GHC14: Satya Nadella in Conversation with Maria Klawe Huma Hamid10:32 PM 1 comments

Satya Nadella needs no introduction, he is the current Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft and already known for his proven track record of successful leadership as the Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. His hard-core engineering background, business vision and the ability to bring people together just made him that perfect candidate who could lead Microsoft and take a forward through such a fiercely competitive industry. 

His presence at the Grace Hopper Celebrations of Women in Computing Conference (GHC) speaks volumes about how seriously the GHC is being taken by the computing industry. Last year Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook was present at the GHC13 for a similar conversation session with Maria Klawe. The recent gender diversity reports shared by many tech-giant companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Twitter did not reflect encouraging numbers and none of these companies were able to show their female workforce percentages even in 40's. Therefore, with Mr. Nadella's presence at the conference, I was expecting that attendees would try to seek his response on this pressing issue, and also would like to know what role he could play as Microsoft's CEO in changing these numbers. 

I was very excited to cover this keynote session and arrived at the convention center almost 45 minutes earlier than the session's starts time. But as I got there, a huge crowd was already waiting for the conference room's doors to be opened. Majority of people waiting there were actually Microsoft employees, wearing similar shirts, ready to cheer their CEO at the GHC. After a wait for almost 20 minutes, doors were opened and everybody just rushed inside hoping to grab seats in the front rows. I got a good spot, reasonably close enough to see him live and take my notes.

Photo Credits:  http://ws-dl.blogspot.com/2014/10/2014-10-16-grace-hopper-celebration-of.html

Maria Klawe was already there to lead the session. Since, she is also on Microsoft's board of directors, and they both already knew each other, Maria took the opportunity to fill this session with her light jokes. Overall it was a good conversion, which brought forward a number of good points related to the issues faced by women in technology and Satya's take on solving those. However, I strongly felt that Satya may be a good engineer and a business visionary, but he lacked understanding of the issues related to women workforce in technology. Overall it was a tremendous experience to be listening to him. Here are a few glimpses of this really interesting conversation between Satya and Maria.

Maria started the session by sharing that Satya Nadella is actually the first ever male pulmonary keynote speaker at the GHC, and since he is here so, Microsoft should take this opportunity to hire more female engineers, currently present at the GHC through their career fair. Maria expressed her love and adoration for Satya, because he is a man with strong values and that she is really happy to see Satya as the new CEO of Microsoft. 

Maria asked Satya that what made him want to come and speak here at GHC, to which 

Satya replied by saying that he was impressed by the fact that the GHC has gone double in numbers in a couple of years. Also, one of his friends who was already here at the GHC earlier, highly recommended him attending the conference, so he wanted to come and experience it by himself and see what it means to stand out in an energetic crowd like this.  

Maria asked Satya about his perspective on the future of technology, to which he responded by saying that the world is moving forward at a great pace, our businesses, economies and lives are driven and impacted by technology. Now is the best time to make a global impact and those who work in technology can actually amplify that impact. He gave examples of mobile and cloud computing, which move as a person moves around. It is like moving with so much power and intelligence in your hands. Being in computing gives us opportunity and power to tackle the hardest problems today's world is facing. It is like a rich canvas we get to shape and paint to benefit the humanity. 

In response to this, Maria lightly joked and asked Satya what devices he takes with him while traveling. Satya replied that he travels with his Surface Pro 3 and Nokia 920 (both Microsoft devices). 

Maria then asked Satya that in the presence of big tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook, what's Microsoft's way forward? Satya replied to this tough question by saying that it is in Microsoft's DNA to build products which empower individuals and business alike. Microsoft offers a platform-based approach and builds an complete eco system for its users, individual and business alike. These solutions offer better productivity and create the broadest of opportunities for them. This is Microsoft's strength and neither anyway can take this strength away nor claim the 100% share.  

In response to a question asked by Maria about the role of women engineers at Microsoft, Satya responded that women at Microsoft enjoy a number of leadership positions. They are part of technology leadership, business development and human resource teams. These females are making a huge difference in the company and he expect one of these females to be sitting in his chair one day. 

When Maria asked if Microsoft has the female talent required to make this possible, and also why Microsoft hires less female engineers than male. Satya replied to that question by sharing that Microsoft has almost 17% female work force, which is almost equal to what its competitors like Google and Facebook has, and it is also industry's average. To him the bigger issue is to figure out that how to make sure that capable female engineers get the right representation and opportunities specially in the development jobs (which is the core job at Microsoft). It is more important to build a culture where women can perform their best. At this point Maria mentioned that the Harvey Mudd College has almost 40% female students in their Computer Science course, which is the highest number of female students in a CS course as compared to other colleges, and Microsoft hires the biggest number of those female graduates. 

Maria then asked Satya that to narrow the gap of gender representation at Microsoft, if he is given one hour to inspire the women in technology, how would he go about it. Satya said that he thinks that success starts by being confident and comfortable in your own skin, and let your passions shine through. Every person has some super power, you need to explore and exercise that power to be successful. Also, every experience in our lives also teach us something new and different, and that's how we grow to become better and successful. 

Maria thanked Microsoft, Google and Facebook for their sponsorship to the student scholarships which made up to 400 students attend GHC this year and then asked Satya that what Microsoft is doing to encourage women in technology. Satya shared a number of scholarship programs sponsored by Microsoft including STEM, Youth Spark and others, which promote and encourage female participation. To make these programs better and more useful, he is happy to work with other CEOs. 

Maria asked Satya a question posted on Twitter by a female who wanted to know that she being the only female engineer on her team, what should she do to effectively stand out in as a great engineer and not just as a female. Satya went back to his earlier point about having super powers. He said that it is your ability to make an impact by brining a different perspective needed to create great products. You may have to try over and over again and it may not work for the first time, but you should not give up. It should be your confidence which will propel you through and you will be successful eventually. Maria added to this response by saying that success is only possible through persistence.  

Maria then asked another question posted via Twitter, that how can a working mother, who has to take a break to take care of her family or leave for a maternity leave, can make her way forward and come back to work without losing her grounds. Satya replied that this is one of the fundamental challenges which most of the mid career women are facing, when they want to take a break from work to take care of their families. He said that he had thought a lot about this issue and tried to understand this better. To him it seems like it is only possible because women make more tradeoffs between their careers and lives. We should build a supporting culture at companies, where women can come back to work easily, and this can be done by having bootcamps for them. Maria strongly disagreed with his answer, by saying that bootcamp creates a negative impression, she would prefer saying something more like a re-entry, welcoming, nurturing experience when a woman gets back to work.  

Maria asked Satya about his thoughts on the news about Mongo-DB's CEO resignation from the job to take care of his family, since Satya has a family too, how he and his wife manages a work life balance. Satya said that he thinks that this entire notion about work-life balance is a tough one. He likes to spend time with his children, he wants to live those moments spent with them, as they give him harmony. 

At this point, Maria shared her experience about taking a job as a vice president of a company, while her daughter was only 11 years old. But she still regret that decision, as she felt that due to her commitments at job, she was not able to spent enough time with her daughter. She made a tradeoff, so had Satya ever took a job where he had to think about making this kind of tradeoff between work and family. Satya said that what really matters to him are the people who are the closest. He and his wife made a few choices in life and made them work. So, it is a matter of preferences and what you chose in life.  

Maria asked Satya's perspective on career growth. He had a bachelors degree from India, Masters in CS and MBA degrees from the US at the age of 28, had he ever thought about becoming Microsoft's CEO? Satya's first response to that question was NO! He later added that he came to the US like many other students from India to study and make their lives. He was lucky enough to be part of an industry which offers equal opportunities to all the people who want to succeed. Also, he was lucky to come to a country like the US which is a land of opportunities for people like him who want to make their dreams come true.  He is the best example of someone who had benefited greatly from it. Maria added that the US offers opportunities only to those who work hard enough and she thinks that Satya has worked hard enough to get where he is now. Satya added that he has learnt from many people in his life, including some very strong female leaders who helped him do better. 

Maria asked if Satya has ever seeked an advice from CEO's of other tech companies like Tim Cook, Alan Page or Mark Zuckerberg? Satya responded that he actually did, and these CEOs are usually very liberal in sharing their thoughts. He personally thinks that Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo's CEO is very impressive with all the changes she is making at Yahoo. He is also inspired by the women CEOs in India's banking sector, where 7 out of 14 banks have female CEOs.  

Maria then asked Satya to share his advice for the women who are not too comfortable while asking for a pay raise. Satya responded to that question by saying that they should wait to be recognized by the HR, because their best work will eventually bring them a reward and recognition. In response to this, Maria disagreed and that she did similar mistakes in her career where she would never ask for a pay raise. Her advice to all the females would be to gain enough knowledge about the pay they actually deserve and should learn to negotiate that. 

Lastly, Maria asked Satya to give some advice to female students that how can they do better at interviews. Satya replied that doing what you are really passionate about and loving your work is the only way forward. 

Maria thanked Satya for his presence at the GHC and for his openness while answering her questions.