8 June 2014 | Articles, Articles 2014, Management | By Christophe Lachnitt
The Optimism Lesson Of Microsoft’s New CEO
And, no, it’s not just lip service.
Satya Nadella said something intriguing at the inaugural Code Conference: “Our Surface tablet is promising. Anything that’s not successful is promising.”

Satya Nadella – (CC) Pierre Lecourt
The common reaction is to consider such a statement as lip service – attempting to hide a failure. Knowing about Microsoft’s culture, I can testify that this is not the case. Each project or product that is not (yet) a success is really considered internally as promising, including those experiencing a slow start or going through hurdles.
I am convinced that this optimistic approach is inherently more valuable than a more pessimistic one. Certainly, a company that adopts Microsoft’s way could end up investing for too long in an initiative that will ultimately fail. But not giving up early creates opportunities that a company taking fewer risks will not benefit from.
This risk management must obviously be handled depending on the company’s cash position. Microsoft has enough financial reserves to conduct a much more ambitious and daring strategy than many other companies.