Organizations should never set up a central digital transformation office. It should be owned by everybody in the organization itself. It's not as CIO is job. It's the CEOs job. Hey everyone. My name is Henry Surya Vera Wang. And you're listening to the tekhelet journal, the show,
where I'll be bringing you. The greatest technical leaders practitioners and thought leaders in the industry to discuss about their Journey ideas and practices that we all can learn and apply to build a highly performing technical team and to make an impact in your personal work. So let's dive into our Journal. Hello everyone.
Welcome to another episode of the tekhelet journal with Neo host Henry Surya where oven, it's really good to be back here again to share my conversation with another great technical leader. Thank you for tuning in and spending your time with me today, listening to this
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Know that death /? Patron. I'm currently running a goal on my patreon page and your support will tremendously help me towards achieving it. I'll guess for today's episode is Richard Cole Richard is the CTO of Microsoft Singapore who is responsible for engaging with key executive leaders across government industry and Academia bringing in the macro technology landscape and helping customers leverage technology Innovations for their digital
transformation. Richard was part of the founding team for Microsoft's Flagship product Office 365. Our conversation started with some interesting observations on how organizations in Singapore are adapting to the covid-19 impact followed by his explanation on the unique City, O Ro that Microsoft has four specific country or region. Richard also shared his amazing journey building The Office 365.
As part of the founding team, sharing, some of his advisors about the art of product management. We also touch on the cloud and digital transformation adoption including some of his tips on how organizations should approach digital transformation in order to be successful. Last, Richard also shared about his passion on responsible Tech Nai, and why it is important to have a discussion around them, including his contribution, to the SG, text Ai, and HPC
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Welcome to the tekhelet, you know, show very happy to have you here. It's a pleasure. Thank you, Henry, really excited to be here. So, as a city of Microsoft, Singapore, how has this pandemic been impacting? You so far? Yeah. It's a very interesting times. First of all, like, to just give a shout out to all the Frontline workers, especially the healthcare workers who have been taking care of us, and by supporting them.
We stay at home. That they can really focus on their jobs to take care of the public itself. And I think this is really unprecedented. There's no organization with any kind of playbooks to be able to anticipate something as drastic. As this as we all go into lockdown, circuit breaker here in Singapore restrictions and things like that. It's been a really eye-opening experience. I think, as our CEO say that in
the early months of this year. We literally saw two years worth of digital transformation efforts into Months as organizations quickly go into the mode out. How do I keep my business running while having my workers and my office work is all working remotely. Also at the same time, assisting the public institutions over here in Singapore in terms of helping the fight this and contain the spread of the virus itself.
It's really eye-opening. It's really humbling to see how many different organizations and volunteers came into the mix itself to really lean in and help. Whatever smaller the ways that they can same thing here for us at Microsoft. We volunteered. A lot of our weather. Is it Technical Resources as well? As our software cloud services to assist organizations who are tasked to manage the spread of this virus as it happens in the early months. It's been really impactful. Something.
I'll remember for the rest of my life. Yeah. Likewise. I think what you mentioned insatiable? And she had two years of digital transformation. Sped up in two months. That's pretty unprecedented. And nobody can even imagine the situation but also it proves that we are all adaptable to the top situations and I'm sure that we can come out successful at the end of this. Maybe let's start by sharing your career Journey or so. What have been your major highlights or any turning points
in your career? Ah, okay. I think one of the major turning point was, when I first installed, this browser called Mosaic mocking my age by sharing that, but I remember when Marc Andreessen released it and And few of my friends back and fill a packet. That's why I first started my career tested it and play with it and it was like, wow. Now, we have a visual overlay onto the internet itself. And it was like, man, this thing
is just going to be huge. So earlier on, I think probably one of the biggest things that I did in my career was really making the move to Silicon Valley, moving to the San Francisco Bay area in 99 through, Hilo packet and embarking on that Journey from being in our deal. All the way to Business Development and product management, but it was exciting times.
You live through the.com, boom and bus and just being surrounded by. So many intelligent people, doing all kinds of innovative disruptive businesses and technologies that has ship really the way I think about all the Endeavors weather. Is it in the tech world of the business world? So that was one of those. I think the second one was when I move up through the Puget Sound area, Seattle area to join Microsoft 2006.
Was another major highlight is in self having the shellac to be part of the founding team of Office 365. It was just amazing being in that. It's not even a front row, seat of observing. But even right inside the arena itself of really changing the business models of Microsoft right at the very beginning when we were embarking on this Cloud Journey itself. So, those were the two. And then 2011, coming back to Singapore, and I was another one did a whole bunch of different
strategic. Projects, as well as I took a stim outside of Microsoft where tsingtao over here in Singapore, render Cloud business for about two and a half years before returning into this role as Microsoft. Singapore CTO. So in doing this for the last four plus years now is really exciting. I think just being able to contribute to Singapore's digital transformation. Journey itself has been very
enriching. Thanks for sharing that I realized, Microsoft is probably one of the big companies who has a country or Regional specific City. Oh, Can you share a little bit? Why is it so unique that Microsoft requires this position? It's a really great question. I think, when you think of it as a global technology company, we have always view our organization as having a very key responsibilities in the different communities that we run our business.
And I think having this role is a very solid recognition to the uniqueness that each country faces in is technology. Agenda in its macro digital. Transformation, agenda itself. As we all hear from the last number of years around things like industry 4.0, and the need to really harness the powers of technology to advance organizations communities, and
even countries themselves. So, this is unique and many cents, roll itself, really lends, its view on what's really the country's priorities when it thinks about its Community is Citizens is government services its Industries. For example, and here Singapore. Some of the priorities industry, how as a small country. We have to be able to operate, and continuously, renew ourselves to be able to keep providing jobs for the populations.
For example, ensuring that everybody has a good likelihood and be fulfilled in whatever they do in different parts of the economy is whether it in manufacturing, Healthcare government services, technology startups. So businesses of all sizes smes As companies all the way to the larger corporate and then sees that are operating here. So it's really interesting. I think that's always some of the challenges if you will to think about the different agenda across all the different countries.
I'm sure you have lived and grown up in different countries as well. So you can see that weather. Is there a different pace or different attitudes and lends towards technology? I think aggregating that unique lens and view helps to inform us as a company. What we should be doing to be able to serve our Our partners and communities and societies that we operate in, it's pretty unique in that sense. So do you have the independence to make decisions at least within your country and region?
What kind of R&D or directions or even like how do you want to strategize the business side of the Microsoft for Singapore? At least? Yeah. I think there's a certain amount of that in terms of agency that we bring in from a Viewpoint, from a country perspective through the larger Microsoft organization itself. And like I mentioned earlier, Earlier this helps us to inform, whether is it. Our product strategy to the way we think about government policies that happens in the
country. So to the way, the country thinks about leveraging technology for the well-being of its citizens, for example, so, there are definitely certain amount of autonomy, as well as agency that we can bring in into that lens. So that whether is it in research or the product engineering teams, I can corporate that are building the Say half a very good view of what the global needs looks like and what are some of the local sensitivities will look like? And it's kind of nice.
I marry my previous corporate product experience when I was based in Richmond. And then looking at rolling out a product for a hovel to now something that is very specific to a country. I think that was a very nice unique position that I was able to leverage draw. The last couple of years. Cool. So maybe if you can share, what are some of the current macro? Trends around the region. What has Microsoft been focusing on if you can share with the audience?
Yeah, I think when we think about let's say micro Trends or maybe I'll just think about it from a technology Trend perspective, asia-pacific itself. It's a very large area huge in terms of the size of the population itself. But yet it's also comprises of many different countries with many different cultures and different pace of Technology adoptions as well as we have. Many developing countries, as well as some of the I would say, medium sized developed countries as well.
I think there is no one macro Trend that you can just point to and say this is it. But I would say that this is a region, that's really exciting. Like many people would say. Oh, this is really a region that is really mobile-first. Its population have experienced the internet through their mobile device first and that experience itself lends a lot of insights into How technology companies should think about making their products relevant to the population itself?
So mobile is definitely one of those and I think when you think about intelligent technology as well as Cloud Technologies, for example, itself, these are all very good opportunities for different countries to even LeapFrog from where they are today into the future. Because they may not have that much Legacy baggage or systems, or whatever to deal with, and that's always very fascinating to watch. It's almost like they can just take advantage and say, you know
what? I don't have to take the steps that some of the developed countries have done in the past before I can straight away go into the next latest and greatest and really bring the benefits of those Technologies to my organizations or my citizens for that matter. I think it's pretty interesting. When you mentioned that Asia and this region can LeapFrog, whatever progress that the developed countries has done in the many years.
And especially now we see the covid, the pace of acceleration of Technology, I think is pretty fast like, what you mentioned earlier, two years in two months. So I could foresee that more and more adoption and more and more technology playing a big part in our life and in our work, every day. I'm very interested in your story in, founding The Office 365. Maybe if we can go there. Can you share a little bit?
What is your role there? And how the story actually started coming up with this Office? 365. Oh, I'll just give a little bit of that Insight. Yeah. I was put on quite drafted into that team. In fact, Maybe. Is not so well-known right now, but the first instantiation of the name of Office 365, horse actually call business, productivity online services. That was when Microsoft naming convention had more descriptive names inside our products itself. I came from the quote-unquote Telco.
Well, network service providers will also have that knowledge and understanding of running like big systems. What are all the requirements and delivering services to
customers? This was a a time when if you remembered in the mid or early 2000s, when you see the technology trajectory of processing, power storage, for example, as well as bandwidth increasing at a very rapid pace and we were smashing Moore's, Law life and write in all these Technologies. And the questions started coming around to say, hey, what does that mean? When it comes to software? How will software be consumed by customers like a? Humors in the future.
And I think that was some of the early days of the thinking to say, oh, then software will be delivered online, rather than through DVDs. For example, I think not many of your listeners or maybe some of your listeners still remember, installing software through DVDs, but I don't remember when was the last time we did, that just download an app and that was it. And the software just gets consumed online through a browser or through an app.
And I think That was really exciting when we started really thinking about how the future of software will be like, and then I was running technical product management. So really around things like features functions of the platforms. How do we think about the commercial aspects of it? Where do we place their centers around the world? As well as all the legal compliance requirements around the world as well. We live on a very diverse planet and many different countries.
Have house eight different levels of the way. They think about technology. G and what are some of the legal and regulatory requirements around that. So we have to navigate through a lot of that when we started rolling out to the different countries, but yeah, I was just incidentally, drafted in with in like, less than six months in joining Microsoft. And I always say this is my lucky draw and I just happened to be in the right place, right?
Time and ended up with a very smart team of colleagues who came from different parts of the organization to start this new business for Microsoft. So if I get it, right, Also during that time, Microsoft Office is still around and it's a thing is tremendous growth people. Install office almost everywhere in the office and school or even personal computers. So I could foresee that there are lots of probably challenges as well. Internally. Like, why do we build a
different version of office? Not to mention that you probably need to rewrite most of the parts because I don't think the installable office can easily translate to The web-based Office 365. Maybe can you share a little bit of the challenges there? Well, some of the challenges I think. This is not something new I think is a challenge that I would say will confront or already been confronted by many different organization
technology. Let's say foundations typically changes over time and they have that impact of changing potentially disrupting your existing business model. So for us, it was really about delivering software or DVDs or doing the installation in the traditional way as you look at that and you look into the future itself. If and you say wow, the world is going to look very different in
the way. Technology is going to be consumed if we don't do something right now and even though it's in a very small way and commit their organization and its people to really think about the future for the organization, then we will be in trouble and then Microsoft will probably cease to be relevant to many organizations around the world. So we had to do that.
I think part of it is survival, but part of it is also making sure that we can harness all the creativity from across the Shouldn't we have a lot of smart people.
I've worked with so many smart folks that can I imagine I learned so much from them, but when they all came together and think about what that future looks like, and that started this journey of us transforming our business models, from traditional software, tools, and platforms, being to something that is on the cloud that lives online and anybody literally, with a laptop and a browser can access to it. It's not something that just unique to Microsoft.
I think it's probably relevant to a lot of many different organizations out there as they think about their existing businesses. There's this thing cash cows, if you will and then what's going to be their future, that's going to look like one of those classic book by click Christensen, is that innovate? This dilemma, so that was quote-unquote the go-to book that we go through to think about how we need to transform your organization. And if I may I'll just make another plug for a book.
Don't worry. I don't get any licensing royalties on that, but that's just book that a friend of mine recently point out to me. And I read it cover to cover. In a short matter of just a couple weeks. It's called loon shots, not moonshots balloon shots.
It's really nice. It really talks about how organizations come together where some parts of it running the existing business and some parts of it, you know, waiting for the future and really having the organization's leadership committing to both and be able to run all of that and then over time transform the organization themselves. I've seen that book, I think in some bookstores in Singapore. I haven't read it, but I'll sure to check it out.
Thanks for sharing that. I think one interesting part about what you mentioned, disrupting the current business model. So I can foresee that there are multiple ways of how you run this, because of all, like, you said, create a separate team. One is like the Legacy Microsoft Office and one is the Office 365.
Do you run them as a separate team with its own goals and targets and business numbers and revenues and things like that or actually you are cooperating together in order to make them seamlessly integrated and even supporting each other. In terms of coming up with the bigger numbers, right? Great question, because I think the reality when we go about executing something like that, is that it's practical and efficient to create a separate team. First with literally different goals away.
The new team needs to think about a future for the organization itself, its products and its strategy, but I think keeping that connection keeping that conversation keeping that collaboration with the existing teams are crucial as well. It's interesting, these exact questions that you brought up. It's all covered in that book doing shots as well. How do I ensure that conversations continue to take place? So that the new team understands?
The challenges of let's say the current business itself and also, how to harness new thinking and a new product strategy to solve some of these existing challenges with the current products, for example, so those are the kind of things that I would always encourage organizations, cxos, or Ecology leaders, to always, think about, it's not to say, you create two separate teams or you just have two separate teams and they don't talk to each other. In fact, that is often the
failure that happens. If they don't talk to each other, they should be close. But yet in some extent of it, be managed separately, and overtime, bring in recruit the others who have been running. The current products itself into the new businesses into the new organization. So that as a larger organization, you have the ability to transition, their be kept.
Conversation going, I know iPhone and scary memories of all the debates that we have had with different teams and true that, I think a lot of learning takes place and that has helped us to really over time transform the way we think about the software business. Wow. I can imagine during that time different business. Departments may be having their own agenda and thinking of how to collaborate. Let's go back to your core role, which is a technical product management.
I'm sure you have an insurmountable of features lining up how to catch up with Existing office. I know that you have a passion in the art of product management as well. Maybe you can share with the audience here who are into product management as well. How did you tackle such a big challenge of catching up with the existing Legacy and Rebrand it into something? That is more modern for people to adopt.
Well, as an interesting question, product management is sometimes part science and part there is no step process. There is no, here's the 10 procedures. Here's the book to read or things like that. It really depends a lot. A lot on what you're trying to create and land in the hands of your customers and partners. When I think about product management. I really think about these other set of people that really embodies the vision of the product itself.
They are the ones that really carries the vision and really value proposition. I mean, if you drill down to it, yes. Value proposition of it design aspect and all that, but I think it comes with the spirit of how are all these becoming better in terms of Of serving your customers needs, but at the same time, surprising them with capabilities that. Sometimes the customers may not
know themselves as well. I think that's when you have reached the realm of being able to surprise and Delight the customers with some of these capabilities that you are bringing into the product. A lot of times, if you read the articles on the web product manager, sometimes they called him or her, the CEO of the product and yet, he or she has nobody reporting to him. He or she has to go run and convince engineering to do this and planning people to do that
or text people do this. But I think it's really an art in itself that person really has to think like an engineer in his head. Have a heart of a designer really like feeling the product itself. And I think the last skill is really have the tank of a diplomat. I learn this all from someone.
I'm trying to recall that person's name right now, but at the moment I cannot really I think Product managers play these kind of roles at different times depending on the teams and their stakeholders, as well as the colleagues that they work with. Wow, very, very insightful. During that time. You spend from the beginning from the founding team being established until the launch. How long did it take for you to go public? Okay. Here's Office. 365.
Everyone can try to explain use too long now, I'll get it. Let's see, I would say we spend quite a bit of time on envisioning the future. Futures part of that was a good. Maybe it was a year or so, making sure that our vision is not skewed too far into the imaginary future where something
is, just not going to happen. But at the same time, grounded in our observations of the technology Foundation, like in processing like in data center architectures, for example, the global wide area network bandwidth, for example, and the way software development techniques and tools are evolving as well. I think. Over a span of about one and a half to two years.
When we first ship, the first instance of that in the US market and then subsequently over 220 countries and then expanding that a following year and learning along the way as we roll that out. So felt like a long time, but at the same time, it also felt like a short time because we were running very fast and making sure that we can deliver what we commit to. But at the same time, really making sure that the product experience is what we envisioned it to be. We want to make sure that we
don't fall short of that. Otherwise, then we could end up delivering something that is just marginal improvement over what we have in our existing product. So it's got the fundamentally change and of course, it also changes the way our customers think about our products. How would they procure it? How would they use it, how they get it upgraded? Things like that. TimeWise was about, I would say two years or so. It was an exciting Journey. So during that time.
And do you actually break down the team into separate sub areas? Like, for example, Office 365 is not just one product. You have the foundation, obviously how it integrates with each other, including the Legacy applications. And you have word, you have PowerPoint. You have Excel. For example, do you break them up into sub teams? Where everybody has their own iteration? Or you actually like in the initial year, you sit down together and build the products together as a team.
Yeah. I think that question is interesting in the sense that you mention about how About, we just break them into the team's, the different product features that we have in the old days. So to speak. Generally, we try not to because I think that's falling into the default of how we think about the product itself. And what we did, I can uniquely was that we think of it as a whole Suite of collaboration and communication tools.
So, bring that together because when we break it down into our products, this is something that I really really against, we are shipping. Our organization just to Customers which is not a good thing. We should be shipping a set of products and tools that they use that really solve some of their pain points or really Delights them. So a lot of times they shouldn't be constrained by our organization but having that flexibility to say, how do we change ourselves such?
That it make sure that it helps to address what the customers and our partners needs are like so we didn't do that. We just say, okay, maybe we need a team that is really thinking about the whole office suite. Itself, all the different components underneath that but at the same time, also things like weather is it data centers, networking licensing, our partners ecosystem, for example, so those are some of the early days of how we have organized ourselves to tackle that.
And if we feel like some of that models is not really working. Well, along the way, then we change it. Wow. I learned a lot from you on this product management. Obviously, during that time. It's probably the early days of cloud. I'm sure. Also Microsoft started to explore around the cloud and probably ended up as like a The cloud product from Microsoft. So can you probably share with us? What is the importance of cloud
these days? And why do you think for some organizations who have an adopted it? Why should they move to the cloud especially those who are highly regulated? Those are very great question. I think as Microsoft evolves and move into the cloud services whether is it with Office 365 or whether is it with Azure or Dynamics? 365 business application, modern workplace and the intelligent Cloud itself, I think.
The fundamental challenge is that it's a massive shift for many organization when they think about their technology needs in the past is always been, hey, I'm able to procure software from the different technology vendors. One of them being Microsoft and I install the software into a bunch of servers and shove them into this corner, called the data center, or call the server rooms that serves the organization itself and what is evolving to or what is evolved.
Is now there's an ability for you to consume, all these resources on a utility basis. Just like your electricity and water. And that fundamental shifts has many different kind of impacts whether is it to the CFO? For example, the way he, or she things about how it impacts the bottom line from capital expenditure, all the way to operational expenditure itself. There are also different skill sets that technology teams, it teams within organizations that they have. To adopt and changes.
Well, I'll tell a little anecdotal story. Here. I have a friend who used to be the CEO of a company and he had this server room in the office and it was interesting. He says, you know what Richard one day, the air conditioning broke down and my service were melting and this was not too long ago. This is still fairly recently made sense.
And you just think about that. The CIO has to worry about the air conditioning equipment of that server room besides the Seasons and the services that he or she needed to provide to all the users and all the stakeholders in the company itself. Having a service provider like Microsoft be able to help with that fundamentally changes. The way he or she thinks about technology transformation
adoption and things like that. So a Microsoft we call this the tech intensity and what this is is really about the rate of your technology adoption in an organization X. The Elegy capability that you are building in your team's self and then operating that in a trusted secure Paradigm.
I think that's really important for a lot of organization to really Embrace. And I think a lot of times the challenge with adopting the cloud, it's not something that they can see and feel like in the past where they can say. Hey, this is my server room. I know where my service, its. I know where the cables connect to, and now we have to trust a
service provided. Be able to run our application in this data centers, which sometimes we don't even know where it is and still be able to keep our business running. That's a leap of faith in some sense for a lot of cios and ctOS. For example, over time. I think they've come to accept their engage with a lot of different service providers and say, okay. I understand how the technology work right.
Now. I have many sneak peeks behind us behind the curtains to see how these Mega data centers are run, how their security is being handled. I can trust it. I can start really thinking about leveraging these platforms for my digital transformation. Just recently. I was speaking to a crowd of financial leaders, for example, and it's interesting. I've given this talk in discussions over the years and in the early years, it was quote unquote.
Why cloud? And now is okay Bridget, we get it. We are definitely going there. It's going to the cloud. We just want to make sure that on an ongoing basis. There is a partnership and engagement. Around things like Risk Management, for example, security Assurance, for example, these are topical, concerns and issues that the risks and Assurance. People within that see the banking industry that are concerned with the technology
itself and platforms. And the Paradigm is largely embraced by a lot of organizations right now, and they are certainly leveraging that. And now the conversation has really shifted. So, it's interesting. I started my cloud Journey Back In what 2006? Yeah. Wow, it's been 14 years already. It makes me out old guy in a cloud, but you can certainly see that conversation has shifted and adoption have shifted over the years. And especially in the last, I would say probably the last five
years. So, I mean, like, in those long years. I'm sure you have a lot of experiencing, a lot of organization. Trying to digitally transform, adopting cloud and things like that. Could you probably either share. What are some of the tips for successful digital? Omission or maybe some misconceptions that people should avoid when adopting this digital transformation. Ah, that's a very good one. Maybe this is a personal one organization should never set up a central digital transformation
office. It should be owned by everybody in the organization itself. And I think that's sometimes a challenge when I talk to you, key decision, makers and cxos in an organization. Sometimes they will feel like oh this whole transformation. I'll just set up an office for that. At, and they will take care of everything while we run the business. I think, when you think about such a fundamental shifts, in terms of embracing technology into all aspects of an
organization. It is not something that can be outsourced. No centralized in some digital transformation office. If you will, I would say, is the right thing to do because if an organization things about how they are, let's say, transforming their products and services that they are serving their customers, that would require some set of change. The optimizing their operations in the back end. That's also another set of stakeholders that needs to come into play.
Or they are thinking about empowering the employees with the latest and greatest, communication and collaboration tools, for example, or maybe new ways in terms, of engaging, with customers, especially in times. Like this, during the covid-19, pandemic customers who were very used to one form of engaging, with customers like maybe in a retail store, maybe in an office. Now, we have to think about new ways of of engaging customers virtually through an online
forum. For example, these are all the concerns. These are all the destroyed transformation efforts that touches every part of the organization. So it's not as cios job. It's the CEOs, job, every company. Every organization. It's becoming a technology company and they are harnessing technology in the way. They transform their products and services and the way they empowered employees optimize their operations or engage with
customers. So I think, It's really one of the key ways to think about how an organization really needs to think about digital transformation and be able to permit that through the organization itself. It's not owned by a central office. It needs to be owned by everyone. But obviously the dealership needs to lead by example and really drive that from the front interesting. You said that because I just realized that so many organizations embarking this digital transformation Journey
yet. I see a lot of them setting up Center of Excellence. I don't know what they call. All these days, all these Center of Excellence, kind of team seems to be there. What do you think are some of the common misconception? Why people are setting up that way if it's not totally helping in terms of the whole transformation. I think it's probably a misconception that having a center of excellence within that organization itself would mean that the whole organization
would be able to change. It's interesting because in terms of organizational dynamics that lends itself to an The consequence because if you are not part of that, Center of Excellence, you would say, oh it's that Center of Excellence job and it's very human nature to do that. And what happens is that they permit through the organization and somebody just easily points a finger on to the co e and say, oh, this is those guys job is not my job.
That's a potential for failure. I think, when we think about digital technology adoption, it's everybody's job. Of course, are very different levels. I think with hear stories about how Nicole people who have leverage low code, and no code type of platforms and created applications for the organizations. And when you think about that the sense of ownership and the sense of serving their stakeholders. It's so empowering that they say, oh, you know what?
I can take this tool and be able to create perhaps a new service or an app to serve my customers or my internal stakeholders. For example, I don't have to wait for it or the CTO office to go figure out. Is for me but half a close
working relationship. So yes, I would certainly encourage all your listeners out there to not think about having just Central offices or Central digital transformation office and really make it a tech intensity that is adopted across the whole organization itself because technology is not going to go away. In fact, it's just going to go even more and more as we adopt technology that intelligent, that can even anticipate our needs and stuff like that.
So, I think it's It's just a sign of of times and it will continue to move forward in a direction. I just remember what anecdotal story is my personal experience going to an organization. Just like what you said, they adopted Center of Excellence. So we went through different levels and at a certain floor when you open. Wow, it's so different with a lot of lights brightness and all
that. I think that's not a good thing as well because when people see it and especially if you're from that, team going out to that level. The other people will just see you. In probably creates this kind of a social friction. I would say like this is that too. I'm the other team probably political wise is not good to do. So, yes. Yes. Yes. Unfortunately. Yes, you are spot on.
There are unintended consequences sometimes of such arrangements and whichever organizations, the leaders need to be very conscious of some of the unintended consequences that can happen. So moving onto your other interest, probably, what are the things that you are busy with or contributing in the community or any other passion that you're doing outside of your role in Microsoft.
I think a big part of it as you. Might know, I'm also the chairman of s gtex artificial intelligence and high performance Computing chapter itself. So really leaning in working with the community here of different organization to think about adoption of AI, for example, in many different aspects of Our Lives or in the organization itself, and I think really closely marrying. The debt, is this notion around responsible AI itself as technology? Get more and more intelligent.
I think it's more and more important. That we really think about not only what technology can do, but what it should do. And those are really important issues that we need to think of, whether they have the same reliability, the Privacy protects. The security aspect of itself. Is it inclusive? Is it fair? The amount of transparency algorithms have, for example, or accountability of all this
software that is being run. I think those are very topical issues as well as we think about the adoption of Oh gee, and it's interesting because this area is also very cultural and that speaks to the diversity of the planet. If I'm not wrong. There was this way around the world that talks about whether it was it an autonomous car or something. That went wrong and let's say is it going to knock down the elderly lady or the baby?
And what's the decision? And it's very interesting that the result came up, very split depending on the culture and where you were brought up. So there's no real right answer, but certainly conversations that we need to talk about and so I'm really passionate about something like this as well. The other aspect is really learning about technology. Technology. Just keeps going and going. It's so fun. But at the same time, just keeping the pace. It's really crazy.
Let me tell another story again. When we went into this circuit breaker and everybody is working from home. It was so interesting to see that my two boys, my two sons just went into it so easily because they have been interacting with a lot of their friends in school online through games. For example, Example. It's so normal for them putting on a headset or having a microphone then talking and bantering about while they're playing. The games is so normal.
I literally learn from them. What are the best might to get? That's really it's always take upskilling for me. That's like oh so this is how you interact with your friends while you're playing the game and don't you get leg is a headset better or it's a mic better. I was just so impressed and I think the Skilling aspect of it. It's not about just learning from That we can learn from our kids as well. They will be showing us in many ways. What the future could look like.
Unfortunately. This pandemic have actually accelerated a lot of that. And yeah, they felt so comfortable. Going online to just interacting with their friends. They didn't feel like they need to go back to school. I was getting worried a little bit dad. That's online learning stuff. It's really fine. Okay, but you miss school face-to-face with their friends. Yeah, no worries.
We see each other on a computer. We just are so maybe it's sometimes what a Microsoft we term of as a growth mindset versus the fixed mindset. Sometimes we have to confront our fixed mindset every day and say, okay, we may have a fixed mindset around how this thing should work or how that thing should be like. And yet, when we encounter something else that looks different from us. We can either be curious about it.
Learn more about it and perhaps, even adopted, or at least be curious about it. So I think that's that growth mindset that We talked about quite a fair bit and that willingness to learn and I was like, yeah, sometimes my kids do stuff that I don't even know of. So, I better go learn from them. Sometimes they find a little bit and then they will say that. Aren't you like the CTO of Microsoft Singapore? Shouldn't you know this stuff? Yeah.
I was about to say that sometimes I can totally relate to that. It's like a wake-up call. We have been in the industry for many years. Dealing with technology. We assume like, we had to expand. We know everything about tech, but yeah, there are other areas, especially with youngsters they are. Mode of using technology, seems to be different if you know about it, of course, you know, like Tick-Tock and all these new up-and-coming trends, how they use technology. Sometimes it's wow.
I didn't think about that before. So yeah, it's pretty interesting. Anecdotes that you mentioned there. But your kids, I also want to ask you about the responsibilities Tech, the whole umbrella of what you just mentioned. Is there any particular group that you support? Like for people, if they are interested to know more about this concept responsibility tag, maybe you can share with the audience. Yes, so I would encourage All your listeners.
If they are Keen to engage on some of this topic come joint the SG Tech Ai, and HPC chapter, we welcome organizations, here in Singapore, whether you are a technology company or yarn on technology company, but really looking at using some of these intelligent technology in your digital transformation Journey itself, what we're doing within the chapter is creating the communities of different organizations.
And having different conversations around responsible technology responsible AI for example, and also at the same time engaging with some of the policy makers here in Singapore as well. So be it, whether is it pdpc, the personal data protection commission, for example, or Mas monetary authority of Singapore who are looking at? What does that mean? When the AI comes into financial services? For example, what are the impact? What are the kind of sensitive you? Case that we have to really
think about. So yeah, this isn't anyone space. So I'll make a plug for SG tag and we have a LinkedIn website. So look it up and come join us. Join the chapter and love to have everybody from different organizations, different technology providers as well as end-user companies to participate in this discussion. Thanks for sharing that. For those of you who have a deep interest in this area. Make sure to check it out and maybe join and see how you can contribute as well.
Bridget. It's been a pleasure, all these discussions. Russian. I have one last question, which I normally ask for every guest that I have in the show. Could you share us? Maybe if you have three technical leadership, wisdom that you want to transfer to the audience here? Ah, okay. Three is a lot. But yes, here's how I think about it. I remember sharing with my teams before, I think it comes down to this is I can say, is 3 is the same as people people people.
At the end of the day. It's not about how well, you know about it. Technology, if you are building an organization's and nurturing an organization, it's the people that forms the organization itself and the same time. When you think about being able to do that, when you have great people, great people will create the great products and then your great products will then bring in the profits. So people products profits in that order.
So I think that's really the key thing is really about the people that you bring in is not only about just bringing the small people, but at the same time, Nurturing them to have a growth mindset. For example, really, really embracing the changes that is taking place in the technology and being curious. For example, about why are some things are evolving in this way? And why is that a different technology? How is that going to impact us and being curious and learning about it?
I think, when technology leaders invest in their people and spending time to nurture them weather, is it? Their curiosity, they are growth mindsets. The Will come naturally. Wow. Thank you for that. Yeah, it's not true. But you can be tricky. Thank you. Again Richard for spending your time here, sharing your experience, your knowledge and your wisdom with everyone here. I really appreciate that. I do learn a lot, obviously, especially your journey in Office 365.
I'm sure it's also part of your career that you share is a lot where you grow and learn from what you did. That anyone wants to find you online. Where can they reach? You? LinkedIn is the best platform to reach out to me. I do post a lot on LinkedIn. In. So you can search it up. Richard Cole, Microsoft from sure you'll find me on LinkedIn. I do share a lot of what Microsoft is doing and innovating around and the some of the key topical topics that we discuss in doing it with
Community online as well. Another place that I can engage us on Twitter. My handle is Rich Echo. Just one word simple as that. That will be another way. That folks can reach out to me as well. Alright. Thanks Richard as so hope to see you again in future episode likewise. Been a pleasure talking to you Henry. This has been fun. Thank you for listening to this episode and for staying right till the end.
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