Kate Ross (Assistant General Counsel of Gaming at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about her many experiences as a counselor (1:00), the very special artifact that is the source of her powers (4:00), why she became a lawyer (4:30), the breadth of her work at Microsoft (6:30), the Microsoft Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs Mid-Year Question (“MYQ”) process (7:30), her role as a leader on our MYQ team (12:30), the power of listening (16:00), why attorneys have a hard time collaborating and being open (22:15), the specific MYQ question we researched (23:00), what makes learning hard (24:00), creating psychological safety (28:45), how we create culture (33:00), why inclusion matters (34:00), working in virtual teams (35:30), the delight of authentic team experiences (37:45), the value of showing your work (39:15), why having an idea experimentation platform like MYQ matters (40:45), the value of disagreement (42:30), building a social contract that promotes participation (45:00), getting people to try new technologies (46:00), the intentionality that her boss brings to leading by example (47:30), and why she delights in her work (49:45). This episode expands upon the Mid Year Question alluded to in the Jon Palmer episode.
Background reading from CELA’s MYQ 19 research index:
Gartner-Identifying and Addressing Skill Gaps for Legal in 2020
Altman Weil-Herding Cats: The Lawyer Personality Revealed-Dr. Larry Richard
HBR IdeaCast-Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace-Amy Edmondson
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