Video: Microsoft’s new CEO says he will ‘ruthlessly remove any obstacles that allow us to innovate’

Microsoft just announced that Satya Nadella will lead the company into its next phase. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were both thrilled that he was selected and stated, “Today couldn’t be a better day.”

Nadalla has been with Microsoft for the past 22 years in various capacities, and in his first message to the masses he said, “Our industry does not respect tradition – it only respects innovation. The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must move faster, focus and continue to transform. I see a big part of my job as accelerating our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.”

“The first thing I want to do and focus on is ruthlessly remove any obstacles that allow us to innovate.”

Microsoft has also put together a 5-minute interview with Nadalla and gives a glimpse of what the future may hold. “The first thing I want to do and focus on is ruthlessly remove any obstacles that allow us to innovate. And then focus all that innovation on things that Microsoft can uniquely do. We are the company that enables people to do more, to play, get more and have more fun, to create more, so sometimes we reference ourselves as the ‘do more company,’ and I want us to be able to take that focus and innovation forward,” said Nadella.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see how much leverage Nadalla will have within Microsoft. Gates is staying on board and will be spending a third of his time at the company as an advisor. “Ruthlessly remove any obstacles” is certainly something that Microsoft is not used to.

In addition, the tag line of being the company that “enables people to do more, to play, get more” was already claimed this year by Samsung, who also apparently “Enables Consumers to Play More, Do More, Share More.” Perhaps they are talking both talking about Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 products.

Source: Microsoft