May 28, 2025 • 22 mins
How does Microsoft stay ahead in global marketing? Kathleen Mitford, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, reveals the tech-powered approach that’s powering tomorrow's industries. 🔍
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steven (00:01):
Welcome to the Tomorrow's World Today podcast.
We sit down with experts, worldchanging innovators, creators,
and makers to explore howthey're taking action to make
tomorrow's world a better placefor technology, science,
innovation, sustainability, thearts, and more.
On this episode, host GeorgeDavison, who is also the host of
(00:22):
the TV series Tomorrow's WorldToday, sits down with Kathleen
Mitford, Corporate VicePresident of Global Industry
Marketing at Microsoft.
She shares her inspiringjourney from fashion design to
technology, while emphasizingthe importance of curiosity,
mentorship, and responsible AIas key drivers for future
innovations like the metaverse,which could transform digital
(00:43):
interactions across industries.
Today we have a special guest.
Her name is
George (00:49):
Kathleen Mitford and she's from Microsoft.
Kathleen (00:53):
Hey, George.
I'm so happy to be here today.
George (00:55):
Well, we're thrilled to have you here.
And we're hoping that you'regoing to share some of your life
story with us, as well as someof your corporate story, if you
would.
Kathleen (01:03):
Absolutely.
George (01:04):
All right.
Well, why don't we talk alittle bit about Microsoft?
Maybe we can learn somebackground there.
How did the company getstarted, if you could share
that?
Kathleen (01:13):
Yes.
Microsoft started with twofriends, Bill Gates and Paul
Allen, who had a dream.
So like many other companies,the company's been around for
decades.
decades, and they started withmainframe operating systems, but
then had this dream to put apersonal computer on every
person's desktop.
(01:34):
Yes.
And that's where, again, manydecades ago that they started,
and now at Microsoft, we're muchbroader than that, and our
vision is to empower everyperson and every organization to
achieve more.
George (01:46):
Wow.
That's a wonderfulaccomplishment and a dream to
make a better world out there,right?
Kathleen (01:52):
Absolutely.
George (01:53):
So inside the Microsoft operations, how do you fit in?
What's your position all about?
Kathleen (02:00):
So at Microsoft, I'm Corporate Vice President of
Azure Marketing.
And what Azure is, that's ourpublic cloud.
So think about it.
We used to store information infiles, you know, in our
desktop, at home, or at ouroffice at work.
But now all that information isstored up in the cloud.
So what my team do is we workwith our great teammates across
(02:22):
Microsoft on what is thelong-term vision for Azure,
what's our business strategy,what's our market strategy, and
of course, in the title,marketing, how do we tell that
story to the world?
George (02:33):
That's sometimes a tough thing to do, isn't it?
Kathleen (02:36):
Well, taking something like technology that sometimes
can be complicated and tellingit in a very simple story that
applies to a wide audience,that's really a talent in being
able to simplify the complex.
George (02:50):
Right.
I mean, when you get into thefield of inventing something
new, right?
You identify a challenge, comeup with ideas, try to come up
with the invention, so to speak.
And then if you can translateit into something simple, maybe
it is adoptable by the generalpublic, right?
But telling that story to ageneral audience can be quite a
(03:11):
challenge.
And we've seen that in thepast.
Kathleen (03:13):
Yes, and something that goes across many different
industries.
So think about the cloud.
We use that in our personallife.
We use that in business.
So again, making thatapplicable to everyone.
George (03:24):
Yes.
Thank you.
All right.
How about some more backgroundinformation, if we could?
How did you get to the positionthat you're in today?
You didn't always work atMicrosoft.
Can you take us back a littlefurther?
Kathleen (03:39):
Yes.
I actually have a veryinteresting career for somebody
in technology.
I actually started my career asa fashion designer in New York.
So I went to school for fashiondesign, studied fashion design,
and worked as a designer formany years in New York and the
company I was working for wasimplementing at the time
something called PLM or PDMproduct data management to be
(04:01):
able to do the designs on thecomputer and because I was the
youngest person in the designdepartment they said Kathleen
how about you help us implementthis technology and then I spent
so much time on the phone withtheir software company telling
them what their technologyshould do but they said why
don't you come and work for usso that was my entry into
technology and that was over 20years ago Isn't
George (04:23):
that amazing?
Kathleen (04:24):
It is.
I wanted to be a fashiondesigner from the time I was
seven.
We used to have these thingscalled fashion plates where you
would switch out the shirt, thepants, color them different.
And I never thought that afterI achieved my goal of being a
fashion designer that I wouldswitch to a different career.
But they're actually veryconnected.
With fashion design, you'redesigning clothing.
(04:46):
With technology, you'redesigning technology that's
helping people.
So it still has that samecreative process of trying to
understand, you know, what yourcustomers' needs are and then
designing the best solution.
George (04:58):
Wow, that's quite an interesting jump from fashion to
technology.
But there's a lot oftechnology, a lot of older,
let's say, traditional arts, youknow, like fashion or making
clothing and translating it intothe future.
There's a lot of industrieslike that that have moved in
recent years.
Kathleen (05:17):
Yes, there are.
George (05:18):
How about mentors?
Do you have any mentors thatwere kind of shaping your future
I
Kathleen (05:24):
do have mentors you know I would say that my parents
were probably my first mentorslike my dad had his own business
and looking at my dad going toschool at night working hard to
provide for myself and I havethree sisters and in addition to
my dad I had an aunt a sisterMarie Moen she was a nun and we
called her Aunt Ray and at atime when you didn't see many
(05:47):
women in executive positions inaddition to living a life of
service as a as a nun she was anexecutive at a hospital in the
hospital administration.
So I always looked up to her.
I always enjoyed the days whenmy mom would take us to go have
lunch with her and our secretarywould take us in.
So she inspired me at a youngage that you could have dreams,
(06:09):
dream big, and to really achievewhat I wanted to in life.
George (06:14):
Well, thank goodness for her.
You know, young minds justgetting shaped by positive
people, finding challenges tosolve that, let's say, that
haven't been solved in the past.
I had some of that in myhistory as well.
And so thank goodness for, whatwas her name again?
Kathleen (06:33):
Her name was Sister Marie Moen, and we called her
Aunt Ree, or Ree-Ree.
George (06:37):
Aunt Ree.
Okay, well, we like that story.
All right, so if you could doone thing over again in your
high school years, what wouldeven early college.
What would it be?
Kathleen (06:49):
You know, I was thinking about this question
because I had the luxury ofseeing the questions ahead of
time.
And I actually don't thinkthere would be anything that I
would do over in my high schoolor college days.
I think I had a pretty balancedhigh school.
I studied hard.
But I also was involved in alot of different activities.
And different activities suchas the community service corps,
(07:11):
giving back to the community,things like being involved in
the play.
So having that wide variety ofexperiences and not just
studying all the time but havinga balance to making sure that I
was involved enough in myschool work but also doing other
activities as well and the samething in college when I was in
college I did summer internsrelated to the fashion industry
(07:34):
I actually worked in a warehousefor a small design company
doing a variety of differentthings inspecting the clothing
unpacking the boxes even gettingto design some of their
marketing materials.
So I think doing those things,I don't think there's anything I
would have done different whenI was in high school or when I
(07:55):
was in college.
One thing I wish I would havedone is I never got my MBA.
When I graduated from college,I started a job right away, and
I was lucky that with my career,I was able to travel the world.
So as a fashion designer, I gotto go to the different
factories in India and Pakistanand places like that.
So I prioritized having acareer that allowed me to
(08:19):
experience going differentplaces.
George (08:21):
Yes.
Kathleen (08:21):
But now I always wish that I'd gotten my MBA.
George (08:24):
Well, that's interesting.
Would you, if you did get yourMBA, would that have, you know,
enhanced your career, do youthink?
Is that why?
Kathleen (08:33):
I don't think it would have enhanced my career.
It probably would have allowedme to start with a higher salary
when I was in my early days.
I think it also would havemaybe helped advance some of my
learning beyond just the craftthat I was doing, you know, as
an MBA.
A lot of the experiences that Ihave now on collaborating,
(08:55):
leading teams, speaking inpublic, you know, I think some
of that would have come from theMBA, the business side of it,
the business side, really beingable to look at a business and
how do you drive theprofitability of a business, not
just, you know, revenue growth,understanding things like what
investors are looking at andwhen they're judging companies.
Those are the type of thingsthat I learned in my career.
(09:15):
that maybe having an MBA wouldhave helped accelerate.
George (09:19):
I understand, yes.
All right, so how abouthobbies?
Do you have any hobbies thatrelease you or give you good
creativity?
Kathleen (09:30):
Yes, I'd say running and gardening.
But running is the one thatreleases me and gives me
creativity.
I start every day with aworkout, and I run three or four
times a week, and I have mybest ideas when I'm out on a
run.
and especially you know if it'sI live in Seattle and it rains
a lot so on the days when I'mnot on a treadmill but actually
(09:53):
outdoors in nature on a trailit's just very you know kind of
freeing to be out there I findit very calming and that's when
the great ideas can flow I alsouse that time to listen to a lot
of audible books so if there'ssomething that I am trying to
learn new on my runs I'll usethat time to listen to those
(10:14):
books
George (10:15):
that's one Wonderful.
You know, trying to find thatspot in your life where you
release and let the mind justfloat around a little bit and
let the ideas flow in.
Everybody's different, but ifyou can find that little spot,
it's wonderful.
I can find it sometimes indifferent locations.
I don't know why, but this timeof the year, I like to cut the
lawn.
Kathleen (10:35):
Okay.
George (10:36):
And I really, nobody can get me on my devices.
Just leave me alone.
I just want to be by myself fora little while.
I put thoughts in my head thatI want to think about and then
next thing I know I can thinkdeeply through them as I'm
making pretty little lines inthe grass you know pretty simple
stuff but it's helpful
Kathleen (10:56):
you know it's the same approach that I take when I go
out on my run so ahead of timeI'll be like okay I've got these
three big challenges orproblems that I want to solve
you know and I'll set myself upeven before the run and thinking
about what is it that I'mtrying to figure out with that
particular that particularproblem or challenge
George (11:15):
that's great Preloading the challenge.
Let's chat a little bit aboutthe future of your industry, if
we could.
Knowing what you know today,what advice would you give to a
person interested in enteringyour industry?
Kathleen (11:29):
I would say, stay curious.
If you look at my career and mybackground, I don't have the
typical background for atechnology executive, starting
as a fashion designer.
But I've always stayed curiouswhen there were new
opportunities that came to meand not only with new
opportunities but learning aboutnew things so whether it was
(11:53):
talking to somebody that was ina role that I was looking at
maybe getting into if it was atype of technology that I wanted
to figure out if I wanted towork in a business group with
that type of technology playingaround with it on my own so I
believe that curiosity andstaying open to new ideas and
knowing that there isn't alwaysa straight path that your path
(12:15):
in your career can be a littlebit like a windy road
George (12:19):
and
Kathleen (12:19):
that's okay because I think having lots of different
experiences really enriches
George (12:24):
us.
Yes, I agree with you.
There's something beautifulabout that windy road.
I don't know why but when wewere younger I had this vision
that it was going to be astraight up career path and it
was always kind of this andfigure it out and try to adjust
to things that I wanted toimprove.
I think young people are uh,always wondering how do people
(12:49):
attain these career paths anduh...
to me it's like another sciencethat needs to be discovered
right
Kathleen (12:54):
right and there's different ways for different
people on actually exploringthose different paths you know
and again it has to do with thepersonality for me being curious
it's about reading it's abouttalking to people it's about
getting my fingers dirty withdifferent things so you also
have to figure out for yourselfwhat works for you what gives
(13:15):
you joy What makes you happy intrying new things?
George (13:19):
Do they encourage that kind of thing at Microsoft?
Do they have training in thefield of improving yourself?
Is that a fair way to say it?
Kathleen (13:29):
That is a fair way of saying it, and Microsoft has a
lot of that.
Microsoft actually encouragesyou to try new things.
If you look at people that havebeen at Microsoft for, let's
say, 20, 25 years, which we havea lot of people in my team that
have been at Microsoft for along time, which is great,
they've worked in almost everydifferent business in different
roles.
(13:49):
Even within product marketing Ihave a lot of people that were
in engineering or were in acompletely different function.
So they encourage us not onlyto try different roles at
Microsoft but also give us awhole ton of learning tools to
help us.
Learning tools whether they areclasses that you can take and
watch online, subscriptions todifferent types of books.
(14:12):
We have these great thingswhere every month there's a
different speaker that comes in
Steven (14:16):
that
Kathleen (14:17):
of course is recorded and you can if you miss it if
you miss it live you can watchit recorded but it's people from
different types of backgroundssometimes it's sports players
that come in sometimes it'speople from film it's great
executives that have donedifferent things in their career
I mentioned athletes so itgives you different perspectives
(14:39):
on different people's life andwhat approach and what path they
took
George (14:44):
that's wonderful that's part of what we're doing today
Kathleen (14:46):
This is the best part of my job.
Oh, there
George (14:49):
you go.
Do you believe that anybodycould be successful?
And if so, what do you thinksome of the most basic building
blocks need to be to empower ouryouth?
Kathleen (14:59):
Yes, I absolutely believe anybody can be
successful.
If you go and look at some ofthe great professionals out
there, many didn't start in avery high position.
They worked their way up there.
And some of the building blocksare one of the reasons why I'm
so excited to be here are thingslike STEM.
(15:21):
So I think being curious aboutSTEM, understanding what those
possibilities are, playingaround with different
technology, I think are some ofthe building blocks,
particularly for getting intomore technology-related
industries.
George (15:37):
I agree with you.
There's STEM in fashion, right?
You have to learn how to cutand engineer, make a pattern,
shape things, package things,market things, right?
STEM is involved in all thosethings, as well as STEAM.
And from what I heard, you havea little bit of background in
STEM and STEAM on a professionallevel as well, on the
(15:58):
engineering side.
Kathleen (16:00):
I do.
Prior to being at Microsoft, Iworked for a company, PTC, that
they had their roots in CAD,computer-aided design, and
that's where you make 2D and 3Dmodels.
So, yes, I had a lot ofexperience there and a lot of
experience in STEM and workingwith students and providing
(16:21):
technology to them.
George (16:22):
Yeah, we're seeing amazing things.
Inventionland and education,these young people are going and
doing these invention contestswith us, and some of the
creativity is amazing.
That free, creative mind thatthey have and uh...
They reach out to theprofessionals in their community
(16:43):
as well as their teachers totry and make whatever dream they
have to build it.
And they build so many skillsdoing that.
It's exciting for us to seethat emerging right now.
Kathleen (16:55):
Yeah, not only the skills that they're building,
but also the ideas that childrencome up with and younger.
They're actually things thatare very valuable that we often
see a lot of those get actuallyimplemented in industry.
George (17:09):
I'm excited.
Once they get older, or they'regoing to solve some other big
ones that we didn't see.
They're going to look at whatwe created and they're going to
say, oh, I can make that better.
Kathleen (17:17):
Absolutely.
And that's a good part of it.
That's what we want them to do.
George (17:22):
Right, right.
We want that next generation tosucceed.
All right, so let's see here.
What's the next one?
What is one project that youthink your industry has
struggled with but you thinkwould elevate humankind?
Kathleen (17:37):
Yes.
I think the industry, I thinkwe can elevate humankind with
AI, especially with responsibleAI.
And that's one of the things Ireally like about Microsoft is
Microsoft isn't just abouttechnology, but how do we
provide that technology in aresponsible way, in a safe way,
(17:58):
in an accessible way.
So AI has been around for awhile, but I think we haven't
cracked the code yet on how AIcan be used in a broader way?
George (18:10):
Well, I'm hoping so.
Being a responsible steward ofthat area is very, very
important.
I just read that America, we'vejust put the fastest, largest
supercomputer on the planetagain.
What can you do with AI andthat kind of power and such a
(18:30):
wonderful, powerful way of doingthings in the future?
You mentioned that you like todo gardening.
I don't think we understandeverything we need to understand
about plants in general.
I don't know.
I'm looking to see how theyapply AI into that world of
biology and plants and things.
I think it could open up quitea few different doors for the
(18:52):
future.
Kathleen (18:53):
I think it could as well.
And also being used for things,you know, you mentioned plants,
but doing things likesustainable agriculture as well.
And how can you use AI to helppredict exactly things like what
are the best growing patterns,pesticides, whatever that may
be, to provide more sustainablefood sources.
George (19:13):
Yes.
That would be nice to have
Kathleen (19:16):
long
George (19:16):
term.
All right.
So we're going to ask the lastquestion today, unless you have
questions of your own.
But what do you think is thenext big innovation in your
industry?
Kathleen (19:28):
I think the next big innovation is the metaverse.
You know, we think about themetaverse today for doing things
like gaming and playing gameswith a friend.
But I think there are so manymore possibilities with
metaverse and what what we cando, not just in things like
gaming, but how we engage witheach other, how we engage in a
(19:48):
business environment.
George (19:51):
Could you explain to our audience what a metaverse is?
We want to make sure they allgrasp that concept.
Kathleen (19:57):
Sure.
If you think about a metaverse,a metaverse is an online
environment.
So if you think about a game,you're in a game, you're
playing, you can see thedifferent avatars of people
playing in the game.
Yes.
You can make your own avatar.
The metaverse is thatenvironment where you're
envisioning all of this.
(20:18):
So if I take it to a businessenvironment, think about doing
something like a Teams call.
And on the Teams call, we'reseeing little boxes of
everybody's faces sitting attheir home office or their desk
or wherever they are.
But in a metaverse, we candecide to put ourselves in an
environment.
We want to pretend thateverybody is sitting around a
(20:39):
boardroom table and have ouravatars like you and I are
sitting here talking today, butagain, doing that in a
completely virtual environment,in something that feels
realistic.
George (20:50):
So in that world, you could be at home.
in an environment that you'recomfortable with.
Your avatar would then go intoa digital world.
My avatar would go into adigital world.
We could create a digital spacelike this and communicate with
an audience.
Is that fair
Kathleen (21:09):
to say?
That's exactly it.
So George, think about this.
I'm sitting next to you hereand I'm based in Seattle.
So I had to fly from Seattlehere to Pittsburgh to have the
conversation.
But imagine that we had adigital representation of this
room and You had your avatarsitting there, and I had my
avatar sitting here, and I couldbe at my home office in
Seattle.
George (21:29):
See, that to me is exciting.
And think of all the differentjobs in the future.
You're going to have all sortsof digital engineering
construction to create, let'ssay, these types of sets.
Instead of doing it physically,do it through digital means,
right?
Kathleen (21:43):
That's right.
Doing it all digitally.
But then also making it.
There's something about whenyou're with somebody in person
that there's a different type ofenergy that is created that I
think sometimes gets lost.
when we're not together inperson.
And what the metaverse istrying to do is to keep those
connections of the type ofinteractions that we have when
(22:04):
we're near each other, but in adigital way.
George (22:08):
I hope they can accomplish that.
Kathleen (22:10):
I know they can.
George (22:11):
Oh, really?
All right.
Well, I'm excited about thefuture after this meeting with
you.
Kathleen (22:16):
Me too.
George (22:17):
Well, Kathleen came to visit with us today, and we
appreciate your time.
Thank you for sharing yourstory with us.
Kathleen (22:23):
Well, thank you, George.
I really appreciate the offerto be here today.
Steven (22:27):
Well, that's another edition.
Bye, everybody.
And find us wherever podcastsare available.
Welcome to the Tomorrow's World Today podcast.
We sit down with experts, worldchanging innovators, creators,
and makers to explore howthey're taking action to make
tomorrow's world a better placefor technology, science,
innovation, sustainability, thearts, and more.
On this episode, host GeorgeDavison, who is also the host of
(00:22):
the TV series Tomorrow's WorldToday, sits down with Kathleen
Mitford, Corporate VicePresident of Global Industry
Marketing at Microsoft.
She shares her inspiringjourney from fashion design to
technology, while emphasizingthe importance of curiosity,
mentorship, and responsible AIas key drivers for future
innovations like the metaverse,which could transform digital
(00:43):
interactions across industries.
Today we have a special guest.
Her name is
George (00:49):
Kathleen Mitford and she's from Microsoft.
Kathleen (00:53):
Hey, George.
I'm so happy to be here today.
George (00:55):
Well, we're thrilled to have you here.
And we're hoping that you'regoing to share some of your life
story with us, as well as someof your corporate story, if you
would.
Kathleen (01:03):
Absolutely.
George (01:04):
All right.
Well, why don't we talk alittle bit about Microsoft?
Maybe we can learn somebackground there.
How did the company getstarted, if you could share
that?
Kathleen (01:13):
Yes.
Microsoft started with twofriends, Bill Gates and Paul
Allen, who had a dream.
So like many other companies,the company's been around for
decades.
decades, and they started withmainframe operating systems, but
then had this dream to put apersonal computer on every
person's desktop.
(01:34):
Yes.
And that's where, again, manydecades ago that they started,
and now at Microsoft, we're muchbroader than that, and our
vision is to empower everyperson and every organization to
achieve more.
George (01:46):
Wow.
That's a wonderfulaccomplishment and a dream to
make a better world out there,right?
Kathleen (01:52):
Absolutely.
George (01:53):
So inside the Microsoft operations, how do you fit in?
What's your position all about?
Kathleen (02:00):
So at Microsoft, I'm Corporate Vice President of
Azure Marketing.
And what Azure is, that's ourpublic cloud.
So think about it.
We used to store information infiles, you know, in our
desktop, at home, or at ouroffice at work.
But now all that information isstored up in the cloud.
So what my team do is we workwith our great teammates across
(02:22):
Microsoft on what is thelong-term vision for Azure,
what's our business strategy,what's our market strategy, and
of course, in the title,marketing, how do we tell that
story to the world?
George (02:33):
That's sometimes a tough thing to do, isn't it?
Kathleen (02:36):
Well, taking something like technology that sometimes
can be complicated and tellingit in a very simple story that
applies to a wide audience,that's really a talent in being
able to simplify the complex.
George (02:50):
Right.
I mean, when you get into thefield of inventing something
new, right?
You identify a challenge, comeup with ideas, try to come up
with the invention, so to speak.
And then if you can translateit into something simple, maybe
it is adoptable by the generalpublic, right?
But telling that story to ageneral audience can be quite a
(03:11):
challenge.
And we've seen that in thepast.
Kathleen (03:13):
Yes, and something that goes across many different
industries.
So think about the cloud.
We use that in our personallife.
We use that in business.
So again, making thatapplicable to everyone.
George (03:24):
Yes.
Thank you.
All right.
How about some more backgroundinformation, if we could?
How did you get to the positionthat you're in today?
You didn't always work atMicrosoft.
Can you take us back a littlefurther?
Kathleen (03:39):
Yes.
I actually have a veryinteresting career for somebody
in technology.
I actually started my career asa fashion designer in New York.
So I went to school for fashiondesign, studied fashion design,
and worked as a designer formany years in New York and the
company I was working for wasimplementing at the time
something called PLM or PDMproduct data management to be
(04:01):
able to do the designs on thecomputer and because I was the
youngest person in the designdepartment they said Kathleen
how about you help us implementthis technology and then I spent
so much time on the phone withtheir software company telling
them what their technologyshould do but they said why
don't you come and work for usso that was my entry into
technology and that was over 20years ago Isn't
George (04:23):
that amazing?
Kathleen (04:24):
It is.
I wanted to be a fashiondesigner from the time I was
seven.
We used to have these thingscalled fashion plates where you
would switch out the shirt, thepants, color them different.
And I never thought that afterI achieved my goal of being a
fashion designer that I wouldswitch to a different career.
But they're actually veryconnected.
With fashion design, you'redesigning clothing.
(04:46):
With technology, you'redesigning technology that's
helping people.
So it still has that samecreative process of trying to
understand, you know, what yourcustomers' needs are and then
designing the best solution.
George (04:58):
Wow, that's quite an interesting jump from fashion to
technology.
But there's a lot oftechnology, a lot of older,
let's say, traditional arts, youknow, like fashion or making
clothing and translating it intothe future.
There's a lot of industrieslike that that have moved in
recent years.
Kathleen (05:17):
Yes, there are.
George (05:18):
How about mentors?
Do you have any mentors thatwere kind of shaping your future
I
Kathleen (05:24):
do have mentors you know I would say that my parents
were probably my first mentorslike my dad had his own business
and looking at my dad going toschool at night working hard to
provide for myself and I havethree sisters and in addition to
my dad I had an aunt a sisterMarie Moen she was a nun and we
called her Aunt Ray and at atime when you didn't see many
(05:47):
women in executive positions inaddition to living a life of
service as a as a nun she was anexecutive at a hospital in the
hospital administration.
So I always looked up to her.
I always enjoyed the days whenmy mom would take us to go have
lunch with her and our secretarywould take us in.
So she inspired me at a youngage that you could have dreams,
(06:09):
dream big, and to really achievewhat I wanted to in life.
George (06:14):
Well, thank goodness for her.
You know, young minds justgetting shaped by positive
people, finding challenges tosolve that, let's say, that
haven't been solved in the past.
I had some of that in myhistory as well.
And so thank goodness for, whatwas her name again?
Kathleen (06:33):
Her name was Sister Marie Moen, and we called her
Aunt Ree, or Ree-Ree.
George (06:37):
Aunt Ree.
Okay, well, we like that story.
All right, so if you could doone thing over again in your
high school years, what wouldeven early college.
What would it be?
Kathleen (06:49):
You know, I was thinking about this question
because I had the luxury ofseeing the questions ahead of
time.
And I actually don't thinkthere would be anything that I
would do over in my high schoolor college days.
I think I had a pretty balancedhigh school.
I studied hard.
But I also was involved in alot of different activities.
And different activities suchas the community service corps,
(07:11):
giving back to the community,things like being involved in
the play.
So having that wide variety ofexperiences and not just
studying all the time but havinga balance to making sure that I
was involved enough in myschool work but also doing other
activities as well and the samething in college when I was in
college I did summer internsrelated to the fashion industry
(07:34):
I actually worked in a warehousefor a small design company
doing a variety of differentthings inspecting the clothing
unpacking the boxes even gettingto design some of their
marketing materials.
So I think doing those things,I don't think there's anything I
would have done different whenI was in high school or when I
(07:55):
was in college.
One thing I wish I would havedone is I never got my MBA.
When I graduated from college,I started a job right away, and
I was lucky that with my career,I was able to travel the world.
So as a fashion designer, I gotto go to the different
factories in India and Pakistanand places like that.
So I prioritized having acareer that allowed me to
(08:19):
experience going differentplaces.
George (08:21):
Yes.
Kathleen (08:21):
But now I always wish that I'd gotten my MBA.
George (08:24):
Well, that's interesting.
Would you, if you did get yourMBA, would that have, you know,
enhanced your career, do youthink?
Is that why?
Kathleen (08:33):
I don't think it would have enhanced my career.
It probably would have allowedme to start with a higher salary
when I was in my early days.
I think it also would havemaybe helped advance some of my
learning beyond just the craftthat I was doing, you know, as
an MBA.
A lot of the experiences that Ihave now on collaborating,
(08:55):
leading teams, speaking inpublic, you know, I think some
of that would have come from theMBA, the business side of it,
the business side, really beingable to look at a business and
how do you drive theprofitability of a business, not
just, you know, revenue growth,understanding things like what
investors are looking at andwhen they're judging companies.
Those are the type of thingsthat I learned in my career.
(09:15):
that maybe having an MBA wouldhave helped accelerate.
George (09:19):
I understand, yes.
All right, so how abouthobbies?
Do you have any hobbies thatrelease you or give you good
creativity?
Kathleen (09:30):
Yes, I'd say running and gardening.
But running is the one thatreleases me and gives me
creativity.
I start every day with aworkout, and I run three or four
times a week, and I have mybest ideas when I'm out on a
run.
and especially you know if it'sI live in Seattle and it rains
a lot so on the days when I'mnot on a treadmill but actually
(09:53):
outdoors in nature on a trailit's just very you know kind of
freeing to be out there I findit very calming and that's when
the great ideas can flow I alsouse that time to listen to a lot
of audible books so if there'ssomething that I am trying to
learn new on my runs I'll usethat time to listen to those
(10:14):
books
George (10:15):
that's one Wonderful.
You know, trying to find thatspot in your life where you
release and let the mind justfloat around a little bit and
let the ideas flow in.
Everybody's different, but ifyou can find that little spot,
it's wonderful.
I can find it sometimes indifferent locations.
I don't know why, but this timeof the year, I like to cut the
lawn.
Kathleen (10:35):
Okay.
George (10:36):
And I really, nobody can get me on my devices.
Just leave me alone.
I just want to be by myself fora little while.
I put thoughts in my head thatI want to think about and then
next thing I know I can thinkdeeply through them as I'm
making pretty little lines inthe grass you know pretty simple
stuff but it's helpful
Kathleen (10:56):
you know it's the same approach that I take when I go
out on my run so ahead of timeI'll be like okay I've got these
three big challenges orproblems that I want to solve
you know and I'll set myself upeven before the run and thinking
about what is it that I'mtrying to figure out with that
particular that particularproblem or challenge
George (11:15):
that's great Preloading the challenge.
Let's chat a little bit aboutthe future of your industry, if
we could.
Knowing what you know today,what advice would you give to a
person interested in enteringyour industry?
Kathleen (11:29):
I would say, stay curious.
If you look at my career and mybackground, I don't have the
typical background for atechnology executive, starting
as a fashion designer.
But I've always stayed curiouswhen there were new
opportunities that came to meand not only with new
opportunities but learning aboutnew things so whether it was
(11:53):
talking to somebody that was ina role that I was looking at
maybe getting into if it was atype of technology that I wanted
to figure out if I wanted towork in a business group with
that type of technology playingaround with it on my own so I
believe that curiosity andstaying open to new ideas and
knowing that there isn't alwaysa straight path that your path
(12:15):
in your career can be a littlebit like a windy road
George (12:19):
and
Kathleen (12:19):
that's okay because I think having lots of different
experiences really enriches
George (12:24):
us.
Yes, I agree with you.
There's something beautifulabout that windy road.
I don't know why but when wewere younger I had this vision
that it was going to be astraight up career path and it
was always kind of this andfigure it out and try to adjust
to things that I wanted toimprove.
I think young people are uh,always wondering how do people
(12:49):
attain these career paths anduh...
to me it's like another sciencethat needs to be discovered
right
Kathleen (12:54):
right and there's different ways for different
people on actually exploringthose different paths you know
and again it has to do with thepersonality for me being curious
it's about reading it's abouttalking to people it's about
getting my fingers dirty withdifferent things so you also
have to figure out for yourselfwhat works for you what gives
(13:15):
you joy What makes you happy intrying new things?
George (13:19):
Do they encourage that kind of thing at Microsoft?
Do they have training in thefield of improving yourself?
Is that a fair way to say it?
Kathleen (13:29):
That is a fair way of saying it, and Microsoft has a
lot of that.
Microsoft actually encouragesyou to try new things.
If you look at people that havebeen at Microsoft for, let's
say, 20, 25 years, which we havea lot of people in my team that
have been at Microsoft for along time, which is great,
they've worked in almost everydifferent business in different
roles.
(13:49):
Even within product marketing Ihave a lot of people that were
in engineering or were in acompletely different function.
So they encourage us not onlyto try different roles at
Microsoft but also give us awhole ton of learning tools to
help us.
Learning tools whether they areclasses that you can take and
watch online, subscriptions todifferent types of books.
(14:12):
We have these great thingswhere every month there's a
different speaker that comes in
Steven (14:16):
that
Kathleen (14:17):
of course is recorded and you can if you miss it if
you miss it live you can watchit recorded but it's people from
different types of backgroundssometimes it's sports players
that come in sometimes it'speople from film it's great
executives that have donedifferent things in their career
I mentioned athletes so itgives you different perspectives
(14:39):
on different people's life andwhat approach and what path they
took
George (14:44):
that's wonderful that's part of what we're doing today
Kathleen (14:46):
This is the best part of my job.
Oh, there
George (14:49):
you go.
Do you believe that anybodycould be successful?
And if so, what do you thinksome of the most basic building
blocks need to be to empower ouryouth?
Kathleen (14:59):
Yes, I absolutely believe anybody can be
successful.
If you go and look at some ofthe great professionals out
there, many didn't start in avery high position.
They worked their way up there.
And some of the building blocksare one of the reasons why I'm
so excited to be here are thingslike STEM.
(15:21):
So I think being curious aboutSTEM, understanding what those
possibilities are, playingaround with different
technology, I think are some ofthe building blocks,
particularly for getting intomore technology-related
industries.
George (15:37):
I agree with you.
There's STEM in fashion, right?
You have to learn how to cutand engineer, make a pattern,
shape things, package things,market things, right?
STEM is involved in all thosethings, as well as STEAM.
And from what I heard, you havea little bit of background in
STEM and STEAM on a professionallevel as well, on the
(15:58):
engineering side.
Kathleen (16:00):
I do.
Prior to being at Microsoft, Iworked for a company, PTC, that
they had their roots in CAD,computer-aided design, and
that's where you make 2D and 3Dmodels.
So, yes, I had a lot ofexperience there and a lot of
experience in STEM and workingwith students and providing
(16:21):
technology to them.
George (16:22):
Yeah, we're seeing amazing things.
Inventionland and education,these young people are going and
doing these invention contestswith us, and some of the
creativity is amazing.
That free, creative mind thatthey have and uh...
They reach out to theprofessionals in their community
(16:43):
as well as their teachers totry and make whatever dream they
have to build it.
And they build so many skillsdoing that.
It's exciting for us to seethat emerging right now.
Kathleen (16:55):
Yeah, not only the skills that they're building,
but also the ideas that childrencome up with and younger.
They're actually things thatare very valuable that we often
see a lot of those get actuallyimplemented in industry.
George (17:09):
I'm excited.
Once they get older, or they'regoing to solve some other big
ones that we didn't see.
They're going to look at whatwe created and they're going to
say, oh, I can make that better.
Kathleen (17:17):
Absolutely.
And that's a good part of it.
That's what we want them to do.
George (17:22):
Right, right.
We want that next generation tosucceed.
All right, so let's see here.
What's the next one?
What is one project that youthink your industry has
struggled with but you thinkwould elevate humankind?
Kathleen (17:37):
Yes.
I think the industry, I thinkwe can elevate humankind with
AI, especially with responsibleAI.
And that's one of the things Ireally like about Microsoft is
Microsoft isn't just abouttechnology, but how do we
provide that technology in aresponsible way, in a safe way,
(17:58):
in an accessible way.
So AI has been around for awhile, but I think we haven't
cracked the code yet on how AIcan be used in a broader way?
George (18:10):
Well, I'm hoping so.
Being a responsible steward ofthat area is very, very
important.
I just read that America, we'vejust put the fastest, largest
supercomputer on the planetagain.
What can you do with AI andthat kind of power and such a
(18:30):
wonderful, powerful way of doingthings in the future?
You mentioned that you like todo gardening.
I don't think we understandeverything we need to understand
about plants in general.
I don't know.
I'm looking to see how theyapply AI into that world of
biology and plants and things.
I think it could open up quitea few different doors for the
(18:52):
future.
Kathleen (18:53):
I think it could as well.
And also being used for things,you know, you mentioned plants,
but doing things likesustainable agriculture as well.
And how can you use AI to helppredict exactly things like what
are the best growing patterns,pesticides, whatever that may
be, to provide more sustainablefood sources.
George (19:13):
Yes.
That would be nice to have
Kathleen (19:16):
long
George (19:16):
term.
All right.
So we're going to ask the lastquestion today, unless you have
questions of your own.
But what do you think is thenext big innovation in your
industry?
Kathleen (19:28):
I think the next big innovation is the metaverse.
You know, we think about themetaverse today for doing things
like gaming and playing gameswith a friend.
But I think there are so manymore possibilities with
metaverse and what what we cando, not just in things like
gaming, but how we engage witheach other, how we engage in a
(19:48):
business environment.
George (19:51):
Could you explain to our audience what a metaverse is?
We want to make sure they allgrasp that concept.
Kathleen (19:57):
Sure.
If you think about a metaverse,a metaverse is an online
environment.
So if you think about a game,you're in a game, you're
playing, you can see thedifferent avatars of people
playing in the game.
Yes.
You can make your own avatar.
The metaverse is thatenvironment where you're
envisioning all of this.
(20:18):
So if I take it to a businessenvironment, think about doing
something like a Teams call.
And on the Teams call, we'reseeing little boxes of
everybody's faces sitting attheir home office or their desk
or wherever they are.
But in a metaverse, we candecide to put ourselves in an
environment.
We want to pretend thateverybody is sitting around a
(20:39):
boardroom table and have ouravatars like you and I are
sitting here talking today, butagain, doing that in a
completely virtual environment,in something that feels
realistic.
George (20:50):
So in that world, you could be at home.
in an environment that you'recomfortable with.
Your avatar would then go intoa digital world.
My avatar would go into adigital world.
We could create a digital spacelike this and communicate with
an audience.
Is that fair
Kathleen (21:09):
to say?
That's exactly it.
So George, think about this.
I'm sitting next to you hereand I'm based in Seattle.
So I had to fly from Seattlehere to Pittsburgh to have the
conversation.
But imagine that we had adigital representation of this
room and You had your avatarsitting there, and I had my
avatar sitting here, and I couldbe at my home office in
Seattle.
George (21:29):
See, that to me is exciting.
And think of all the differentjobs in the future.
You're going to have all sortsof digital engineering
construction to create, let'ssay, these types of sets.
Instead of doing it physically,do it through digital means,
right?
Kathleen (21:43):
That's right.
Doing it all digitally.
But then also making it.
There's something about whenyou're with somebody in person
that there's a different type ofenergy that is created that I
think sometimes gets lost.
when we're not together inperson.
And what the metaverse istrying to do is to keep those
connections of the type ofinteractions that we have when
(22:04):
we're near each other, but in adigital way.
George (22:08):
I hope they can accomplish that.
Kathleen (22:10):
I know they can.
George (22:11):
Oh, really?
All right.
Well, I'm excited about thefuture after this meeting with
you.
Kathleen (22:16):
Me too.
George (22:17):
Well, Kathleen came to visit with us today, and we
appreciate your time.
Thank you for sharing yourstory with us.
Kathleen (22:23):
Well, thank you, George.
I really appreciate the offerto be here today.
Steven (22:27):
Well, that's another edition.
Bye, everybody.
And find us wherever podcastsare available.
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