Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has already weighed in on Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on refugees in a LinkedIn post, but now the company has made public additional thoughts on the subject from its top executive. On its official corporate blog, Microsoft shared an answer provided by Nadella during a corporate Q&A regarding the order and Microsoft’s stance on the matter.
Here are Nadella’s full remarks:
I always come back to two things. One is the enduring principles and values that drive us as a company, that have made us and this country what it is, and my own personal story.
There is no place for bias or bigotry in any society, in any context. That’s where we start from. We will always as a company stand for that diversity and inclusion. And we’ll keep pushing at it, pushing at it, and making progress. That’s core to who we are. That I believe is core to what America is.
I mean, think about it, I am a product of the fundamental greatness of the United States. It is the ingenuity of the American technology that reached me where I was growing up that even made it possible for me to dream of being able to be part of this journey. It is the enlightened immigration policy of this country that even made it possible for me to come here in the first place, and gave me all this opportunity.
And so I always think about that. I will always advocate for that America that I know and that I’ve experienced.
And we will do that consistently. We’re not going to overreact because of any one incident, but we will always stand for what we believe are these enduring principles that really are going to be about us as a company, but also recognizing that we’re a multinational company that is an American company.
Microsoft also notes in its blog that Nadella clarified that Microsoft will continue working with affected employees directly, with legal assistance and other aid, as well as advocate on behalf of those impacted to Trump’s administration and congress.
As for Microsoft itself, the company reiterated its earlier statement on the matter, via an official response originally issued on January 29:
We believe the executive order is misguided and a fundamental step backwards. There are more effective ways to protect public safety without creating so much collateral damage to the country’s reputation and values.
Nadella’s response is not the most directly oppositional from a CEO, with others including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos very specifically voicing their lack of support for the measure. In fact, Nadella is one of the few tech industry CEOs to voice a note of caution against overreaction as a response. Google, in contrast, actually sanctioned and hosted a worldwide employee demonstration on Monday and Sergey Brin attended a protest at San Francisco International Airport over the weekend.
Still, Microsoft’s corporate position is clear based on its official statement, and it’s obvious that Nadella is not comfortable with Trump’s position, either.
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