Microsoft is hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete on its leadership structure.
As Big Tech’s elder statesman reinvents itself for AI, it’s forcing a rethink of how its most powerful executives are organized. BI’s Ashley Stewart has a full breakdown of how CEO Satya Nadella is reshaping Microsoft’s upper echelons, the people who are rising and falling, and the impact he hopes it’ll have throughout the org.
The changes include dismantling Microsoft’s senior leadership team, which comprises executives reporting directly to Nadella.
Microsoft is also preparing for the departure of Yusuf Mehdi, a 35-year company veteran and its commercial chief marketing officer, according to an internal memo viewed by BI.
It’s another example of a tech company trying to position itself to succeed in a world that’s quickly becoming dominated by AI.
Microsoft’s journey is unique given its size and age. With the exception of Amazon, which maintains a massive workforce due to its retail business, Microsoft’s roughly 220,000 employees put its head count well above rivals Alphabet, Apple, and Meta. It’s also the oldest among its Big Tech peers, making it harder to break habits.
Ashley has reported extensively on Microsoft’s transformation. The shift has affected every part of its business, from a new strategy for selling AI tools to changes in who’s selling them.
Nadella even tapped a new advisor who helped Microsoft through its cloud reboot more than a decade ago. “We need to rapidly rethink the new economics of AI across the company — just as we once did with the cloud,” Nadella wrote in an internal memo last November.
Nadella’s executive overhaul includes three big strategy themes.
Ashley’s story breaks down the specific executives affected by the reorg, but there are broader shifts that apply to almost any business.
Get your hands dirty: The rise of the player-coach is alive and well at Microsoft. Ashley previously reported that Nadella told executives they’d be expected to work faster and more efficiently. And it’s not just a matter of doing more with less. Executives are expected to roll up their sleeves. (Nadella, for what it’s worth, is getting into the thick of it.)
Rank-and-file get a word: People tend to think of flatter organizations as bringing top executives closer to the work. But it goes both ways. In an effort to spur more ideas from those on the ground floor, Nadella encouraged non-executives to speak up at meetings.
Changing of the guard: Microsoft has had a reputation for being a place you can coast into retirement, meaning there’s no shortage of long-tenured employees with cushy gigs. Part of Nadella’s overhaul has seen outsiders get placed in key positions while veteran executives have seen their responsibilities diminished or outright disappear.
