On his 52nd day as Microsoft’s chief executive officer, Satya Nadella took the stage to present the world as Microsoft sees it. Life today, Nadella said, is mobile-first and cloud-first. As Nadella tells it, Microsoft is uniquely positioned to thrive in that world — because it alone understands the needs of people, their employers, and the developers who build devices for both. A world where Microsoft can lead again Left unsaid is that the world Nadella describes is also one in which Microsoft, after years of chasing the tectonic shift to mobile devices, can lead again — by helping other businesses navigate the shift to mobile devices that threatened to derail Microsoft itself.