The first Impact
Recently I had the outstanding
opportunity to visit Microsoft´s headquarters in Portugal. As soon as I set
foot in Microsoft, I could see an enormous screen, showing the future events
that will occur at Microsoft Portugal.
My first contact was with my beloved
friend Bruna Bruno, who is currently an intern at Microsoft. Afterwards,
Adriana Lima welcomed me with a big smile and we started the visit by getting
to know the ground floor.
The workplace
The ground floor was completely
outside the box, clearly designed to serve as a showroom, where the main events
take place. In addition, there were some rooms where current or future clients
of Microsoft could experience the “Customer Immersive Experience” and could
test the products that they might want to purchase while listening to a presentation
given by a Microsoft seller. On the same floor, Microsoft has an Incubator,
designed for high potential Startups, whose name is BizSpark (BizSpark consists
in a global program which aims to give the tools to help startups to succeed.
How? Not only Microsoft gives the startups free access to Microsoft Azure cloud
services, software and support but also Microsoft helps startups establishing
powerful connections with local and global startup ecosystems, for example). There
were also auditoriums that can be used for internal and external events. 
Then, I had the opportunity to
discover the other 3 floors at Microsoft. Firstly, it is important to highlight
that, in Microsoft, no one has their fixed workstation. The culture of the
company is to work from anywhere with any device possible and there are no
divisions by departments. Imagine that someday you could be working right next
to a senior manager! This is one of the things (you will discover many others
during this article) that set Microsoft apart from other multinational
companies. Moreover, every single room has a name related to Microsoft´s
Universe such as: Word, Xbox, Windows, and so on. One of the most interesting
and fascinating things at Microsoft is that everyone can write in some walls in
different rooms, which clearly allows the creativity and out of the box approaches
to various problems.
Nonetheless,
typically, in the first floor is where the Engineering teams work and their
responsibility is to support the different technologies. Microsoft’s Customer Service & Support (CSS)
organization has breadth and depth of technical knowledge that covers support
for all Microsoft products and services. CSS has a comprehensive
network of support professionals, both full time employees and a vast network
of agents.
The second floor is the “Business
Floor”, where, for instance, we can find roles related to Sales, Marketing and
Services. This floor is radically different from the first one, with less
desktops and, conversely, with more interactions among people.
The third floor is where we can find
roles related to HR, Finance and Retail for example.
While I was wandering, I noticed
that Microsoft has a very unique way to shape their own office, in order to
make the workplace the most open and flexible space! Microsoft really applies
the philosophy of turning the workplace into the most enjoyable place for their
workers. For instance, any Microsoft employee can play Xbox at literally any
time of the day (and this really happens, as I noticed during my visit!).
Microsoft Portugal – A
sales subsidiary
Microsoft Portugal is a sales
subsidiary, like most Microsoft subsidiaries across the world. Microsoft is one
of those companies in which you can work for 20 years and never do the same day
after day – the range of functions is enormous. After all, at the end of the
day, all the subsidiaries, despite having a focus on sales, require diverse
functions such as marketing, technical functions, etc. Finally, for students
who are really keen on product development, the best place to work at Microsoft
is in its Headquarters, in Redmond, Washington.
6 months ago, in July, Microsoft has
suffered a reorganization and it’s now oriented by industries (Retail,
Financial Services, Manufacturing, Others, Health and Education).
The industries in which Adriana is
currently working on are Manufacturing and Others (such as Oil&Gas,
Telecommunications&Media, Transportation, Sports, etc) having more than 50 different
customers.
The truly amazing path
of Adriana Lima
By talking with Adriana, it was easy
to understand that her days at Microsoft are always different and challenging.
In fact, she doesn´t even have a
work schedule from 9 a.m to 5 p.m and she doesn’t need to work at the office.
She has sales goals for the year and that’s the only thing she needs to be
focused on. As mentioned before, Adriana can work from anywhere and use
whatever device she wants. “That´s the philosophy of Microsoft!”, she said.
Thanks to her work, in 2 and half
years she is currently a Solution Sales Professional for Modern Workplace, covering
solutions like Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. This is her third role, as she was also a
Solution Sales Professional for Skype for Business and a Solution Sales
Professional for Productivity (covering Office 365 only).
Adriana has a sui-generis path: she
is very young (she joined Microsoft when she was only 21 years old, after
finishing her graduation in Management at FEP). Adriana remembers FEP with
nostalgia, highlighting the hard skills acquired. Throughout her academic experience, Adriana
was a member of FEP First Connection (if you want to know more about this
organization, just visit their website: http://www.firstconnection.pt/) and did her exchange program in Madrid at IE
Business School, one of the best schools according to the Financial Times
Ranking, where she had a fascinating experience (having the opportunity to
truly put the theory into practice).
It was through FEP First Connection
that Adriana first met Microsoft and knew by then that she wanted to join the
company when university ended. If you want to join Microsoft, more than
anything else, you must share the company´s vision and relate to the culture.
In the online tests you only need to be yourself - there are no right answers.
To sum up, Adriana has undoubtedly a
unique mindset and values the continuous improvement. She knows that is
important to go for the extra-mile and that nothing is really achieved without
teamwork.
Piece of advice from
Adriana Lima and her main responsibilities
It is evident that Adriana has some
characteristics which make her stand out from the crowd. I asked what her
secret for success at Microsoft is. She said: 1) prioritize tasks and focus on
the real crucial activities, knowing how and when to say “No” to the less
important ones. 2) Work as a team! “If you want to go fast go alone, if you
want to go far, go together.” 3) Don’t
take yourself too seriously.
Regarding her role at the company,
Adriana has specific goals to achieve and, with that in mind, it is mandatory
to have a plan on how to achieve them. Then, it’s all about having a customer
mindset, work with partners and help their customers in their digital transformation
journeys.
Microsoft vs other
Companies
When I challenged Adriana to tell me
the differences between Microsoft and other companies, Adriana highlighted the
following topics:
- · Adriana´s job is to change the way how companies work. In Microsoft, for instance, everyone already works through networks, instead of hierarchies (as the majority of the companies).
- · The responsibility: Adriana referred that in Microsoft, it doesn’t matter how old you are or how much experience you have, the responsibilities are going to be high.
- · There are no predefined career paths. You can always change jobs and try different roles. No career is the same, and it shouldn’t be.
- · The profile that fits Microsoft is someone who is proactive, agile, accountable and that sees change as a business rule.
The MACH Program
I talked with Adriana about several
aspects of the MACH Program but what struck my attention were the events:
- · Microsoft Ready – this is Microsoft’s annual internal event and, so you can understand how much Microsoft values the MACHs, every year Satya Nadella and other senior leaders have specific sessions only for MACHs.
- · Skill Up and Increase Impact – “These are events with amazing speakers, that will make you put things in perspective and truly change the way you understand Microsoft and life in general.”
Moreover, Adriana refers as the most
positive aspects of the MACH Program the knowledge that you get from the
company, the opportunity to truly understand what you want to do with your life
and also the opportunity to travel to numerous countries.
In light of the above, I would like
to thank Bruna Bruno, for telling me about Adriana and, undoubtedly, I have to
thank Adriana and Microsoft for this outstanding opportunity!
Dear Readers,
I hope that this article was useful for you!
See you next time!
PS: Last but not least, check the amazing view that Microsoft Portugal offers you!
