A big culture shakeup is in the works at Microsoft

Microsoft staffers worldwide should buckle their seat belts because a big culture shakeup is in the works at the company. In a long letter sent to employees on Thursday, CEO Satya Nadella said that he and his lieutenants are taking “important steps to visibly change our culture.” Microsoft has historically had a reputation as being a tough place to work, due to infighting, staff fragmentation and cutthroat office politics. Steve Ballmer, Nadella’s predecessor, set in motion his own culture-changing effort, called One Microsoft, shortly before announcing his retirement. It’s not clear from Nadella’s letter whether his plan builds on One Microsoft or sets it aside. Whatever the case, Nadella uses strong language to convey the need for the company to function in a more effective way. He wants to make Microsoft a company where “smart, curious, ambitious people” can do “their best work.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella released a letter to employees today via the Microsoft website, and while the missive is aimed at employees in terms of syntax, it’s clearly designed to address the public, too. The occasion for the letter is the kick-off of Microsoft’s fiscal 2015, ahead of the final results for FY 2014, which drop July 22. The subject matter is a call to action, combined with a warning that Microsoft is about to enter a period of significant organizational change. Nadella closes with more detail on the changes required, which include reorganization and streamlining. He evokes the image of a leaner, more agile Microsoft, which can anticipate and innovate more quickly. That’ll mean a flatter organization, he says in the letter, and already he’s asked the Microsoft leadership team to submit its ideas on how they can “simplify their operations and how they work.” The goal of the change is to make sure Microsoft focuses on and delivers to its users and customers what Nadella calls its “core.” “At our core, Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world,” he writes. “We will reinvent productivity to empower every person and every organization on the planet to do more and achieve more.”