Stick to the rule of three.
The rule of three simply means that most people think in groups of three or four. We can’t
handle too many items in a list before we forget the entire list. In this week’s email, Nadella
articulates the vision of a cloud-based future in one short paragraph of three points. It’s so
concise, the entire paragraph fits in a few short sentences:
“Over the past year, we have shared our vision for how the intelligent cloud and intelligent
edge will shape the next phase of innovation. First, computing is more powerful and
ubiquitous from the cloud to the edge. Second, AI capabilities are rapidly advancing across
perception and cognition fueled by data and knowledge of the world. Third, physical and
virtual worlds are coming together to create richer experiences that understand the context
surrounding people, the things they use, the places they go, and their activities and
relationships.”
Early in his career Nadella learned that great institutions are built on a clear vision.
“Leadership means making choices and then rallying the team around those choices,”
according to Nadella. Nadella has made a choice about Microsoft’s future. Rallying the team
around that choice is a critical step in bringing the vision to life.