Episode #93: Arthur Mitchell, Senior Advisor, White & Case

Arthur Mitchell is a Senior Advisor at White & Case in Tokyo. White & Case is a global law firm with a global presence. White & Case is just over 120 years old, having started in 1901, it has progressed to the global firm it is today and serves clients worldwide. Mr. Mitchell has a long history with Japan. He has been in Japan for 54 years. Mr. Mitchell came to Japan when he was 14 years old for a short trip, again when he was 17 and a few years later again as a third-year exchange student in college. After this exchange, he returned to the US, to complete his undergraduate studies at the University of Berkeley and went on to Harvard University for Law School. After Law School, in the US it is typical to get hired at a firm that you did an internship in a previous summer, but Mr. Mitchell didn’t want to work immediately after graduation, so he decided to take up a Fellowship at Kyoto University.

Mr. Mitchell is getting the sense that there are innovative things going on in Japan. He is seeing that the young people are not necessarily aspiring for government roles or large corporate roles, they are aspiring for more entrepreneurial roles or ventures. Speaking from the perspective of law, he says that the law usually changes with innovation. He is seeing from the 2 companies, where he serves on the board, that the senior management is seriously considering moving towards digital transformation and innovation. Mr. Mitchell not only relies on younger staff within his firm, but also young friends outside the firm to help him further understand technological innovation.

Mr. Mitchell explains some of the things that he has been doing to improve engagement with his employees. Before COVID they used to have in-person seminars, this moved to online webinars, but these leave very little room for personal interaction. Typically for more complex matters, the best way is to sit in a conference room, use a whiteboard and have back and forth discussions, but COVID has made this very difficult as everyone is working remotely, and it becomes very difficult to read the roam in a virtual meeting.

Regarding foreigners coming to Japan, Mr. Mitchell has heard one of the biggest challenges foreign staff face in Japan is explaining the situation back to their home offices. The larger, better organizations understand Japan’s work culture and their managers and staff are better equipped to work in Japan. Sometimes, newer organizations that haven’t had much exposure to Japan previously, it is challenging to explain the situation back to the home office. The pace of Japan can be quite slower compared to other countries, for example a decision can involve many coffee meetings, talking with multiple stakeholders and convincing a lot of people. Many of the global companies, Mr. Mitchell works with, have realized that they need to speed up the pace of decision making, their changes and their approach to the markets. Mr. Mitchell defines leadership as setting a clear vision and defining the mission. Mr. Mitchell also suggests that in the upcoming years, organizations may need to change the way hiring is done. Currently, companies recruit from the Legal and Economics departments, but if technology is going to play a more important role in the future, perhaps hiring needs to be done from the Science Faculties. Mr. Mitchell also notes that Japan has a shortage of people. Lastly, he says that leading in Japan requires a lot of listening and being a good listener works well for business.