In fact, now Microsoft’s chief financial officer, Hood, said her career has looked more like a roller coaster than a ladder—and the lesson she told the class of 2026 still resonates today.

“As you start out, many successful careers are rarely—if ever—a straight line,” she said at Duke’s commencement ceremony this past weekend. “Your next step doesn’t have to be a perfect one. It just has to be an opportunity.”

Hood learned that the hard way. After graduating from Duke in 1994, she built her early career at Goldman Sachs and later obtained her MBA from Harvard. But over time, she realized corporate banking wasn’t how she wanted to spend the rest of her life. So she quit—without much of a plan of what would come next.

She considered going back to school for a third degree, but eventually stumbled upon what seemed like a perfect reset: an internship with the National Park Service.

“I thought, this is perfect. It’s a sign—I’ll get assigned to Yosemite or Yellowstone, someplace iconic,” Hood recalled. “I’ll work outdoors, I’ll live somewhere beautiful, and feel the space and energy that nature provides.”

Instead, the then-30-year-old was assigned to a less glamorous spot: Alcatraz Island, or as she called it, “a prison on a rock.” Not the manifestation she had imagined, she quit after a single day.

Months later, after an extended job search, a friend called and asked whether she wanted to interview at Microsoft—even though she had already faced two rejections from the company. This time, she landed a role in investor relations and accepted the offer without even asking about the salary.

“It was a job, a step forward, and truthfully, I needed a paycheck,” she said.

Even then, her start at Microsoft in 2002 was rocky. Hood admitted she missed her first day after miscalculating how long it would take to drive her silver Volvo from California to Seattle.

Still, the gamble paid off. Over the next decade, Hood steadily rose through the company’s ranks before being named CFO in 2013. Microsoft’s business has thrived under her leadership, and it ranks highly on Fortune’s lists of World’s Most Admired and America’s Most Innovative Companies. Last year alone, she earned $29.5 million in total compensation.

Microsoft CFO’s advice for Gen Z: ‘Lower your bar’

For today’s college graduates, Hood’s winding path to the top may feel increasingly out of reach as many young workers struggle to land even their first full-time job. Companies across the tech industry—including Microsoft—have cut thousands of roles in recent years as businesses restructure and ramp up investments in artificial intelligence.

The uncertainty has weighed heavily on young workers. More than 60% of the class of 2026 are pessimistic about their career prospects, according to a recent report from Handshake.

At the same time, many graduates are entering the workforce with expectations that are not aligned with today’s labor market. College seniors surveyed earlier this year by real estate platform Clever said they expect to earn roughly $80,000 within a year of graduating. But the average starting salary for recent graduates is closer to $56,000—a gap of nearly $24,000.

Hood acknowledged the uncertainty facing Gen Z, but argued that many young workers are more prepared than they think. The bigger challenge, she said, is letting go of the expectation that they need to have everything figured out immediately.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this to some of the most accomplished young people on the planet, but maybe lower your bar a little,” she said. “Be open that something may not be exactly right, but could turn out to be a perfect place to learn about yourself—what you like, what you don’t. All the steps matter, and it took me decades to figure that out.”

She also urged graduates to stay adaptable and curious in a world that is changing faster than any previous generation has experienced. 

“You will figure out who you are by stepping in and letting people push back, by doing things that scare you just a little, by raising your hand when you’re pretty sure you don’t have the right answer, and by taking a job that doesn’t make sense on paper but makes sense to you,” she told graduates. 

And when setbacks inevitably happen, Hood said resilience matters more than perfection.

“Remember, there aren’t that many one-way doors—so go through a few of those things. And if you get a no, just try a new door,” she said. “Every step builds confidence, even the ones that feel like mistakes at the time—especially those. After all, the best stories always come from those moments.”