Leading Women: Combating biases and leading with empathy at the workplace

As part of our Leading Women series, we want to highlight the professional challenges and career aspirations of the women we work with here in Asia. In this story, we speak to Davina Yeo, Chief of Staff at Microsoft Asia Pacific, who shares her thoughts on being a female leader in a male-dominated workplace, her double role as a Chief of Staff and a mother, as well as how she managed to relocate to a foreign country with three children in tow — alone. 

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Q: As a female executive, what were some of the biggest challenges and lessons learnt thus far? 

I was working in Indonesia for a time, and it was my first leadership position in a very much male-dominated team. From that experience, I learnt to be unafraid to speak up and to represent. Even though I was in a privileged position then, there were many other women whom I needed to speak out for. So to me, that was the most important thing: to make sure their voices were heard. Not everyone has the platform, so we must help others. 

This is an abridged version of the full interview with Davina Yeo. For the full version of the interview, click here.