Microsoft President Brad Smith, like many in the tech industry and the broader world,

hoped 2022 might bring a bit of a break in the onslaught of national and global challenges.

Halfway through the year, the reality has been anything but.

Well, this has been another year where, to use an old phrase, we have to borrow from our sleep

in order to get everything done. We hope that 2022 would be a year that would provide a bit of a

respite, perhaps COVID would abate and some normalcy would return. And we have seen some progress

in some fronts, but I don't think any of us thought when the year began that we'd find a major war

in Europe. Ukraine is perhaps the foremost example of what it really means for us to be providing

digital infrastructure for a country, literally in a time of war with a major cyberpower. But then we see

the same thing evolving as we consider the changing issues

around climate. I do think we're living in a time of a real climate crisis. But those complex

global issues are just part of the backdrop. In the first six months of the year, Microsoft has

announced a series of changes, driven by the turbulent economy,

new state and national legislation, growing pressure from employees and investors, a shifting

labor market, regulatory challenges, and a pending acquisition that would be the largest

in Microsoft's history. I think we're seeing us have to go back to our mission,

and I think to some degree our cultural strengths and commitments

as we navigate through an era of changing labor expectations,

changing labor relations, changing employee attitudes.

Combined with the lingering effects of the pandemic and the new era of hybrid work, it adds up to

one of the most turbulent periods in Microsoft's history.

I think since Sontia became CEO, it's been this rock solid conviction that fundamentally

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