In 2009 I attended a PRISM (Priority Setting Meeting) at Microsoft HQ in Redmond, near Seattle. There I introduced myself to Orlando Ayala, an advisor to Microsoft Chief Operations Officer Kevin Turner. As a Colombian, Orlando had a good grasp of the challenges I was facing: his home country and mine were grappling with similar political and socio-economic issues.
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Before I made the decision to leave MTN and move to Altron, I spoke to Sifiso Dabengwa, whose wisdom I value. As usual, he helped me to connect with who I am. He guided me to find my own answers. We meet once a quarter and he gives me a fresh perspective, or confirms that Iâm on the right track. One of the greatest values of mentors is their ability to see what you may not be able to and to help navigate a course. Meetings with Sifiso leave me motivated and thatâs what mentorship is about.
When I met various team leaders, I realized some were ridiculously political. I mean that literallyâone is in the Senate now. They tried to get me to sign lengthy noncompetes. And on my first day, they went back on their promise and told me Iâd have to move to Seattle. I stepped into my new, tiny, hidden office, ducked around the giant structural pole in the middle of it, and gave my notice after two weeks.
Nadella also makes sure that he is exposed to experiences that can challenge his worldview and potentially offer fresh insights. Spurred on in part by his son Zainâs severe cerebral palsy, he takes an active interest in Microsoftâs community group for people with disabilities. He meets with them regularlyâagain, an opportunity for groups with experiences that are different from the norm to communicate up and down the organization.
In early 2019, senior Microsoft leadership began coming through the OpenAI office. First came Kevin Scott, the tech giantâs excitable chief technology officer, who had followed OpenAI and grown particularly fond of the startup; then came Craig Mundie, a senior adviser to Nadella who had served on Microsoft leadership, including as its chief research and strategy officer, for over twenty years. Bill Gates also turned up, reserved and tight-lipped as usual, as he watched a series of demos. Most employees were left in the dark about Microsoftâs engagement. Altman told the small team working on the deal to keep knowledge of a possible investment limited.
Microsoft was also a challenging partner; many felt it had far too much bureaucracy and required too much hand-holding to make the most of OpenAIâs models. By relying on the tech giant to deliver its technologies to the public, OpenAI was also losing visibility into and data from its users and, most importantly, control over its vision.