Microsoft's Satya Nadella reveals new company vision

Satya Nadella

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has revealed the company's new mission statement, aiming to "empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more".

In a letter to employees that was leaked to GeekWire, Nadella admitted the company has some tough choices ahead, but claimed innovation is the key to stay ahead of its competition.

"We will need to innovate in new areas, execute against our plans, make some tough choices in areas where things are not working and solve hard problems in ways that drive customer value," he wrote in the letter, which unlike his last letterannouncing 18,000 job cuts, wasn't released for the public to read.

Its four main pillars - mission, worldview, strategy and ambitions, and culture - will all play a role in setting out to reinvigorate the company as the launch of Windows 10 draws near.

Mission refers to the company's new statement, which will help it recognise and harmonise the needs of both individuals and businesses, making sure it doesn't focus too heavily on one or the other.

Worldview will help Microsoft develop itself as a leader both now and in the future. "Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world," Nadella wrote.

The company's strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for this mobile-first, cloud-first world. Its three ambitions relate to reinventing productivity and business procedures, building an intelligent cloud platform and create more personal computing.

The final strand of Microsoft's new strategy is to build a culture around it, with its customers at the centre. The company will do everything it can to learn about their customers, be diverse and inclusive and work together to become 'one Microsoft'.

Last week, Microsoft announced four of its top executives would be leaving the company, including ex-Nokia boss Stephen Elop.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.