes Microsoft different: A clear sustainable PARTNER driven model. It was always about generating value, get better in any area and have a clear value proposition and NEVER compete with your partners. The other thing which makes Microsoft different: Being a real Software company. Having a clear and honest business model as a company generates trust which is the foundation to be successful together. In my first years I worked in the Healthcare division. The slogan was “Improve health around the world”. That was a great slogan and it enabled to talk directly to physicians instead of IT people. I think as a company we have been very much ahead compared to our competition when we talked directly to a business audience instead of an IT audience. From an external view many would have not expected that Microsoft was capable to talk about evidence-based medicine, drug incompatibility, managing a hospital emergency department etc. During that time, I met terrific people, get in touch every day with external and internal awesome individuals and increased my knowledge about different styles in different regions around the world. I still remember talking to one of my colleagues who explained to me how his business (which was the same portfolio as mine) worked 100% different in his region as it worked in mine while I was covering the German speaking territories. Next to the business I enjoyed my time especially in Switzerland and especially the days in Solothurn and Zurich. Thank you guys!

Moving from Healthcare to Government was a slight move. Both industries are not known to be “first movers” in adopting technology. But both segments had a great potential to use technology to optimize their business. It was the time when Satya Nadella joined as the third CEO of Microsoft and changed the culture of the company. He does not have to be loud. Everybody listens to him once he shares his opinion. He is a great listener as well with a clear idea how to make his company successful and focus on the right things. It was the time when cloud as new enabler shows up and a very intense time to talk to the whole society again why this “new thing” is a significant accelerator and enabler to achieve more. With society I mean partners, customers, friends and family as well and, to be honest, even some of the Microsoft colleagues who needed to change their view as well. It was for sure not a sprint but today we can say: We have been part of it!! And that is one Lego Brick why I love this company: You can later talk to your grandchildren and explain what has happened in that period which changed many businesses.

Cloud extended with IoT to the edge and it incorporated AI and other services as well. To be engaged with all these topics by the way makes it so great to work for this company. You don’t have to stay with old technology. Technology is not the limiting factor anymore. This keeps you as an individual in many topics up to date. For example you get an idea why autonomous driving is a complex thing (not only from a technology perspective) or you build your own opinion about urbanization and the upcoming challenges. Therefore the morph from our private and business life can be great achieved working for this company as it even gives you the tools to be productive and efficient and still take care for your family and for yourself.

Why have I made this post? I don’t know exactly except of the single idea to say thank you as I would have not been able to address it in a better way or better channel. And being a sales driven guy in my whole life I hereby send an invite: If you want to collaborate on new ideas: Just ping me.

It is time to say : THANK YOU to all the people: For sure all my LinkedIn contacts, customers, partners and all my past, recent and hopefully upcoming colleagues in this great company. I am significant thankful for every day collaborating with all of you. THANK YOU!

P.S: Copyright by the image is with my children ??. Thankful Michael