Current Microsoft employee here. Every tech company I've worked at has some bullshit aspects to it. I was just telling someone yesterday about the first company I worked at where we were required to track our time on various projects in 15-minute increments, but it just led to everyone punching in some semi-plausible numbers. I guess Microsoft's bullshit - from the author's perspective - is that it uses Connects and it focuses on growth mindset?
A lot of anecdata in the article, so I guess I'll add mine here: I don't think the Connect process is too onerous, and I don't think any of my managers have ever really brought up the subject of growth mindset except for as it relates to our twice-yearly or sometimes quarterly Connects. YMMV depending on the group and team you're in, but growth mindset is very much in the background for me. And while I do have my copy of Hit Refresh on my bookshelf that I was given, no one has ever used it to push any talking points or corporate agenda. It was really just kind of a PR push.
This article feels like it's making a mountain out of a molehill to push an agenda. Maybe all the people this author interviewed have a particular angle, but the overall "culty" message here does not ring true to me at all.
Also, to be picky:
> Over the coming decades, [Carol Dweck] further refined and defined her ideas, coining the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset” in 2012, a mere five years before Nadella took over at Microsoft.
Nadella became CEO in 2014. At least get the objective facts right, please.
+1 to this post. Ex-Microsoft employee here (left last year after 7 years) and I agree completely with the parent.
The article makes mountains out of molehills. Every large company has its own culture and its own BS. Having worked at many over my career, Microsoft’s was better than most (actually, I’d say it was better than all of them).
A lot of anecdata in the article, so I guess I'll add mine here: I don't think the Connect process is too onerous, and I don't think any of my managers have ever really brought up the subject of growth mindset except for as it relates to our twice-yearly or sometimes quarterly Connects. YMMV depending on the group and team you're in, but growth mindset is very much in the background for me. And while I do have my copy of Hit Refresh on my bookshelf that I was given, no one has ever used it to push any talking points or corporate agenda. It was really just kind of a PR push.
This article feels like it's making a mountain out of a molehill to push an agenda. Maybe all the people this author interviewed have a particular angle, but the overall "culty" message here does not ring true to me at all.
Also, to be picky:
> Over the coming decades, [Carol Dweck] further refined and defined her ideas, coining the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset” in 2012, a mere five years before Nadella took over at Microsoft.
Nadella became CEO in 2014. At least get the objective facts right, please.