Quote of the day by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: ‘Success can cause people to unlearn the habits that…’

Quote of the Day: “Success can cause people to forget the habits that made them successful in the first place.” -Satya Nadella

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, is known as one of the world’s top technology leaders. He often uses his position to comment on current technology developments and often shares his predictions about the industry. Satya Nadella also often shared some deep insights about life.

In his 2017 book Hit Refresh, Satya Nadella talked about success and its effects on people.

Quote of the day from Satya Nadella

“Success can cause people to forget the habits that made them successful,” Satya Nadella says in his book.

What does Satya Nadella’s quote mean?

Satya Nadella used this quote in his 2017 book Hit Refresh. This quote is a reminder for all of us that success can sometimes lead to complacency. It is important to stay grounded and empathetic to continue growing and not experiencing a decline.

The quote highlights that success can often cause us to forget our habits and instead lose the disciplined, hungry or innovative ideas that made us successful in the first place and came as the impetus for our first ventures.

If we forget these habits, it can often lead to overconfidence, diminished effort, and neglect of the foundations that make us successful.

The quote highlights a practice that people often find themselves doing, which in turn leads to errors. When we are successful, most of us can take it for granted and begin to relax as the pressure eases, leading us to be lenient in our efforts.

With this quote, Satya Nadella emphasizes the importance of continuing to learn and never give up on the practices that pave the way for a successful life. It is necessary to have a “learn everything” attitude rather than a “know everything” attitude.

This quote serves as a reminder to leaders, CEOs, and other individuals to maintain the curiosity, discipline, and willingness to deal with failure that brought them to the top.

This quote forms the main theme of Satya Nadella’s book Hit Refresh.

Who is Satya Nadella? All about the Indian-origin Microsoft CEO

Satya Nadella is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Microsoft, one of the largest companies in the world. He is the first Indian-born person to hold a senior leadership role in the company.

Under Nadella, Microsoft has more cloud computing revenue than Google and more subscribers than Netflix.

Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly became known as a leader who could span a broad range of technologies and businesses that would transform some of Microsoft’s largest product offerings.

Before becoming CEO of Microsoft in 2014, Nadella held leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company.

Before joining Microsoft, Nadella worked at Sun Microsystem. He joined Microsoft as an engineer. Satya Nadella earned a massive salary of $96.5 million in 2025.

Originally from Hyderabad, India, Nadella lives in Bellevue, Washington, with his family. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.