37 - Brad Smith, Microsoft president: If You Change the World, You Change the Law

Brad Smith has been at Microsoft for nearly 25 years, and has been the top lawyer there for 15. He now holds the title of president, also running corporate affairs and working alongside CEO Satya Nadella. Brad led Microsoft's legal defense against David Boies and the U.S. government a generation ago. You might have heard of that infamous antitrust case against Microsoft. Today he's fighting for Microsoft's right to shield certain customer data in the cloud. Brad and I did a panel together at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado recently about the global threat from hackers. After that we sat down and pushed record, and had a conversation for Fortt Knox. Three things you're going to hear from Brad Smith: How his upbringing shaped his view of the world, how as a young lawyer he used technology to advance his career, and how to learn from massive upheaval – like the government's antitrust case against Microsoft 20 years ago – which I think it's fair to say changed Microsoft, the tech industry, and Brad Smith's career, forever. That's where the title of this episode comes from: If you change the world, you change the law. Two decades later, Brad has a take on the Microsoft case that I just find profound: And perhaps a near-prophetic warning to today's other world-changers, including Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google – and advice you and I can apply, too.