(bouncy music)
- Well, welcome everyone
to another edition
of "Taking Stock Live," where we do just that,
what we've been doing in the retail industry for years,
which is to take stock
and really understand the latest trends, thoughts,
of what's out there and learn from each other.
Today I have an incredible privilege
to welcome our Chief Commercial Officer
and my boss's boss,
(laughing) so I'd better do a good job.
Judson Althoff
Judson was critical
to my joining Microsoft,
my decision to really take this role
and partner with all of you every single day.
And we know, as we sort of close the books on August
and make our way into September,
this is an incredibly important time for retailers.
It's back to school and I learned early in my retail career,
what happens in back to school, in July
generally can predict our holiday season.
So now we're going to get
to hear Judson's perspective on his role at Microsoft.
So Judson first off, just huge welcome and thank you.
Thanks for being with us today.
- Thanks so much for having me Shelley.
It's a great pleasure.
- Well, it's--- it's really ours,
so first off, many of those of those who are watching
probably don't know
what being Microsoft's Chief Commercial Officer
really means.
So can you tell us a little bit about that role?
- Sure. So in short, I'm responsible
for everything Microsoft sells, services, and supports
to our large corporate enterprise customers all the way down
to small, medium business,
as well as all of the public sector
and government entities around the world.
Microsoft goes to market in roughly 120 regional
and national subsidiaries around the world.
So we have 60,000 men and women
that support our customers and partners,
and it's a fantastic ecosystem to be responsible for.
So great, great pleasure
in the work that I do
in serving our customers.
- That's quite a, quite a book of business
and a, and a heavy weight on your shoulders.
Tell us a little bit,
I get to see it often, sort of,
I know you've talked about this idea of servant leadership.
Talked about really, I hear you talk about, you know,
really leading from the front,
but tell us about your leadership style
and what it means to you.
- Sure. Servant leadership for me is,
is best described as me working for my people versus the
other way around. I often say, look, I work for you.
And my job is to make sure that you're empowered to be as
successful as you possibly can be.
And I feel like I'm a steward of the potential of really
everybody that works for Microsoft and to a certain extent,
our partner ecosystem as well.
So it's a job that never ends
if you think about it,
because if, if you're,
if you're signing up to serve others
and help them reach their potential,
you're effectively signing up to be a coach and to nurture
them along the way in their career journeys.
Honestly, it's one of the most rewarding things
that I do every day is to spend time with our people
and help them be the best they can be.
- Yeah, well, I--I get to see,
you really embrace some of these ideas of model coach care
every single day and you know,
and, and alongside with our customers.
So it's a, it's a learning moment for each of us every day.
- The, the other piece of all this is, of course,
I know you're very passionate about
diversity, equity and inclusion.
Again, it's-- sort of part of the reason
that gets me excited to work at Microsoft.
But, but from your own story,
why is that commitment so important?
- Yeah. Look, first of all,
I passionately believe that none of us
is as smart as all of us.
And if you can successfully aggregate all of the ideas
of many and harness them into the power of one,
you can be certain that you're going to be better off
than if you exclude ideas and perspectives.
So fundamentally, it just makes sense in terms of driving,
trying to strive to make an organization better.
I also feel really passionately that we need to make
Microsoft look on the inside
the way the world looks on the outside.
It's our job to make sure everyone has an opportunity.
And it's our job to make sure that everyone is strongly
represented here at the company.
So I look at diversity and inclusion, frankly,
as two parallel bodies of work.
And I always slow down
to
say both words.
I think it can be too easily glossed over when you use
expressions or, or short form acronyms like DNI,
but wallowing in diversity and inclusion.
and the power of all three words is important
because
first of all,
it's important for us to strive for the right kind of
representation across every role
and across every job discipline.
But then on top of it,
it's super important for us to create the environment where
everyone can learn, grow, and thrive and,
and frankly be happy in, in the work that they do.
And I always say that I would never ask of anyone
to do anything. I wouldn't gladly do myself.
And it's my job to make sure that
the environment is healthy and
conducive for everyone to be their best, right?
So, you know, once again,
it's another one of those disciplines
that if you sign up for it
and you really believe in it, in your heart,
you're signing up for a long journey
because you know,
seeking out to make sure that everyone feels included
is a daily job and a continuous job.
And one that you have to work pretty hard at
to get belief at scale.
I found that there's a lot I can do to, you know,
drive numeric progress. For example,
in terms of our representation, there's a lot that I can do,
even in terms of the direct hiring of our executives.
And we've worked pretty hard in that regard,
but to get really belief at scale
across an organization of 60,000 people
takes a lot of leadership through influence
and making sure that you're explaining
the how and the why and coaching people along the way.
- Yeah, I love what you said too.
It does sometimes force us to slow down,
which I know is not your DNA, nor is it mine,
but even just backing away from the acronym of DNI
and saying diversity and inclusion to your point,
and being willing, in the hiring process
and the retention process
to slow down and really look at that
because you're right.
When we, when we make those decisions
and we see this firsthand in retail,
the end, the end product is just, is just better.
- That's right.
That's right. For sure.
- So you,
one of the things
that as we kicked off Microsoft's fiscal year,
you really spoke about this idea of digital optimism,
which really resonated with me personally,
and I know is resonating with our customers.
So, cause we've heard a lot about digital transformation,
but I don't think we've heard as much about,
you know, digital optimism.
So what is it exactly in your mind?
- Well, look, I think Shelley it's first of all,
super important to just kind of acknowledge what everyone's
been through over the last 18 months.
The industry you serve and where you have so much expertise
and consumer goods and retail
has really been turned upside down.
Effectively, if you're, if you're not engaging
with your customers digitally,
you're probably not engaging with them at all these days.
And so the pressure that has been put upon us
as a society and as an industry
to execute has just been enormous.
And at the end of the day,
this notion of digital optimism is believing
that the technology that's helped us survive the pandemic
will be the very same technology that helps us
thrive coming out of it.
Look at the end of the day, humanity will prevail.
Technology will have a role. And if technology has a role,
Microsoft has a role to serve its customers
and its partners, and frankly, to empower our people,
to deliver their best,
in sort of serving that same community.
If you think about what the pandemic has taught us,
it's that no business is 100% resilient,
but that those are,
that are fortified with some type of digital capability are
more resilient than others.
And that extends from how we engage with our customers,
how we engage in coming together with our people,
frankly, how we operate
the supply chain with resiliency globally.
And, and frankly how we build our products
with less and less dependency
upon, you know, standard processes.
The more you can run a light, lights out process
or a semi-autonomous or autonomous manufacturing process,
the more resilient that your business is going to be.
And so, this is an area where I feel really excited about
what the Microsoft cloud can provide for our customers,
because frankly at the end of the day,
we're at our best when we can marry up our portfolio of
intellectual property and our products and match them to the
business challenges that our customers have.
And so whether you create awesome consumer products
or distribute them to customers around the world,
we believe we have a technology that can bring that type of
resiliency to your business moving forward.
So I do genuinely believe in the notion of digital optimism
and look, I encourage others to,
to find the positive and be the positive as well,
because I think that's actually what will
bring us forward as a society.
- Yeah, it-- it has-- it has really struck a chord
with our brands as well.
And I'm sure we'll hear a lot from this audience on the
topic, but, you know,
I think we saw in the early days of the pandemic
with retail getting re-segmented
for the first time in a hundred years
into essential and non-essential.
Customers were coming to
Microsoft and saying, okay, what's the new playbook.
But I would say in the last three months, actually,
they're saying, how can we go faster with the new playbook?
And that's all really fortified by this optimism.
Those who laid the digital tracks early are accelerating.
And it is fun to see, you know,
this isn't an industry term just in the mojo,
back in a lot of these businesses.
-Now talk about why
retail and consumer goods
and having, you know, an industry vertical sort of,
that really sits on top of and nestles
with the Microsoft cloud is important to you.
- Yeah, thanks.
So honestly, for actually some of the reasons I just,
I just shared it at a personal level.
Look, products that touch you and, you know,
inspire you to buy are part of the spice of life.
And I feel like the technology that Microsoft provides
can really empower people to create
and empower people to
really democratize
the manufacturing process of consumer goods. And that means
that there'll be greater diversity of products
available in the market.
And, you know, and through that,
you, you have the potential to touch
even, even more lives, right?
And so if we can help creators bring great product to life,
and then we can help retailers distribute it at scale
so that there's not just one place
on the planet where everybody buys things,
it, it creates competition.
It creates better product.
It creates better service experiences as well,
because I am sure that, you know, if you're like me,
you buy from companies that
make you feel like you have a great experience.
And so look,
at our core,
we're a company that empowers.
Microsoft doesn't exist for
any other ulterior motive,
other than to provide a technology platform
for creators to create and people to be empowered
to touch their customers and deliver great experiences
around the world.
So, it's an incredibly important space
and it's an incredibly important space
to deliver diversity of experience,
you know, which is frankly what we're all about.
- Absolutely. And I know one of the, and I will,
I will hear a lot from our listeners on this,
but one of the lines that I learned from you
that really drew me to Microsoft
is that Amazon is the single greatest threat to retail.
And Google is the single greatest tax on retail.
And you know,
who wants to be in business with somebody that's going to
sell it to you on one side
and compete with you in the other.
And that's--that's not, that's not,
what's going to help those brands that you just spoke about.
Passion, passion, I think a shared passion area.
- For sure. For sure.
- So now, as we sort of close down, you have a lot ahead,
especially in this even bigger role.
What are, what does the future hold
for you and for Microsoft,
or really any closing thoughts.
- Look, Shelley I'm excited
about where we're going as a company
Honestly, because I think we have
such an opportunity to serve.
If you think about our mission of empowering others to
succeed and achieve their potential,
right now, there's such an opportunity for us to do so
around the world.
I'm excited about the notion of reinvigorating small
businesses around the world.
I'm excited about leveraging our capabilities for digital
optimism and helping everyone come out of this pandemic
stronger and more capable of reaching their own aspirations.
So, I think the time is just so brilliant for us right now,
because if you're a company
and an organization built around serving,
there's never been a bigger time
to help serve the world, frankly,
as we come out of all of this and so important to recognize
just how everybody's handling the circumstances differently
around the world and what everybody's living through.
And if you can seek to make everybody's life just a little
bit better than it was the day before
the rewards are so great.
So I'm excited about it.
I know you are too,
there's so much for us to do in retail and consumer goods
that has not only an impact on that industry,
but those industries rather, but frankly,
the knock on effect of, of others around the world.
And so, you know,
whether it be back to school
or whether it be the holiday season,
I think it gives us, you know,
just something to look forward to that brings positive
energy to everyone.
So, future's bright
and everybody should, should get excited about it.
- Yeah. I love what you said about small businesses,
about the serve,
the-- the, that we are in service to our customers.
And I love that it's all really pulled together
with this idea of digital optimism.
So Judson, just a huge thank you
and your very, very busy day.
- Thank you, Shelley.
It's great to have the opportunity to connect
with you and your audience
and keep doing the awesome work that you do every day.
- Oh, we will. And for all of you out there,
thank you for joining in to another episode
of "Taking Stock Live".
We're thrilled to have you,
we're thrilled to hear from you
and keep the conversation going.
We know that the big months are ahead for all of you and
we're here at Microsoft to serve you.
So thank you.