Michael Tam Global Associate Design Director @ IBM iX – CoC
Hong Kong SAR

I’m an optimist who believes everyone can be creative and we can design a brighter future together.

As the creative & experience design evangelist at IBM iX Global CoC, my transcultural and transdisciplinary background fuel my work that places HUMAN at the center of WHY and HOW businesses should think, act, and operate.

I lead. I craft. I speak. I try.

I firmly believe that success lies with those who give it one last try.

I am a regular speaker and mentor for design & startup communities.

I love to craft, not just beautiful UIs, but an inspiring company culture.

I lead with an opinion and facilitate through empathy.

“Design Thinking vs Design Doing?” They are different and you need both.
“Can design be truly Agile?” No, it probably can’t. Well, how might we make it so? Let’s explore.
“Should a Leader embrace vulnerability?” Yes. That’s authentic.

Be curious. Be daring. Be relentless. Be you.

Current Role at IBM: Global Associate Design Director, Worldwide

Part of our Global CCO, Billy Seabrook’s design group at the IBM iX Global CoC (Centre of Competency), I support worldwide IBM Garage projects, Mobile Extended Reality (XR) offering development, and Learning & Knowledge (L&K) initiatives.

Continue to be an ambassador for the brand and a catalyst for cultural change via engaging our worldwide design community. I will promote best practices that enable repeatable success for our enterprise clients, globally and in APAC.

IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Leader,

To solve the complex enterprise challenges, we need an ecosystem approach that cultivates teams of different people with unique skills and responsibilities, working together to deliver human-centered experiences.

As an Enterprise Design Thinking (EDT) Leader, I strategize how to change the composition of teams to be more diverse and user-centered. I create conditions for a design thinking culture to thrive and builds programs to grow the design thinking skills of the people in our organization. Externally, I advocate and deliver outcome-driven client consultations, project deliveries, and workshops through IBM’s very own human-centric approach (one to be practiced with speed at an enormous global scale).

I am also the Hong Kong Chapter Head responsible for coaching and growing our EDT practice, which I proudly build the chapter from zero to 20+ active facilitators in 3 years.

Title Global iX Ambassador

One of the 28 first-ever Global iX Ambassadors, we are the Chosen Ones by our global leaders to embody the IBM iX brand values. As renegades and realists, the ambassadors arm their teams with the latest knowledge and thought-leadership, share local stories and also advocate for their iX Studios globally.
As a growing program with over 100 passionate ambassadors currently, we share best practices on the strategies and tactics that lead to success and amplify that success across IBM Services and beyond.

Previous roles include:

Member // Design Leadership Forum, InVision
Chief Designer, Digital, South China Morning Post SCMP, Hong Kong

UX Design Lead | Associate Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Hong Kong

Senior Art Director, BBDO, Hong kong
Creative / Art Director, Saatchi & Saatchi, Hong Kong