In this episode of Gaining the Technology Leadership Edge, Mike sits down with William Adams, former Technical Advisor to Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, to explore technology evolution, leadership challenges, and engineering culture at one of the world’s largest tech companies.

William shares behind-the-scenes insight into Microsoft’s early XML rollout and why XML struggled with adoption despite its technical strengths. He explains how overengineering, complex standards, and ignoring the needs of everyday developers led to simpler alternatives like JSON winning out. The conversation highlights a critical leadership lesson: users don’t care about formats—they care about results.

The discussion then moves into William’s 24-year journey at Microsoft, covering the company’s dramatic cultural shifts from the aggressive, competitive Bill Gates era to the empathetic, mission-driven culture under Satya Nadella. William breaks down the real challenges technology leaders face, including managing micromanagers, balancing hands-on coding with strategic leadership, and synthesizing fast-moving technology trends into actionable direction.

The episode concludes with William’s current work building a “Motown of tech”—a platform designed to identify, develop, and elevate underrepresented Black technical talent globally. This conversation is a candid look at innovation, leadership maturity, and the responsibility tech leaders have to create opportunity beyond their own success.