When Asha Sharma became CEO of Xbox earlier this year, it didn’t represent the culmination of a carefully planned path to the top job at one of the world’s biggest gaming brands. Rather, it was a reaffirmation of a philosophy she’s followed for years: Instead of dreaming about the future, focus on excelling at the work in front of you.
“I was never obsessed with what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Sharma said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado. “I just obsessed over what I wanted to do—whether it was selling coupon books or putting on shows—to raise money, to have money for lunch… whether it was being the best person picking up trash at the park where I worked. I was just trying to dedicate myself to being great at what I was doing to get the next opportunity.”
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This motto goes back to his origins in the Midwest of the United States, where he graduated in business from the University of Minnesota and created a recreation center for vulnerable teenagers in Minneapolis.
From there, he built a career full of changes in direction, going through marketing at Microsoft, a period as COO at startup Porch Group, product leadership roles at Meta and a COO position at Instacart, before returning to Microsoft in 2024 as president of products at CoreAI.
Each change felt less like part of a master plan and more like the result of someone continuing to prove themselves until the next door opened.
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Xbox fell behind Sony and Nintendo — and Sharma bets on new energy
Now in her late 30s, Sharma was chosen in February to replace veteran games division head Phil Spencer — a decision that drew attention because she had no prior experience in the games industry.
The company it inherited was also not experiencing its best moment: according to Microsoft’s most recent earnings report, Xbox hardware revenue fell 33% compared to the previous year, while content and services revenue fell another 5%.
In many respects, Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Switch took the lead in the console race, and the pressure on Sharma to reverse this scenario was intense.
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But its first moves at least brought new life to the brand. It reduced the price of Xbox’s Game Pass service — a widely praised decision — and, during Brainstorm Tech last week, mentioned the arrival of new exclusive games and more flexible plans for consumers.
Her philosophy towards clients, according to her, reflects the same one that led her to the position: “conquering each player”.
The reaction on social media to his rise has been largely positive. “Hiring her could be the best thing Microsoft has ever done,” read the most liked comment on a Fortune Instagram post about Sharma discussing artificial intelligence in games, racking up more than 5,000 likes.
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“I think it’s really special to be CEO of Xbox,” she concluded on stage during the Fortune event. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
Like the new leader of Xbox, the CEOs of Costco and Microsoft have embraced flexibility over a 10-year career path
Sharma is part of a broader pattern among business leaders who admit that professional growth often comes less from job hunting and more from focusing on achieving excellence in the role they already perform.
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Ron Vachris, current CEO of Costco, described a similar philosophy when talking about his own journey within the company. Earlier this year, he said his father’s advice shaped his approach to professional growth: “Don’t chase a title. Don’t chase something great. Just build your own success.”
Similarly, the CEO of hotel search company Trivago, Johannes Thomas, said that going with the flow of events can actually be a career-boosting secret — and that’s what propelled him into senior corporate leadership.
“I’ve never had concrete plans in my life,” Thomas told Fortune last year. “I just followed where the energy was, where my curiosity was.”
“I think the more you stay adaptable, do different things, avoid focusing too much on just one area, and don’t stay in your comfort zone for too long, the greater your chances of building a prosperous future,” Thomas added.
Even Sharma’s boss has echoed this principle. In a conversation with LinkedIn in 2023, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that, especially at the beginning of his career, he always considered it important to worry less about the next job and more about how to succeed in the tasks that were already under his responsibility.
“I felt like the work I was doing at that moment was the most important thing,” Nadella said. “I really believed that. And, of course, it helped me get my next job.”
According to him, the best career-accelerating advice he ever received came from a manager who encouraged him to think more broadly: “What if you looked at your job not as your job, but as my job? What would you do?”
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