Inspired Execution
A leadership podcast With Chet Kapoor
From Business to Baseball: Leadership Lessons in Fair Play with Bill Neukom
Today, we hear from the Co-Founder and CEO of the World Justice Project. Bill dominated in his field as a lead lawyer for Microsoft for almost 25 years before serving as Managing Partner for the San Francisco Giants. Now, he runs his own company with the mission to promote the rule of law throughout the world. Tune in to hear Bill’s nuggets of wisdom and lessons in fair play from business to baseball.
Episode Transcript
Timestamps:
0:40 - Welcome to today’s episode with guest Bill Neukom
2:03 - How Bill became interested in law
4:30 - The story of how Bill joined the team at Microsoft as one of its first employees
6:30 - Three key takeaways from Bill's time at Microsoft (and what he learned from Bill Gates)
8:32 - Why did Bill join the SF Giants?
12:45 - Bill’s leadership "style of play" and how to apply positive coaching
16:20 - Bill explains the rule of law and the World Justice Project
19:45 - Bill’s advice for younger people
22:02- Rapid-fire questions
Today, we hear from the Co-Founder and CEO of the World Justice Project. Bill dominated in his field as a lead lawyer for Microsoft for almost 25 years before serving as Managing Partner for the San Francisco Giants. Now, he runs his own company with the mission to promote the rule of law throughout the world.
To kick off the conversation, Bill shares how he knew he wanted to pursue a career in law. Even as a young boy growing up in Silicon Valley, he felt a passion for promoting fairness in all walks of life.
Bill was working at Bill Gates Sr.'s law firm for a few months when he was approached to be a part of Microsoft. The company had only about 12 employees at the time. He summarizes his experience with Microsoft as a whole lot of on-the-job training for 25 years. His three largest takeaways were how to procure and apply your knowledge for problem-solving, the power of meritocracy, and the importance of generosity.
After his time at Microsoft, Bill joined the San Francisco Giants as Managing General Partner. Part of this decision was his admiration for the people who play baseball, which he believes is the most difficult sport ever invented. In his new role, he was fortunate to use themes he learned from his experiences in private practice and at Microsoft in the baseball business. He also learned a lot from the people in the competitive baseball business, who believed baseball could be the fabric of a community.
Bill’s "style of play" as a leader is what he calls positive coaching. To him, this means executing appreciation for the skills and commitments of his colleagues, then giving credit for a job well done. He wants people on his team to have everything they deserve and more.
When Bill was traveling the world for Microsoft and seeing different realities in other countries, he kept asking himself what he learned in these places. The societies that seemed most functional, he observed, had the "rule of law." He defines the rule of law as a durable system of laws, institutions, norms, and community commitment that delivers accountability, just law, open government, and accessible/impartial justice. Measuring progress is a key part of what Bill and his team at the World Justice Project do by collecting data in over 40 countries.
Before the episode wraps up, Bill offers a piece of advice for his younger self and young people listening to this conversation: find a way to achieve a noble purpose by noble means, and don’t let your fear of failure prevent you from doing anything. Finally, he engages in a round of rapid-fire questions.
Thank you for listening and please don’t forget to like and subscribe!
