Building the Biggest Machine in History w/ Brian Janous, Former Microsoft VP of Energy

Today's guest, Brian Janous, is the former VP of Energy at Microsoft. In fact, he was their first ever energy hire back in 2011. Until his departure earlier this year, Brian oversaw energy strategy and sourcing for all of Microsoft’s cloud and AI infrastructure, including procuring renewable energy for the company to meet its carbon objectives.

Since the earliest days of his career, Brian has sought to answer the question, “How do we build markets around the complex machine of the electric grid to drive behaviors that shift the future?” As you’ll hear, Microsoft gave him the opportunity to do just that.

When Brian joined the company in 2011, Microsoft’s market cap was north of $218 billion. Today its market cap has skyrocketed to over $2.7 trillion, thanks in no small part to the company's ability to acquire energy, refine it into data, and use that data to fuel the creation of value in the cloud.

Brian is a natural-born storyteller, and you’re in for a treat.

In this episode, Brian and Chris talk about:

• The power of storytelling in building the world’s largest machine
• Why the future of energy innovation must be informed by the past and grounded in the present
• The breakthrough that converted Microsoft’s CEO at the time, Steve Ballmer, into a true believer in Brian’s and his team’s vision for the future of energy
• The importance of having an enduring narrative that drives your strategy forward

And much more!