Public transcript

In Partnership With Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO | American Express

By: American Express
Length: 18 min
Language: English
Text from: the video's captions
Transcribed: 13 October 2026

Read the full transcript Open on YouTube

Notes in English.

Summary

In this conversation for American Express's "In Partnership With" series, Glenda McNeal, President of Enterprise Strategic Partnerships at American Express, interviews Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft. They discuss leadership, company culture, empathy, partnerships, and the rise of generative AI. Nadella emphasizes mission, a learning culture of "growth mindset," and describes the current era as the "age of co-pilots" focused on augmenting human agency rather than replacing it.

Key points

Satya Nadella recommends rereading "Bootstrapping" by Thierry Bardini, about Douglas Engelbart's vision of human-computer symbiosis to augment human capability.
His favorite Microsoft product is Microsoft Copilot, which he uses daily for travel and meeting prep.
When he became CEO in 2014, Nadella focused on rediscovering Microsoft's soul through a constant mission refreshed with new technology and a learning culture of "growth mindset" — going from know-it-alls to learn-it-alls.
Nadella argues empathy is not a soft skill but a critical design skill that gives insight into customers' unmet, unarticulated needs.
He says a platform company is only successful if the value created above the platform is greater than the value in the platform itself.
Nadella first sensed the significance of generative AI with GitHub Copilot, when engineers using GPT-3.5 saw productivity gains and stayed in their flow of work.
He identifies two new technological foundations of generative AI: a more natural user interface (language, images, speech) and a new reasoning engine for tasks like summarization.
He describes this as the "age of co-pilots" — about human agency and judgment, not autopilot — and cites compressing 250 years of chemistry into 25 years for energy transition as an exciting challenge.

Questions it answers

00:00Opening and rapid-fire questions

What book and Microsoft product does Satya Nadella recommend?

He reread "Bootstrapping" by Thierry Bardini about Douglas Engelbart, a human story about choosing life's work to augment human capability. His favorite product is Microsoft Copilot, which he uses for travel and meeting prep.

Engelbart pioneered the mouse, keyboard, and GUI and envisioned human-computer symbiosis.
Copilot is Nadella's go-to daily tool.

03:05Leadership and company culture

How did Nadella approach renewing Microsoft when he became CEO?

He focused on a constant mission reinterpreted for today, plus a learning culture of growth mindset — moving from know-it-alls to learn-it-alls. He says the cloud's 15-year shift is now happening in 5 years with AI.

Keep the mission constant but technology and products fresh.
A learning culture is essential to manage constant change.

05:55Empathy in leadership

Why does Nadella consider empathy a critical business skill?

He sees empathy as a design skill, not a soft skill, because it provides insight into customers' unmet, unarticulated needs. He calls it one of the hardest skills to learn and exercise in business.

Empathy drives design insight into customer opportunities.
It is a critical, not optional, leadership capability.

07:20Partnerships and platform thinking

What makes a partnership successful for Microsoft?

Nadella says a platform company only works if the value created above the platform exceeds the value in it. Microsoft treats customers as partners, seeking win-wins rather than zero-sum relationships, with aligned technology, business models, and culture.

American Express uses Microsoft technology in touch-free expense management and Bing Chat in customer service.
Words and actions must be congruous in how value gets created.

11:00Generative AI's impact

How does Nadella see generative AI changing business and humanity?

GitHub Copilot first showed him the shift. He identifies two foundations: a natural user interface (language, images, speech) and a new reasoning engine. Every software category and knowledge-work workflow will change, like the PC did in the late '80s, and this is the age of co-pilots — augmenting human agency, not autopilot.

AI will change marketing, sales, support, and finance workflows.
Human judgment and agency remain central.

15:20Curiosity and the impossible

What drives Nadella's curiosity as an agent of change?

Quoting CTO Kevin Scott, he says it is magical when something considered impossible becomes possible. He is excited about using generative AI to compress 250 years of chemistry into 25 years for energy transition.

Curiosity should focus on turning the impossible into the possible.
Glenda McNeal cites Nelson Mandela: "It is impossible until it is done."

Notes

Overview

Glenda McNeal, President of Enterprise Strategic Partnerships at American Express, interviews Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, as part of the "In Partnership With" series. Topics span leadership, culture, empathy, partnerships, and generative AI.

Influences and Favorite Products

Nadella recently reread "Bootstrapping" by Thierry Bardini (early 2000s), about Douglas Engelbart, who created the mouse, keyboard, and graphical user interface and conceptualized human-computer symbiosis to augment human capability.
He says the age of co-pilots takes Engelbart's vision to the next step, and recommends the book as a human story, not just a technical one.
His favorite Microsoft product is Microsoft Copilot, his AI agent used for travel and meeting prep.

Leadership and Culture

Becoming CEO in 2014, Nadella focused on rediscovering Microsoft's soul: a constant mission ("empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more") expressed through fresh technology and products.
He emphasizes a learning culture built on "growth mindset" — going from know-it-alls to learn-it-alls. What took 15 years in the cloud is now happening in 5 years with AI.
Empathy is not a soft skill but a critical design skill: it provides insight into customers' unmet, unarticulated needs.

Partnerships

A platform company is only successful if the value above the platform exceeds the value in it; otherwise the platform is unstable.
Microsoft treats customers as partners, seeking win-wins rather than zero-sum relationships.
Examples include American Express's touch-free expense management system and use of Bing Chat in customer service.

Generative AI

GitHub Copilot, with engineers using GPT-3.5, was when Nadella first sensed the scale of the shift.
Two new foundations: a natural user interface (language, images, speech in and out) and a new reasoning engine for summarization and continuation.
Every software category and knowledge-work workflow — marketing, sales, support, finance — will change, like the PC did in the late '80s.
This is the "age of co-pilots": about human agency and judgment, not autopilot.

Curiosity

CTO Kevin Scott's framing: when something hard becomes possible it's exciting; when something impossible becomes possible, it's magical.
Nadella is curious about compressing 250 years of chemistry into 25 years for energy transition using generative AI.

Text from the video's own captions. Summary and notes written by AI from the transcript, so check anything important against the recording.