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.