Satya Nadella just fixed Microsoft’s biggest problem
For as long as I can remember there have been two Microsofts: Microsoft Sales and everyone else. It’s a split that exists in most tech companies, but those that are most successful at the moment have a different divide; Google is Engineering and everyone else, AWS is Engineering and everyone else, Apple is Product and everyone else.
But Steve Ballmer is a salesman and that philosophy fit the 90s’ tech scene fairly well, so Microsoft became Sales and everyone else and remained so even after Satya Nadella took over.
That’s finally changing.
Last week, Kevin Turner, the last of the Ballmer-era executives and the leader of Microsoft’s Sales org announced his departure from the company. Shortly after, Nadella announced that he was breaking the Sales silo apart.
It’s the best change he’s made at Microsoft so far.