ALB Conversations: Mike Yeh, Microsoft Asia

Mike Yeh A career at Microsoft spans two decades and several continents, embodying his belief in the value of rotating roles every five years to accelerate learning and growth. As Microsoft’s regional vice president of Corporate External and Legal Affairs (CELA) for Asia, Yeh leads a team of more than 80 professionals who manage a complex nexus of technology, law and policy across a diverse region stretching from India to New Zealand. His experience in various roles at Microsoft, including stints in Beijing, Seattle and Dubai, has given him a unique global perspective on the evolving technology landscape.

In the face of rapid advances in technology, especially in artificial intelligence, Ye stresses the importance of what he calls the “ABCs” of corporate culture: flexibility, courage and curiosity. These values ​​are critical as his team adapts to the transformative impact of AI on the legal profession and government. Looking to the future, Ye is excited about the potential of artificial intelligence to drive positive social change in Asia. He envisions his team playing a key role as trusted advisors to governments and companies, helping to accelerate responsible technology adoption across the region and driving innovation that benefits everyone.

---

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you are a general counsel in Asia and would like to be featured in this series, please send an email. [email protected].

---

ALB: Tell us about your legal career and what motivated you to pursue this position.

YES: My career at Microsoft is often described as being similar to a career at the State Department or the Foreign Office. I started my career in private practice in Washington, DC at Arnold & Porter and have moved to a new city every five years since then. Seattle was the next stop when I joined Microsoft in 2003, followed by positions in Beijing, back to Seattle, Dubai and now Singapore.

“Given the growing complexity of technology and its role in society, it is critical that legal issues are considered in a broader context that includes policies and regulations, as well as issues such as sustainable development, responsible artificial intelligence and philanthropy.”

Microsoft has been a great place to work on cutting-edge technology issues for the past 20 years. I value the company’s thoughtful approach to technology and its long-term vision, which is also reflected in the way we are organized as a collaborative Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) team. Given the growing complexity of technology and its role in society, it is critical that legal issues are considered in a broader context that includes policies and regulations, as well as issues such as sustainable development, responsible artificial intelligence and philanthropy.

I’ve had the privilege of working on Microsoft’s field team for many years, and there’s no better place to see how technology can change the world than on the front lines of interactions with customers and governments. The opportunity to lead the team in Asia three years ago was an easy decision. It is an extremely diverse region, stretching from India to New Zealand and back to China, South Korea and Japan. It is also a region that is taking a thoughtful and pragmatic approach to ensuring that technology can responsibly enable the economy to grow and leapfrog. I look forward to seeing how the region uses AI for good and ensures it benefits everyone.

ALB: What stood out to you most during your leadership? What leadership lessons have you learned?

YES: I started in this role in 2021, when much of work and life was still virtual. This was also before the launch of ChatGPT, which completely changed the conversation about technology and the way we work. The highlight was leading the team through this period of massive change, where we continually added capabilities to ensure we could help governments, civil society and customers solve new AI problems and issues. Our goal was to become Microsoft’s ambassador to the world and be world class in everything we do.

“I am impressed by the many leaders in the region, including ministers and occasional heads of state, who have the humility to ask questions to find the best path forward.”

The leadership lessons learned from this period of change are the importance of personal connections and curiosity. The pandemic has shown that while technology makes it possible to work and live virtually, there are huge benefits to connecting with others in person. We have taken it as a team to meet with clients and government in person where possible and make it a priority to meet everyone in person at least once a year.

The second lesson of leadership is the importance of curiosity, especially in times of rapid change. There’s no better time than now to ask questions and learn more about how AI works and how it can work for you. I am impressed by many leaders in the region, including ministers and occasional heads of state, who have the humility to ask questions to find a better way forward.

ALB: Besides your legal work, how are you involved in your company’s business?

YES: I am a member of the Microsoft Asia leadership team and participate in the full range of discussions and decisions regarding Microsoft’s business in Asia. We have a culture that strives to create space for non-domain experts and outside perspectives, allowing each member of the leadership team to weigh in on anything and everything.

The intersection of business, technology and policy is also becoming increasingly complex and requires us to bring together the collective experience and knowledge of a leadership team so that a company can successfully implement the AI ​​economy, which requires knowledge of data centers, GPUs, large language models, developers, skills , sustainability, regulation and geopolitics, among others – in every country where we operate.

ALB: How important do you think company culture is? What kind of internal culture do you want to develop both within your team and in your business as a whole?

YES: Culture is critical, especially now as the world embarks on a change management process to figure out and adapt to how AI will change everything we do. The legal and government professions are no exception and may be one of the professions where generative AI will have the greatest impact as we trade in words and ideas (and long documents). Three cultural values ​​we have prioritized during this period of change are agility, courage, and curiosity—the ABCs of our culture that are designed to ensure that we adapt and embrace new technologies, circumstances, and opportunities.

ALB: How would you describe your approach to technology? How has your team’s use of technology changed since you took the helm, and what is your plan for the next year or two?

YES: As the legal and government affairs team at one of the world’s leading technology companies, we are committed to leveraging technology and being zero customers. From the outset, we’ve made AI available through Copilot for Microsoft 365 to everyone in the department and have prioritized learning and sharing best practices with clients and through partners like the Singapore Academy of Law, with whom we just released a guide to rapid AI design for lawyers . .

Copilot is already deeply integrated into my daily work. I use it to summarize email threads and expect Copilot’s summary to be a starting point for how we read emails in the future. Another feature I use all the time is the Copilot assistant in Teams, which allows me to search internal Microsoft sites, for example when I need to confirm company policies or find discussion threads on a specific issue. Lawyers also use Copilot for document drafting, allowing it to pull information from multiple sources, saving time and resulting in a strong initial draft with vetted citations.

Looking to the future, I’m excited about the multilingual scenarios this technology enables and expect it to continue to improve. It has already created more opportunities for team members to work in their native language and is ideal for multilingual teams operating in Asia and the world. Microsoft Copilot Studio also represents an exciting development in technology that I expect will transform the legal profession and government. Copilot Studio is a no-code solution that allows anyone, including me, to quickly create their own Copilot based on a specific topic, such as global AI rules, simply by adding relevant websites and uploading summary documents.

ALB: What kind of team would you like to see in five years?

YES: This is a simple question. As the new era of artificial intelligence begins, I would like to look back five years and see the incredible things that governments and companies in Asia have done to use artificial intelligence for the benefit of everyone. Solutions like Jugalbandi AI, a chatbot launched by the Indian government to help people access and translate information into their local language, are amazing, but they are just the beginning. For the Microsoft CELA Asia team, I hope we will become trusted advisors to governments and companies, helping to accelerate responsible technology adoption across the region and making a positive impact on society.

ALB: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

YES: “If you’ve been in a role for five years, you’ve either mastered the role or you haven’t. Either way, you should do something different.” This advice resonates well with my career path, but it also stems from the fact that learning accelerates in new roles, especially ones that are completely different from your previous role.