#45 - Nicholas McQuire | Microsoft | Breaking Silos: How Microsoft Innovates

Innovation Rockstars

"The key to an innovation mindset is in the culture we call a growth mindset. At Microsoft, we elevate learning, and kind of learn, above everything that we do.” In this episode, we welcome Nicholas McQuire, Director of Growth Innovation and Strategy, Strategic Missions and Technologies at Microsoft. His passion: Artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and enterprise innovation. In this very entertaining exchange, we talk about the three pillars that form the foundation of the future of the cloud, the innovation vision of Microsoft. By means of some concrete examples, we further take a look ahead and shed light on the question of what innovation at Microsoft will look like in the future (keyword: technological convergence) and how Microsoft as a global player will manage to expand beyond silos to innovate at scale. Curious to learn more? Then tune in. The episode at a glance: Who is Nick? (00:01:51) Nick, please complete the 3 sentence starters… (00:03:12) How Microsoft Innovates What is Microsoft’s vision for innovation? (00:05:40) How does Microsoft spark and cultivate an innovation culture? (00:07:40) In what dimensions of the horizon model (H1-H3) does Microsoft think? (and examples) (00:12:10) Are we already observing technology conversions in typical AI technologies, and if so, how does Microsoft expand beyond silos to co-innovate? (00:17:00) The “Either-Or” game (00:21:11) H2 Innovation Nick’s area of responsibility and ambitions and expected outcomes from the H2 program (00:24:05) How to help customers and partners understand what’s next (00:26:27) Nick’s 3 key actionable recommendations to take away from this episode (00:29:28) Nick’s Innovation Rockstar moment (00:32:12) *** If you would like to give us feedback on this episode or know someone who also has some thrilling stories or insights to share from the world of corporate innovation (maybe yourself?), just shoot us a note at [e-mail]. *** LISTEN - LIKE - SHARE You like our show? Then leave us a rating or a review on Spotify or Apple Podcast and share it with colleagues and friends and whomever!