I open this episode with a question: What is community? It’s changed, I’d argue. Not by definition, so much. But in terms of what people have come to expect from it. And I’m putting emphasis here on the word “expect.” In our digital world, joining a community can be as basic as adding one’s thoughts to a chat, then leaving. Or as complex as building a movement and enlisting global “followers.” There are even names for these modes of engagement. In the first instance, post a controversial or unpopular message, and you’re called a “troll.” In the second instance, say or do something big, rash, or daring, and you’re branded an “influencer.” In the crazy and mixed up world of digital communities, these traits foster both envy and derision. My guest this episode, Kai Sotto, suggests that something’s been lost in our rampant drive to build community solely on the foundation of datasets. That’s what the world of digital social media has done for the most part. Some good has come from it. I wouldn’t be so bold to suggest it hasn’t. But something has gone missing as well. My conversation with Kai tries to get to the bottom of it.

Reimagining “Community” (w/ Kai Sotto)

Leadership

After a slow start, delegates to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, found momentum. That’s cause for hope. Even the reps from Green Peace seemed satisfied. The question on everyone’s lips now is: What’s next? Will the world go back to business-as-usual, consume-at-will, and climate-be-damned? Or this time around, has the prospect for change wiggled its way into the crevices of human complacency? This battle is far from won. And on the front lines, where change really matters, countries must now contend with how to practically meet those carbon emission obligations. This puts the developing world in a bit of a pickle. For many, obligations to their own people rival commitments to climate. And in burgeoning democracies, leaders elected to improve infrastructure, provide healthcare, and create jobs won’t last the political season if they don’t deliver. It’s complicated. But that’s why Jeff Delmon [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-delmon-8b467b6/] is here with me this episode to explain. Jeff is a Singapore-based Senior Public-Private Partnerships Specialist at the World Bank.

The Hard Problem of Carbon Emissions and Developing Asia (w/ Jeff Delmon)

Sustainability

This week we head south to the equator and to the Indonesian island of Bali where two individuals are working to make a difference. Tomo and Aska Hamakawa are Co-Founders of Earth Company. It’s stated mission: “To empower and inspire change-makers who realize social change for our future generations.” It doesn’t get more noble than that. In the wake of so many high-powered gatherings where the political and financial elite debate the future of our planet, I thought it important to hear from just two of thousands of young activists who have committed themselves to grass roots efforts. This is where real change occurs.

In Search of Impact Heroes (w/ Tomo and Aska Hamakawa)

Mavericks

At this very moment, representatives from some 197 nations have arrived in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss prospects for net zero carbon emissions by mid-century. The COP26 gathering represents a pivotal moment and a real test of the world’s ability to cooperate in the face of climate risk. The consequences of doing nothing are severe. Wild swings in climate patterns causing forest fires in the U.S. and floods in Europe all point to one thing. And that is, unless we act – and act now – the world will soon become a far less hospitable place. I’m talking about melting glaciers, rising sea levels, declining fish populations, widespread drought and mass migration of people fleeing famine and pestilence. OK, hold on, that’s all a bit too dark. But if this Old Testament imagery moves you…even a little…it’s time to take up the cause and pressure those that can make a difference, to make a difference! Asia is at the epicenter of this ecological sea change, and here to talk about it is Cindy Hook, CEO of Deloitte Asia Pacific. Cindy and her colleagues have recently released a new report, entitled Asia Pacific’s Turning Point: How Climate Action Can Drive Our Economic Future. It’s a provocative piece of research that quantifies the risks the region faces in doing nothing to counter the impending effects of Climate Change.

Asia’s Turning or Tipping Point? (w/ Cindy Hook)

Future Economy

As climate countdown continues apace, we look this week at a central bottleneck – that if not addressed – could confound even the best intentions. I’m talking about talent, and the tens of thousands of sustainability-related jobs that will go unfilled in coming years unless the public and private sector line up to address the problem. One woman is doing something about it. Dr. Jeanne Ng is Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals. She and her colleagues are bent on transforming Hong Kong into a center of excellence in professional environmental services. And not solely as a defence against climate disaster, but as a way of accelerating research and innovation to transform business and the economy. To get there, both government and private sector must step up and support the training, development, and hiring of people with new skill sets for a new era. This means expanding Sustainability programs at Universities, creating accreditations through professional institutes, and encouraging companies to create roles and career paths to hone that expertise.

Sustainable Talent (w/ Jeanne Ng)

Sustainability

My guest this week is Anurag Banerjee. He’s sounding the alarm on mental well-being. Anurag isn’t a medical professional, a healthcare expert, or a policy-maker. He’s a miner…of data, that is. And through the organization he founded and runs, he’s excavating insights that point to leading trends and developments in human behavior. He describes his organization, Quilt AI, as a mission-first technology company that’s looking to reverse fractures in society and generate empathy. From time-to-time, his team of analysts and data scientists point their lens at issues worthy of global attention. Mental health is one such subject. And on this World Mental Health Day, the data is revealing, if not somewhat disturbing. Here’s the headliner: In the past 18 months – or since the onset of the global pandemic - there’s been a 500 percent worldwide increase in conversations about mental health and well-being. This comes from data collected by his firm from 177 cities across 70 countries. It’s an astounding jump and the analysis is only made possible through the use and application of artificial intelligence. The research raises a bevy of questions. Why the dramatic increase? What’s the root cause? What – exactly – is mental health? To be frank, the findings are inconclusive. And yet, the data is indicative of a problem brewing at a universal level. This is a vast subject with nuances as varied as the tens of millions of individuals now engaged and in search of mental health support. In the course of this 25-minute discussion, we try to unpack the problem, then ask: What can be done about it? Join us at www.insideasiapodcast.com to learn more.

Are We Facing a Global Mental Health Crisis? (w/ Anurag Banerjee)

Corporate Purpose

It’s been said that the global pandemic has offered us a rare moment of existential reflection. When not battling the disease or avoiding infection, it has allowed time for us to consider what’s most important. Young professionals are no exception. Data shows that increasingly “the best and brightest” are opting into life and career choices that take them out of the corporate career path and land them in the midst of a gig economy re-energized by a world in crisis. Headlines announcing “The Great Resignation,” “The Big Quit,” or “Global Burnout” suggest that even when times are tough and unemployment is a real possibility, well-educated professionals are voting with their hearts, not their wallets – leaving behind well-paid jobs in search of something more. But what, exactly? For some thoughtful insight on the subject, I’m joined by Zayd and Akshita Khoury – two extraordinary people who speak to a broader trend that could prove good for the world, but bad for corporates. What do I mean by that? Well, stay tuned. This is a conversation you won’t want to miss. Visit us at www.insideasiapodcast.com.

Purpose Nomads (w/ Zayd and Akshita Khoury)

Leadership

When was the last time you thought about where your food comes from? And I don’t mean from your local supermarket… Well, according to the U.N. Food & Agriculture Association, 70% of food consumed globally comes from so-called “smallholder” farmers. There are an estimated 570 million of them, and nearly half live and operate in the world’s poorest countries. In most developing markets, agriculture contributes anywhere from 15 to 35% of GDP. Without this constellation of farming communities, unemployment would soar and economies would crumble. Not surprisingly, there’s a political dimension to supporting the smallholder farmer. This requires governments throughout the region to make constant adjustments – balancing local subsidies against foreign food imports. Into this socio-economic brew enters Corteva Agriscience, a company that a little over two years ago spun off from the chemical giant DowDupont in order to focus exclusively on agribusiness. Today, the company produces high-yield, pest-resistant hybrid seeds, land management, and digital solutions. As my guest, Elizabeth Hernandez, explains, the timing and focus of their market entry offers a unique opportunity for farmers and investors alike. This is the latest in a series of episodes we have planned featuring companies that are delivering on Corporate Purpose. Two episodes back we featured another Corporate Purpose leader, T.C. Ng, Asia Pacific Managing Director of the iconic tech company, HP. If you missed that episode, you can listen or read about it by visiting www.insideasiapodcast.com [https://www.insideasiapodcast.com/]. In coming weeks, we will feature on this program conversations with leaders of other purpose-driven institutions. Our discussions are founded on in-depth case studies created in a three-way partnership between Inside Asia, The Conference Board, and the Center for Creative Leadership. One year ago, we came together to introduce the Asia Corporate Leadership Council, which today is comprised of 20 plus Asia-based CEOs, Regional Managing Directors, and heads of family-run businesses. It’s a select group of senior individuals representing best-practice corporate purpose. The case studies – and these accompanying podcasts – are designed to demonstrate what Corporate Purpose in action looks like.

Seeding Purpose (w/ Elizabeth Hernandez)

Corporate Purpose

In this most recent episode of Inside Asia, I speak with James Soback, Director of Sustainability and Hospitality Advisory for OMNE/WX, a firm pushing the edge of the “work-from-anywhere” culture. It’s safe to say that thanks to Covid, work will never be the same. What it will ultimately look like is anyone’s guess. For decades, creating efficient, yet pleasant workspaces has been the subject of some debate. Finding that balance between efficiency and comfort is not always easy. More often than not, available space and design features are the result of limited budgets and doing what the boss wants, while claiming to have the employee’s best interests at heart. These days, words like “engagement” and “productivity” are bandied about. Words that are measured. In order to increase the two, you need to find ways of motivating and inspiring the workforce. To this end, companies have experimented with open architecture, free drinks and snacks, adding a ping-pong table or creating lounging areas. All fine attempts, but still, mostly determined by the culture or the preference of the powers-that-be. In the world of work 2.0, something’s got to give. My guest suggests that “employee-centric” workspaces are a good first step.

Where Office Place Meets Head Space (w/ James Soback)

Corporate Purpose

There are few businesses in the world that have a sales and distribution network as vast and varied as the tech giant, Hewlett Packard. HP has been building and selling personal and enterprise technology for over 80 years. And during that time, it has assembled an ecosystem of business partners that reach from Beijing to Belfast. Not surprisingly, that kind of network generates some significant revenue. HP today is a US$60 billion dollar a year business. And according to my guest this episode, 85% of that income is derived through tens of thousands of distributors, wholesalers, and retail operators. HP has mastered the art of building and coordinating its partner networks. So, it may come as no surprise that when it comes to driving a corporate purpose and sustainability agenda, enlisting its network is mission critical. Here to discuss how it’s done is T.C. Ng, HP’s Managing Director for Greater Asia. In coming weeks, we will feature on this program conversations with some of Asia’s most purpose-driven institutions. Our discussions are founded on in-depth case studies created in a three-way partnership between Inside Asia, The Conference Board, and the Center for Creative Leadership. One year ago, we came together to introduce the Asia Corporate Leadership Council, which today is comprised of 20 plus Asia-based CEOs, Regional Managing Directors, and heads of family-run businesses. It’s a select group of senior individuals representing best-practice corporate purpose. The case studies – and these accompanying podcasts – are designed to demonstrate what Corporate Purpose in action looks like.

Driving Purpose Through Partners (w/ T.C. Ng)

Corporate Purpose

When you think of the ocean, what comes to mind? Rolling waves and the soft pounding of the surf? Boating? Fishing? Cocktails at sundown? While you’re relaxing and enjoying these sights and sounds, remember this: The ocean doesn’t rest. In fact, it never stops working. Indeed, without our oceans and all they offer, life – as we know it – would not exist. Over 70% of our planet’s oxygen is produced by the ocean. 90% of Earth’s heat is absorbed by it. And because of the amount of carbon we humans dump into the atmosphere, the oceans are 30% more acidic than ever before. The changing temperature and make-up of our open waters is bad enough. But as if to add insult to injury, annually we dump eight million tons of plastic into the ocean, destroy tens of thousands of kilometers of coastal wetlands to make way for resorts and housing developments, and have so over-fished the seas that by 2048, all seafood, as we know it, will be gone, unless we do something about it. That’s the bad news. Now here’s the good news. The world is waking up to the power and importance of our oceans. We have science to thank for that, but also a rising consciousness among politicians and industrialists who see that failure to protect our oceans will most assuredly result in social and economic chaos. Nothing like the threat of losing power or profit to drive some positive behavior change. At the epicenter is Asia, which represents over 90% of global fish and seafood farming and almost half of all commercial fishing. Here to talk about oceans and the challenges we face is Jack Kittinger, a Senior Director at Conservation International and Head of it’s Center for Oceans.

The Ocean Economy (w/ Jack Kittinger)

Sustainability

If you hear the acronym “E-S-G” being bandied about, it’s for a reason. The world is waking up to the fact that traditional business practices are no longer enough to meet the needs of the 21st century. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. Together, they form the foundation for a new set of principles that codify a new way for companies and investors to operate. They also speak to the so-called “intangible” assets within an organization. That can make them hard to measure, and one thing business executives hate are things that are hard to measure. It seems like every time you look up, some management consultant or business guru is introducing a new concept to supercharge the enterprise. Each new process has had its day in the sun, and an acronym to match. Remember BPR, “Business Process Re-engineering?” Or how about ERP, “Enterprise Resource Planning. And who could forget CRM, “Customer Relationship Management.” Even the folks in the back-office had their three letters. To keep it simple, they called it ABC, “Activity Based Costing.” If the mere mention of these past activities bore you to death, let me offer hope. ESG is different. It has soul. Got your attention now? Then sit back and listen to my conversation with Steve Okun. He’s been a guest on Inside Asia before. In past episodes, we’ve covered impact investing, US politics, and international trade. Steve has a diversity of talents and interests, but a cornerstone issue for him these days is ESG. He plies his trade by serving as a Senior Advisor with McClarty Associates and chairing the Global Private Capital Association in Southeast Asia.

Riding the ESG Wave (w/ Steve Okun)

Corporate Governance

This week on Inside Asia, we take a look at the world of seed investing. I’m not talking about farming, although, in some ways, I am. I’m talking about the way good, early-stage ideas attract seed capital to get their ventures off the ground. And while I don’t have the data to support it, I suspect that the number one reason why most great business or product ideas never see the light of day is for one reason, and one reason only: Money. After calling in favors from friends and family and tapping out the credit card, there’s a funding gap. To fill it, entrepreneurs oftentimes turn to angel investors. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are successful entrepreneurs themselves, happy to spread their new-found wealth to help others like them. Others organize themselves into groups with a common set of investment goals or interests. In recent years, online platforms have emerged, letting almost anyone get involved. Like buying one hundred lottery tickets, just one might get lucky. Increasingly, angel investors are starting to specialize. Assemble together a team of consumer bankers, payments experts, and techno-geeks, and you can – for example - specialize in FinTech. Think about how technology can be applied to solve climate change, and you become Sustainability investors. That’s exactly what my guest this week has done. Mark Inkster is a technologist at heart. He’s spent decades in the region holding strategic roles at Yahoo!, eBay, Microsoft, and a handful of startups. Earlier this year he co-founded Asia Sustainability Angels, and together with a hand-full of others, he’s formed a circle to seed early stage companies bent on solving some of the biggest sustainability problems of our day.

Sustainable Angels (w/ Mark Inkster)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is Tom Malnight. He took time to speak with me from Lausanne, Switzerland, where he serves as Professor of Strategy at IMD Business School. We live in an era when time-tested business practices are all of a sudden being called into question. The same goes for strategy; that nebulous part of the planning process that asks you to take a 30,000-foot view then bring it down to actionable outcomes. The fact is, there are as many theories on strategy as there are organizations in need of one. Some take it seriously, employing high-paid consultants to produce thick and colorful playbooks that are then left unopened. Others try to make it sound simple. Remember Jack Welsh, GE’s notoriously outspoken former CEO. He once famously said (and I quote): "In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell." That might have worked during the 1980s and 90s. In fact, by all traditional measures, it did work. GE’s revenues grew five-fold under Welch’s leadership. Today, however, running a business is more nuanced. Stakeholder Capitalism is far from straight-forward. Just how strategy has changed and how companies are failing to adapt is the subject of this week’s conversation. And wouldn’t you know, Corporate Purpose is playing a big part.

Putting the Purpose in Strategy (w/ Tom Malnight)

Corporate Purpose

There’s not a person or organization out there that couldn’t do with some good advice, particularly in times like these. Perhaps, therefore, it’s no surprise that organization’s the world over are reaching out and establishing Advisory Boards as a way of bringing outside expertise in. This rush for talent and insights should come as no surprise. Companies, large and small, are inundated with a new set of complex challenges. They’re asking questions, like: How do I build a cyber-security network to stave off hackers? What does it mean to use artificial intelligence ethically? Or, how do we, as an organization, create diversity and inclusion policies to attract the next generation of talent? You might say this is the job of the leadership team. But who’s going to run the day-to-day business if these kinds of issues keep popping up? Some say, it’s the responsibility of the Board of Directors. Aren’t they supposed to see problems arising before they happen? They are. But oftentimes, they don’t. There are reasons for this, and it all comes out in my conversation this episode with Louise Broekman, Founder and CEO of the Brisbane-based Advisory Board Centre.

Advisory Boards Come of Age (w/ Louise Broekman)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is the Founder and CEO of ID Capital, a Singapore-based firm with a focus on food. It’s an age-old industry now receiving high-profile attention from investors, inventors, and activists. It seems like everyone, these days, has something to say about the future of food. Here to help us break it down is Isabelle Decitre. After successive roles with high-end brands like Alfred Dunhill, Cartier, and Hennessy, she gave it all up in 2014 to focus on sustainable and disruptive food solutions. She and her colleagues now work with venture capital firms to help advise and direct them on deals that show promise of augmenting or displacing traditional food products.

Future Food (w/ Isabelle Decitre)

Future Tech

Is global enthusiasm for China investment cooling? That’s the question I pose in this week’s episode. My guest is David Hoffman, Senior Vice President for The Conference Board in Asia, and Managing Director of the China Center for Economics and Business. We got together on the back of an article David just posted insisting that now was a critical moment for MNCs to step up their game, align their internal communications, and ensure that the rhetorical noise from on high doesn’t detract from the real story on the ground. This isn’t to say that doing business in China today doesn’t come with some significant risk. But it does suggest that the reasons for staying, doubling down or retreating, require new levels of thoughtful consideration. Are overseas investors still bullish? Are foreign companies still welcome? Is a China strategy still essential? Over the course of the next 40 minutes we explore these questions and more.

MNCs Weigh New China Risks (w/ David Hoffman)

Geopolitics

Everyone loves a story. This statement is as true today as it likely was 5,000 years ago. We, as a species, are drawn to stories like bees to honey. Why is that exactly? Here to discuss it with me is Anna Ong, Founder of "What’s Your Story?", a Singapore-based outfit that uses storytelling to shape individual and corporate purpose.

The Way of the Storyteller (w/ Anna Ong)

Corporate Purpose

I know I’ve been relentlessly flogging the Corporate Purpose theme these past few months. I’ll be honest, I can’t help myself. It’s a big part of what I do these days. But more importantly – and I mean this – it’s a topic that simply cannot be ignored. If anything, Covid-19 has shown us that we can no longer rest on our laurels and expect things to get back to normal. People and planet are suffering in new and terrifying ways. There is a major role to be played by corporations and a purpose-agenda is the first best way to make a difference. That means paying new levels of attention to all stakeholder groups and not just shareholders. Customers, suppliers, the environment, communities, and employees in particular, require new levels of investment and support. If you’re a business leader, you might say that’s a tall order in the midst of a pandemic and economic crises. But the reality is, you don’t have a choice. Those that get out in front on this will be the employer, provider, and corporate citizen of choice. The others will fade away. Dinosaurs of an era long-past. This week, we tackle the subject of employee inclusion. Here to help explain is my guest, Jane Horan, founder of The Horan Group, a strategic consulting firm focusing on organizational inclusion, diversity, and purpose.

Powering People Through Inclusion (w/ Jane Horan)

Corporate Purpose

Conversations – most would agree – are best had in person. Yet, our recent bout with Covid has shown that sometimes technology is necessary to keep that conversation flowing. When restrictions lifted several months back, I was quick to return to in-person meetings, on location. It was nice while it lasted. In recent days, Singapore made a call to re-impose rules to keep us at home, out of the office and away from crowds. It’s probably the right decision, but I confess, the thought of going backward instead of forward is mildly distressing. I have the feeling I’m not alone. Nothing replaces face-to-face engagements. Warm up to a conversation with a coffee or a meal, and the entire tone and tempo changes. It’s noticeable. Or at least, I think it is. Find a place that puts a person in a calm and positive frame-of-mind and you can literally hear the difference. I’d like to think that the conversation you’re about to hear captures that feeling. My discussion with Razeen Sally took place after a sumptuous Thai meal at the Jim Thompson Restaurant just off Tanglin Road here in Singapore. There are many beautiful places to dine in the city, but this restaurant is among my favorite. High ceilings, exotic décor, and…did I mention the food…it’s really something special. It all made for great conversation. Razeen is Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He’s also a mix of Welsh and Sri Lankan. It was – in part - the thing that drew him back to his country of origin several years ago. That trip (and subsequent others) resulted in a book: Return to Sri Lanka: Travels in a Paradoxical Island. And so it was, we joined up to talk about those paradoxes, the evolution of Sri Lanka, and the example it sets (or not) for other emerging economies.

A Case Against Cronyism (w/ Razeen Sally)

Geopolitics

My guest this week is Koh Lian Pin, a Singapore-based conservation scientist, and also one of nine nominated members of the Singapore Parliament. He’s staked his career on identifying ways to preserve our planet’s natural resources. His dream, as he says, is to see agri-business and forests in a state of peaceful co-existence. This week, we take a look at the movement to preserve and protect our forests. There’s a new sense of urgency in the race to combat climate change. Trees, it so happens, are one of the greatest single sources of carbon-capture. And because of that, they are receiving a well-spring of conservationist and investor attention. Programs like OneTreePlanted, Global Forest Generation, and One Trillion Trees are all encouraging individuals and corporations to plant and preserve forests. It couldn’t have come at a better time. While the pandemic might have slowed the rate of carbon output from manufacturing and travel, rain forests were not spared. In fact, the rate of deforestation accelerated in 2020, led primarily by logging and clearing activities in Brazil – home to more than 50% of the world’s rain forest. Evidence suggests that love of trees alone won’t stem the deforestation tide. What we need are market mechanisms that value trees and the carbon they capture and process. Singapore is lining up on the opportunity and I spoke with Lian Pin to better understand what’s at stake.

Valuing Our Forests (w/ Koh Lian Pin)

Sustainability

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in the member’s lounge of a local club I like to visit, and my Italian economist friend, Pietro Ventani comes up to me, sits down, and pushes a piece of paper across the table. “I’ve been thinking about this,” he says. “There’s more to it.” What he’s referring to is an earlier conversation that resulted in the release of our first “Capitalism’s Right of Passage” episode released on April 2nd. I unfolded the paper and there, printed in black and white, were four statements with accompanying bullets. There was “The Problem,” “Root Causes,” “What governments are doing to fix the problem,” and “What governments should do to fix the problem.” We had a coffee, talked it over, then retreated to a corner of the club to have the conversation you’re about to hear. We get straight to the point. And if I’m not mistaken, we address, in its entirety, the problem with the current state of Capitalism. I’m joking of course, but I have to say, it was a pretty tight and focused conversation. You be the judge. To latch onto what we’re saying, it’s not essential, but you might want to first listen to part one. Either way, I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Capitalism’s Right of Passage: Part 2 (w/ Pietro Ventani)

Future Economy

This week on Inside Asia, we reach across the Pacific to speak to Vasuki Shastry. He’s a Washington D.C.-based Senior Fellow at the US Chamber of Commerce and an Associate Asia Pacific Fellow at the policy institute Chatham House in London. We reached out to talk about his new book, provocatively entitled: Has Asia Lost It? A surprising headliner at a time when many would say the Pacific Era is upon us and Asia is most certainly on the rise. Vasuki disagrees. On the face of it, he says, things looks good. For instance, in just four short decades, the region has climbed its way out of poverty. Political and economic risk remains low. Vast wealth has accrued. And China has assumed Superpower status. Not too shabby. What we’re facing now, he says, is Peak Asia. Scratch beneath the surface and you see two systems. One that caters to the elites and one that controls the average citizen. Opportunities and upward mobility are diminishing. And unless Asia breaks the bonds of economic integration with the west through trade and manufacturing, it may never realize its potential. With talk of further de-coupling, the pressure is on Asian leaders to change – and fast.

Has Asia Lost It? (w/ Vasuki Shastry)

Future Economy

This week on Inside Asia, we’re tackling a big topic – Capitalism. You might argue that it’s a system as tightly imbedded in our daily lives as any other. There’s hardly a place on Earth that isn’t affected by it. In most places, it governs the basic exchange of goods and service, provides the means for that exchange, and offers a set of economic rules by which most of us can agree. It can be credited in large part for lifting half of the human population out of poverty in only half a century’s time. Healthcare and lifestyle innovations did wonders in keeping disease in check. That led to a global population explosion. But corporations responded, building things better, faster, and cheaper so that everyone could take part in the great Capitalist dream. It was all going so swimmingly, until it wasn’t. Starting in 2005, there were warning signs. By 2007, in the U.S., delinquency rates on subprime lending rose sharply. And at the outset of 2008, the markets were in free-fall. What ensued was a Global Financial Crises, the likes of which the world hadn’t seen since the Great Depression. If this re-telling strikes you as tiresome, forgive me, but here’s the point: It could have been prevented. It’s a failing of government regulators who proved unable or unwilling to check the collective power of monied interests. In the blink of an eye, Capitalism as a means of serving the greater good became the whipping boy of the financial elite. The real question is: Can we get it back? Here to discuss it with me is Pietro Ventani, a Singapore-based economist and investment strategist, who does some dabbling in early-stage fintech and blockchain ventures. We talked about Capitalism’s victories and failings, its ability to address new world issues, and how politics and technology are spoiling some of those prospects. All this in less than 35 minutes. So stay tuned.

Capitalism’s Right of Passage (w/ Pietro Ventani)

Future Economy

My guest this week is Assaad Razzouk, Group CEO at Sindicatum Renewable Energy and host of The Angry Clean Energy Guy podcast. We’re talking about the need for new market forces to drive sustainability and reduce carbon output. In Assaad’s view, we’ve been playing around the perimeter for too long. Now is the time to align corporate, government and societal interests to ensure a cleaner world and healthier planet. On the environmental and cleantech front, we’re off to a fast-start in 2021, and according to my guest this episode, there’s no time to waste. Structural changes, however, are essential. And this means calling out the biggest contributors to our current climate change crises. It starts with Big Oil. They have a lot to account for, says Assaad, not just in the way they operate, but in the tactics they have long employed to divert public attention and lay the blame elsewhere. In this 35-minute conversation, we touch on the geopolitics of climate change, fossil fuel charades, investor responsibility, and the need to once and for all impose a set of progressive policies that hold corporations accountable for extracting from the earth and polluting the environment.

The Still Angry Clean Energy Guy (w/ Assaad Razzouk)

Corporate Purpose

“Purpose” as a business operating principle, has been elevated as a key priority for hundreds, if not thousands of organizations worldwide. The idea that all stakeholders are important, and not just shareholders is a new, novel, and some say, notorious concept. Convincing people within an organization to change the way they think, plan, and work is no easy task. Even so, that’s what purpose-driven organizations are trying to do – lifting their game in order to better serve people and planet. But what happens if executives tasked with developing and delivering Corporate Purpose are experiencing their own existential crises? Many have built careers by toeing the party line, delivering results, and mastering corporate politics. Achieveing career goals carries some satisfaction, no doubt. But you have to ask: To what end? For those of you who’ve been in the game for a while, chances are you’ve made your company richer, more efficient, or even better liked. That’s great. But how do you feel…you know…personally? “Tired,” said one senior executive who I recently spoke with. “It was hard enough to keep everyone happy before Covid. Now it’s even harder,” he told me. My guest this episode, Todd Miller is someone who’s reflected on the challenges of modern corporate life. He knows first-hand that failure to address the yearnings of the soul – if not taken seriously – can alter your outlook on life, curtail job satisfaction, and leave you searching for answers in far away places. Here’s my conversation with Todd.

A Purpose-driven Career & Life After Work (w/ Todd Miller)

Corporate Purpose

This week (and every week) we celebrate women, and women entrepreneurs in particular. Increasingly, female founders are launching new and innovative ventures with growing support from investor communities that for too long have been male-biased. Don’t believe me? Look at the numbers. From wage inequality, to promotions, to venture funding and social stigmas, women have had an uphill battle. The situation is particularly depressing in the poorest countries and among the least educated. Patriarchal societies are alive and well and for a woman to succeed financially or professional it takes an added level of luck, grit, and tenacity. Money helps too. And in markets the world over, women have a harder time securing credit or receiving funding than their male counterparts. One Singapore-based start-up hopes to make a difference. LUCY, a self-described “neo-bank” plans to provide the tools, network, and eventually the credit, to help entrepreneurial women succeed. I spoke with co-Founder and CEO Debbie Watkins. She spent years working with women in poverty-striken markets before pulling together a group of inspirational women and backers to offer their sisters in the field a helping hand. I’m also pleased to announce that beginning this week Inside Asia has a new sponsor. Quilt AI is a mission-first technology company that helps large organizations use the Internet more purposefully. It’s looking to reverse fractures in society and generate empathy, while helping organizations understand their consumers and beneficiaries much better. Quilt works with amazing organizations including Amazon, Twitter, The Gates Foundation, and The World Bank. But what got my attention is their pro bono work in gender equity and climate action - giving time and money to causes they care about and in service to the planet. Inside Asia is pleased to be associated with Quilt AI. For more information, do check them out at Quilt(dot)AI.

Backing Women Entrepreneurs in a Time of Change (w/ Debbie Watkins)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is Rachele Focardi, author and expert on multigenerational divides. It’s a topic that continues to plague corporations that now, more than ever, need to attract and retain great talent. Rachele, Founder of XYZ@Work and author of Reframing Generational Stereotypes, sat down with me to discuss many of the challenges faced by modern corporations when it comes to identifying, understanding, and incorporating the growing needs of an increasingly diverse workforce. A lot of attention has been paid to gender and racial diversity in the workplace, but generational differences are sometimes under appreciated. My guest argues that this could prove a grave mistake, particularly at a time in history where young talent armed with technology, a gig mentality, and social agendas, have choices. Increasingly, she argues, “the value of an organization doesn’t lie in it’s assets, but in it’s people.” There’s not an organization that doesn’t pay lip service to the idea, but how many are actually backing it up, investing in their employees not just because it’s good business, but because it’s the right thing to do?

Corporate Communication and the Generational Divide (w/ Rachele Focardi)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is Josh Tetrick, Co-Founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Eat Just, Inc. And no, it’s not an episode about life beyond this planet but life on the only planet that really matters – our planet. It’s also a "chicken or the egg" story. But in this instance, the chicken and the egg both come first. What comes next is a plant-based version of the egg. Confused yet? Well hang in there, because we’re talking about one of the most centrally important subjects of our time: Food. How we produce, process, and consume it has been something that all of us have taken for granted for decades now. But when you consider – as Josh does – that fully one-third of our arable land is used to produce feed for chickens and livestock, then something is terribly wrong. East Just, Inc. and a network of like-minded start-ups are trying to make a difference and hoping to profit at the same time. Poultry is a 230 billion dollar a year business. The market for eggs is slightly smaller at 200 billion. But given that both are among the world's most popular foods, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that by converting just a small percentage of chicken and egg lovers to a plant-based alternative, there’s upside for everyone: the consumer, the innovator, the planet, and not to be overlooked, our fine-feathered friend, the chicken. Josh is no stranger to the plant-based protein business. He's been probing away at the problem for more than a decade. But now, his company’s plant-based egg and lab-cultivated chicken are taking wing. Country regulators are just beginning to approve plant-based meat alternatives and manufacturing is ramping up. I spoke to Josh about his journey, his company, and what’s at stake if we don’t innovate our way out of a pending agricultural crises.

Food to Feed the Planet (w/ Josh Tetrick)

Corporate Purpose

Do corporations have a moral obligation to society? That’s the subject of this week’s episode of Inside Asia. My guest, Mac McKenzie, is Co-founder of the Bridge Partnership Asia and the Bridge Institute. It’s safe to say that over the course of history, companies have been viewed through the lens of profit. Causes that speak to social justice, racial and gender equality, and even environmental protection were left over the years to non-profit, religious, and government institutions. Unfortunately for them, public perception with respect to their effectiveness has all but collapsed. Only corporations, apparently, have withstood public scrutiny and are seen today as the last bastion of trust and competency. In some ways, that’s a scary thought. But regardless, it puts new impetus on companies to step it up. Even for the hold-out CEO who say “it’s not my department,” there’s no stopping consumers from wanting it to be so. It’s a dilemma for the for-profit sector, but an opportunity as well. At the heart of it is trust. And if you watched – as I did – as rabid Trump supporters stormed the US Capital after the President of the United States lied about the election outcome, then its not hard to wonder how public trust in government is in rapid decline. The same is true in China, where attempts to cover up the Covid-19 outbreak created a public outcry. And in Russia last week, protests erupted in over a hundred cities with tens of thousands demanding an end to political corruption. Trust in government from Moscow to Bejing and Washington, DC, has plummeted. Some say it’s the early makings of a societal vacuum. There are few institutions left in the world that have the resources and ability to move the dial in the realm of social justice. Bridge Consulting is trying to test the limits on what companies feel they can and can’t do. It’s raising some interesting questions. And consumers in Asia, it appears, are hoping to see more from companies in the months and years ahead.

Corporate Morality and the Pursuit of Social Justice (w/ Mac McKenzie)

Corporate Purpose

It’s 2021. A new year brings new hope. For those of you who’ve generously followed Inside Asia for the past two seasons, we thank you for listening and for your loyal support. Over the course of the past 30 months, we’ve produced nearly 170 episodes, bringing to you insights through conversation from some of the region’s most compelling thinkers, leaders, and entrepreneurs. We’ve covered geopolitics, trade, technology, sustainability, the future of food, and leadership trends. We’ve covered vast territories as well, sharing insights from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, and even the Middle East. Asia is a smorgasbord of change and innovation and it’s been an honor and pleasure to be your host. Of all the topics and ideas covered in recent years, there is one that stands out above all others, and that’s Corporate Purpose. Week-in and week-out, the topic pervades the changing business landscape. Beyond the death and devastation caused by the global pandemic, it has taught us one thing: We can no longer operate in the world in the same tried and true way. It’s time for a change. How we as a society choose to address that change will define us for all ages. Corporate Purpose is to the coming decade what digital transformation was to the last. Increasingly, companies the world over are embracing the idea of conscious capitalism, committing resources to environmental protection and social justice. No longer is it enough for companies to remain myopically focused on growth and profit. Corporations are uniquely imbued with the kind of talent, ingenuity and resourcefulness to solve the world’s biggest problems. In the coming weeks and months, Inside Asia will commit its time and energy to covering Corporate Purpose as it plays out in Asia. The region is uniquely positioned not just to follow, but to lead the world out of our current climate, health and economic crises. Each week I’ll introduce you to the companies, enablers, and thought-leaders who see Corporate Purpose as the hallmark of our times. We invite you to join us and if you haven’t already, please search for and subscribe to Inside Asia podcast and the Inside Asia newsletter. Visit us at www.insideasiaadvisors.com [http://www.insideasiaadvisors.com] and sign up now. The infamous Albert Einstein once said “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.” May 2021 be the year of a new consciousness. Stay tuned. We have new episodes in store. And as always, we thank you for listening!

Inside Asia – A New Season For a New Era

Corporate Purpose

Something special happened in recent days, and in a slight departure from our regular format, I bring you a discussion held with one of the great environmental thinkers of our time, Hunter Lovins. It was on the occasion of one of our regularly scheduled gatherings of the Asia Corporate Leadership Council that Hunter joined us virtually from her ranch in Colorado. The Council is a partnership between The Conference Board, the Center for Creative Leadership, and Inside Asia, and is comprised of a select group of senior-most leaders of western multinationals, Asian conglomerates, and family offices. Our mission: To define and promote best practice in corporate purpose. Hunter is the latest in a string of featured speakers who define what good looks like, and with permission from our members, I bring you our conversation.

A Finer Future (w/ Hunter Lovins)

Corporate Purpose

This week on Inside Asia, we take a look at just one more way in which artificial intelligence is ingraining itself in our daily lives. With so much hype around AI, it’s hard to know what to think of it. In one moment, AI applications can appear benevolent, even helpful. And in the next, it can be intrusive. Facial recognition, for instance, can and has been used to track and screen innocent people simply going about their business. AI, you might say, wears many faces. One moment, it’s Big Brother watching your every move. The next, it’s R2D2 trying to save your life. I’m dramatizing, but you get the point. Now, apparently AI-enabled machines are learning to listen; so well, in fact, that advanced technology is able to decipher subtle tones, language variances and emotional nuances, virtually inaudible to the human ear. In so doing, it can determine the sentiment of the speaker. And that, says Walt Mayo, CEO of expert (dot) ai, can make a world of difference. Take the just concluded US Presidential race, for instance, Walt and his colleagues put their technology to the test and three weeks before the election, calculated that Joe Biden would receive 50.2% of the popular vote compared to 47.3% for Trump. It struck me as a bit of a marketing ploy at the time, and a risky one at that. Why would a tech company stick its neck out with this kind of prediction when every other major poll prior to the election had Biden trouncing Trump by at least an eight percent margin? The results are now official with Biden winning the popular vote by 51% to 47.2%. Yet, the real victor was AI. How did this relatively small tech company blow the doors off a phalanx of seasoned and highly certain professional pollsters? I asked Walt to join me in this episode to share his story and talk about the future of so-called “sentiment analysis” AI.

Machines that Listen (w/ Walt Mayo)

Future Tech

What a difference an election makes. Or at least, that’s the hope. It’s as if the world has been holding its breath and now – after no shortage of political drama – Joe Biden has emerged as the new President of the United States. Why’s that important? Because the world is suffering – environmentally, socially, and economically. The US can’t change all that, but it does bode well for a new era of greater international cooperation. As the world’s second largest polluter and the single largest economy, the US is instrumental if any progress is to be made. It’s track record on the environment, however, is less than inspiring. When things got messy some 40 years ago, exporting the problem seemed like a good idea. From the 1980s onward, US industrialists sent their polluting problems overseas, with China as a favored destination. Trump’s four-year war on the environment hasn’t helped. What we’re left with is lost time and little action. Our planet has reached a breaking point. And thanks to a well-spring of activist investors and an increasingly well-informed consumer class, pressure is mounting for governments and companies alike to drive change or lose favor. In this episode of Inside Asia I speak with two global specialists in the field of ESG. That stands for Environment, Social, and Corporate Governance. It’s catching on – now more than ever – as our dance with disaster draws closer and the private sector being called upon to do more. Iain Donald is U.S. and Canada Country Manager for Control Risks. Silke Goldberg is a Partner with London-based law firm, Herbert Smith Freehills. They joined me in a recent live discussion organized by GetGlobal. If you’re a CEO, CFO or hold any C-suite position within your organization, this episode of Inside Asia is meant for you. Here’s our discussion.

The New ESG Movement (w/ Iain Donald and Silke Goldberg)

Corporate Purpose

When the influence of private capital exceeds that of a sovereign state, it raises an important question: Where does real power reside? Increasingly, it seems, money makes the world go round. At a time when stocks are over-valued, bond yields are flat, and property prices are inflated, private equity is where it’s at. Indeed, since the chaos of the 2008 Global Financial Crises, PE firms have only grown in size and influence. Asia has been a key beneficiary. And China – until recently – has absorbed the lion’s share of private capital. As and when US-China tensions subside, the surge is likely to continue In this week’s episode of Inside Asia, I speak to one of the PE industry giants - Weijian Shan, Chairman and CEO of PAG Group. Shan’s new book, Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea’s Most Iconic Bank, is a tale on how deals get done in the convoluted world of big money and big personalities. It’s been over 20 years since Shan and his colleagues at Newbridge Capital landed in Seoul to rescue Korea First Bank, but he tells it like it happened only yesterday. The transaction is epic in both size and circumstance. But it also speaks to the central importance of developing personal trust and accountability to offset fears of xenophobia and big money exploitation. It also speaks to the enormity of PE as a vehicle for rescuing distressed businesses – a point not lost in these pandemic times.

Money Games: Negotiating Private Equity (w/ Weijian Shan)

Geopolitics

In the run-up to this year’s US Presidential election, the only Asia topic that appears to loom large is China. And during these days, no self-respecting US politician can talk about this rising Superpower without saying something disparaging. Indeed, there’s hardly a businessman, legislator, or policy wonk within the Beltway who has anything positive or hopeful to say about US-China relations. Maybe that’s simply because there’s nothing to be gained politically by doing so. Americans need to blame someone for lost jobs, climate change, and a global pandemic – why not China? It’s a communist country, after all, and Americans are fond of blaming things on communists too. Remove yourself from this political quagmire and step outside of the U.S. and you get a more balanced – dare I say – sophisticated take on China, it’s role in the world, and the existential threat (if any) that it poses to a United States undergoing an identity crises. In this episode, I turn to two of the most thoughtful commentators on US-China relations. Jim McGregor and Craig Allen. Jim is Shanghai-based and a consummate China watcher, author, and a top advisor to US businesses in China. Craig is D.C.-based and President of the US-China Business Council. I had the pleasure of facilitating a hard-driving conversation between the two experts in a recent GetGlobal virtual event. In the course of this 55-minute tria-logue, we covered a lot of territory, challenged one another on some of the more popular US-centric characterizations of China, and contemplated prospects for a more constructive relationship between the two countries under a Biden administration.

Contemplating the Future of US-China Relations (w/ Jim McGregor & Craig Allen)

Geopolitics

2020 has been a headline year, dominated by news of a global pandemic, US elections, Brexit and China’s rise to power. On the business front, Corporate Purpose has emerged as the theme of the year. It comes on the back of an August 2019 statement released by the US-based Business Roundtable, calling into question the primacy of shareholders. For the past 50 years, corporations have operating on the principle that the only responsibility of business is to generate profits for its shareholders. With the world in such a muddle, that core idea is coming into question. If issues like climate change, inequality, and social justice aren’t addressed, there’s growing concern that societies everywhere will come face-to-face with collapse. Corporations – so say pundits – are best positioned to make a difference. Helping companies make that shift so that purpose and profits might co-exist is the work of my two guests this episode. Robert Quinn and Anjan Thakor are US-based professors. Together, they wrote a book entitled: The Economics of Higher Purpose: Eight Counter-intuitive Steps for Creating a Purpose Driven Organization. I spoke with them by phone recently. We touched on the traditional employer-employee contract, the new operating paradigm, and what it takes to bring a purpose agenda to life.

The Economics of Corporate Purpose (w/ Bob Quinn & Anjan Thakor)

Corporate Purpose

If the world has a problem, technology will solve it. That’s the stance taken by many technologists and industrialists who trust that human innovation – when put to the test - will prevail. It’s the “human” part of the equation, however, that is increasingly in question. In Japan, for instance, where a demographic decline in working age citizens demands automation in order to fill the gap, Covid-19 has given the country further reason to invest in AI, robotics, and machine-learning wherever possible. Elsewhere in the world, where Covid has left millions unemployed, there’s rising concern that companies will pass on human employees in deference to machines. Observing Japan to see how it’s robotic revolution takes hold and impacts people could serve as a bellwether for policy-makers elsewhere. Governments are desperate to rekindle economic growth after Covid’s devastating effects. This means encouraging corporate recovery, while reducing unemployment. In certain sectors – primarily industrial – the two may prove mutually exclusive. To help us understand what’s at stake, I contacted the author of the McKinsey article, Maya Horii [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-horii-1952414/]. She’s a Partner in McKinsey’s Tokyo office and advisor to both public agencies and private enterprise. We discussed Japan’s unique set of circumstances, its declining workforce, poor productivity, and prospects for displacing human workers with machine-based alternatives.

Japan and the Problem and Promise of Automation

Future Economy

After living in the shadow of Western-style development for the greater part of the last 200 years, China is in the throes of crafting it’s own vision of what it means to be a modern economic power. That doesn’t always sit well with other countries – and particularly the U.S. – a nation grown accustom to it’s hard-won hegemony. China’s demonstration of its new-found strength is showing up in dozens of ways. Militarily, as in its testing of its territorial rights with India and in the South China Sea. Politically, as reflected in its imposition of new security laws in Hong Kong. And diplomatically, squaring off – as it were – with the US over issues relating to trade and technology transfer. The country is also investing in a series of longer-term strategies to ensure it’s economic and political rebound, in some cases, thinking well ahead of the curve, and ahead of other nations like the US, the UK, and Japan – all mired in their own set of domestic issues. In this week’s episode, we tackle China’a quest to deploy one of the world’s first comprehensive digital currencies. DCEP as the chosen acronym for China’s so-called Digital Currency Electronic Payment platform now under development and primed for piloting. What are digital currencies and why is China so enthusiastically pushing to convert its currency from a cash to a digital equivalent. Here to break it down for us on this episode of Inside Asia is Zennon Kapron, Founder and Director of Kapronasia, a fintech boutique strategy and research firm.

Digital Currencies and the China Question (w/ Zennon Kapron)

Geopolitics

This is Steve Stine from Inside Asia. Just 45 days from today Americans will go to the polls and cast a vote for the next president of the United States. By all counts, this is proving one of the most essential electoral decisions in modern US history. The outcome will fundamentally change the course of America and the reverberations will be felt throughout the world. As Inside Asia listeners, I’m asking one of two things of you: If you’re an American living abroad, please register and vote. If you’re not a US citizen, reach out to your American friends and colleagues and ask them if they plan to vote. If they say “no” or “not sure,” please share with them the following. According to a 2018 Pew Research survey, only 55.7 percent of eligible US voters are registered to vote. By world standards, that’s shockingly low. Among the 32 OECD countries that support free and open elections, the US ranks 26th in terms of voter turnout. Rather than explore any number of socio-political reasons as to why this might be the case, let’s focus on what’s at stake. As a nation, the US – for better or for worse – has imprinted its political, cultural and economic DNA on the world. It’s shaped our current brand of global Capitalism by virtue of its strength, money, and ingenuity. Whether we like it or not, a half-century of US foreign policy has imposed itself on the current world order. Some might disagree, but I’d say the results are mixed at best. Economically, many might be better off today than they were decades ago, but social, political, and environmental strife persist, unabated. As Inside Asia listeners are well aware, the geopolitical balance is shifting. It’s a frustrating moment for a superpower in the throes of change and whether you agree with US leadership efforts or not, it’s impacting the way the world sees the country. While the days of US hegemony are fading, there’s still an important role to be played by a nation that’s left such an indelible imprint. It is, therefore, the responsibility - if not the obligation - of every American – at home and abroad - to exercise his or her inalienable right to vote. This is not a partisan plea. But rather a call to participate in mapping a future for a country at the crossroads. To my fellow American expats and to all those who support a role for America in the world, please don’t miss this chance to leave your mark on history. It’s not too late. Registering and voting from abroad is simple. Not sure how? Here’s a message from votefromabroad.org. For more information, visit www.votefromabroad.org [http://www.votefromabroad.org]. And as always, we thank you for listening.

US Voter Turnout and Americans Abroad

Geopolitics

My guest this week is Isabelle Decitre, CEO of Singapore-based ID Capital. She’s a future-of-food advocate, an investor, and convener of food innovators. For many, there’s nothing more all-consuming and enticing than the topic of food. In these maddening times, food offers comfort, conjures up memories, and nurtures the body. Unfortunately, food all over the world, is not what it once was. Whether in pursuit of economic profit, or in a bid to deliver greater variety at lower prices, mass manufactured food has its benefits and its drawbacks. Walk through the aisles of any major grocery shopping chain anywhere in the world and you’re inundated with choice. Variety, you might say, is the hallmark of the world’s leading food and beverage companies. So what’s the problem, you ask? In a word: nutrition. In recent decades, global eating habits have shifted dramatically, enticed by the manufactured tastes and low price points of thousands of sugary, salty, and artificially conjured food products. The health impact is apparent. Obesity, diabetes, and heart disease are modern day ailments that plague populations the world over, perpetuated by our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Millions of products compete each day for a piece of the consumer pallet. It’s big business with big health and wellness consequences. Listen to the full conversation by visiting us as www.insideasiapodcast.com. As always, we thank you for listening.

The Future of Food (w/ Isabelle Decitre)

Future Economy

This week, we take a hard look at how consumption patterns in Asia have shifted as a result of the global pandemic. With me this episode is Nielsen’s Managing Director of Consumer Intelligence, Vaughan Ryan. I met Vaughan virtually during a recent Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry event where he, I, and others were asked to share our thoughts with the Singapore business community in a session entitled: “Gearing Up for the Next Normal.” Neilsen had just surveyed consumers in the region to see how Asian buying behaviors have morphed in a time of Covid. Now, in the course of our 30 minute conversation, we share these findings with you.

Asia’s Shift in Consumerism (w/ Vaughan Ryan)

Future Economy

My guest this week is Davina Ho, Co-Founder and Chief Well-Being Officer at Hasiko, a Singapore-based advisory and training organization. She says that pre-Covid, stress levels in the workplace were on the rise. The global pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. So much so, she argues, that it’s time for employers to get involved. Davina says “mindfulness” is a solution for our times. It’s been six months since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, and for many – if not all – some aspect of our social, professional, or personal lives have changed – maybe forever! As a species, we’re impressively adaptable. Through war, famine, and natural disaster, we’ve proven ourselves capable of rallying and coming together in times of need. This time around, however, coming together – at least physically – only exacerbates the problem. So it is, in relative isolation, we are all looking for new ways to cope. Many of the tried and true ways of dealing with stress and anxiety are no longer available to us, whether that’s an after-work visit to the local bar to mingle with friends, a night at at the movies, or dining out at your favorite restaurant. Going to the gym or the yoga study poses its own set of risks and challenges. So what’s left? How does one manage stress, stay fit, healthy, and focused on the task at hand?

Mindfulness Inc. (w/ Davina Ho)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is Clay Chandler, Executive Editor for Fortune here in Asia. Based out of Hong Kong, he’s a long-serving member of the region’s journalistic community, holding stints with The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Time Inc. At Fortune, he’s created a niche in delivering nuanced tales, offering up an Asia perspective to challenge more populist US-centric views. US and China, it seems, are caught in a downwardly spiralling political maelstrom and there is no end in sight. While the short-term implications appear rather petty, the longer-term issues could prove severe. Not just for the two countries, but for the world at large. It speaks to the essential nature of the two Superpowers. They set the tone for what comes next economically. Diplomatic squabbling isn’t helping, particularly in a time of pandemic when greater inter-reliance, not less, could make all the difference. Which country comes out on top may have less to do with politics and more to do with which nation gets it’s economy back on track first. Through this lens, China would appear to have the upper hand. It’s economy is rebounding. And as my guest this week explains, it has much to do with China’s relative success in bringing Covid to heel.

US vs. China: A Tale of Two Systems (w/ Clay Chandler)

Geopolitics

My guest this week is Fraser Thompson, Founder and Managing Director of AlphaBeta, a Singapore-based consulting firm specializing in strategy and economics. Fraser and his colleagues teamed up with the World Economic Forum to highlight sector-specific ways in which business might profit, while enhancing bio-diversity and reducing the impact of climate change. He joins me in this episode to explain how they arrived at these figures and what it will take to deliver on it. According to the report, investment in nature-friendly initiatives has the potential to generate $10.1 trillion in recurring annual revenues and up to 395 million jobs by 2030. To pull it off, we need new levels of corporate and government coordination to target the right opportunities and incentivize the right players.

The New Nature Economy (w/ Fraser Thompson)

Corporate Purpose

On this week’s episode of Inside Asia I’m in conversation with Steve Okun, political pundit and senior advisor with McClarty Associates. For years now, and with each new US political cycle, Steve steps up to offer an outside-in view of how things are shaping up. Understanding how politics shape Asia commerce is his forte. Every four years, US presidential elections role around and Americans are asked to pick a candidate who best represents their needs and ideals. Bread basked issues like jobs, the economy, and healthcare top the list. Foreign Policy? Well, it barely ranks. In most cases, it doesn’t even make the top 10. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that as the US enters this political season, America’s engagement with Asia won’t receive so much as a mention. The only exception, of course, is China. Every politician needs a bogey-man, and this time round, it’s the Middle Kingdom, or as, no doubt, it will be characterized in political ads and stump speeches as “the red threat rising in the East.” It’s the kind of rhetoric that politicians like to bandy about. It’s good for public morale, they might argue, but it has little bearing on the outcome of an election. So why do it?

US Voters and the World: Don’t Know and Don’t Care (w/ Steve Okun)

Geopolitics

These days, we busy ourselves 24/7 with emails, text messsges, spreadsheets and reports. Human contact is becoming obsolete, and Covid-19 and its social distancing requirements makes Zoom calls the last step in severing us from our friends and work colleagues. What’s left? The imagination, apparently. I’m talking about the science of day-dreaming. Momentary opportunities to give your brain a break, and in so doing, restoring the capacity to create in new and unexpected ways. You think I’m dreaming? I’m not. Neuroscience holds the proof and here to assist me in understanding what that entails is Tony Estrella [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyestrella/]. Inside Asialisteners may recall a conversation we had a year ago, when we discussed the Science of Sleep. [Listen here: http://www.insideasiapodcast.com/sleep-science/ [http://www.insideasiapodcast.com/sleep-science/]] In this episode, we take it one step further, drawing the connection between sleep as an essential function and dreaming as the creative output. Embrace dreaming as a practice of sorts, and the results could prove spectacular. Somewhere along the way, we stopped listening to our dreams. For centuries, images conjured in our unconscious state informed our biggest decisions. Indigenous people even to this day describe the dream state as a gateway to the divine. Science put an end to that. For centuries dreams were discounted as nothing more than nighttime nonsense. Breakthoughs in neuroscience say that was a mistake. Time to get it back!

Building the Imagination Muscle (w/Tony Estrella)

Health & Science

My guest this week is James Crabtree, an Associate Professor at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy and a frequent commentator across news outlets here and abroad. In a recent Foreign Policy article entitled “The End of Emerging Markets,” James outlined many of his concerns as efforts are made to weather the Covid storm. In this episode, we visit the developing markets of South and Southeast Asia. Well, maybe “visit” isn’t the right word. Most emerging markets in this part of the world remain locked down. This, in contrast to China, Europe and North America where re-opening is the theme of the day. It’s a balancing act between containing Covid and resuscitating economies on life-support. It’s laudable that markets in this region are airing on the side of safeguarding the health and safety of its citizens. But its equally concerning - because in emerging markets at least - poor economic performance can quickly lead to political unrest.

Finding Resiliency in Emerging Asia (w/ James Crabtree)

Geopolitics

This week my guest is Gavin Adda, CEO of Total Solar Asia. He is one of the true-borns who embraced solar and its potential nearly 15 years ago. This week, we take a look at the burgeoning solar industry. To be frank, it’s been a slog in many parts of Asia, where the appetite and economics for solar have long struggled to add up. Only Japan, some might say, has proven the exception. Change, according to Gavin, has finally come, thanks in large part to a dose of good old fashioned economics. Few people have battled as hard as Gavin to see this renewable source of energy begin to take its rightful place. Through a series of executive roles at Samsung, REC and Cleantech Solar, he arrived at Total, the French energy giant. His mission: to spread the word that solar is not only good for the earth, it’s good for the corporate bottomline.

Solar’s New Shine (w/ Gavin Adda)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is John Wood, Founder of Room-to-Read, one of the world’s most successful education and gender equality non-profits. He wasn’t always in the business of building and filling libraries in the poorest parts of the world. For years prior, he served as a senior executive with Microsoft. Then came his great awakening. I won’t spoil it for you. Our conversation takes you back to the beginning, and it’s quite a tale. He’s a four-term member of the Clinton Global Initiative Advisory Board, a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and a book author. His latest: Purpose Incorporated: Turning Cause Into Your Competitive Advantage. It’s a user friendly guide on how to steer an organization towards a world where purpose and profit co-exist. John’s backstory is powerful. But it’s his thinking about the future that holds the greatest appeal. This is a story about possibilities. And at a time when the world is spinning from pandemics and economic displacement, John’s words of encouragement and their practical application are well received.

Purpose Incorporated (w/ John Wood)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this week is Daniel Moss, Bloomberg’s Asia Economy columnist based here in Singapore. In this week’s conversation, we contemplate the risks vs. rewards of urban living. We’re talking about mega-cities – defined as urban centers with a population of 10 million or more. What took hundreds of years in Europe has taken only decades in Asia, and the region for that – plain and simple – is economic growth and opportunity. For billions of Asians the city means jobs, new wealth, and opportunity. Unfortunately, the dream hasn’t panned out for many - one in three to be exact. By some estimates, over a billion urban-dwelling Asians live in slums and abject poverty. The only reason they stay is because their rural options are even worse. That fact alone should be enough to point the finger at governments. In this region, cities have received the lion’s share of resource and investment. It’s where you can find the best infrastructure, the best wireless coverage, the most jobs, and if can afford it, the best housing. Rural communities, on the other hand, have been left to their own devices. For many, even basic electricity and indoor plumbing remains a distant dream. Some attempts – albeit few – have been made by governments to right this wrong. Although, if truth be told, investment in outlying communities probably has more to do with political expediency than economic altruism. I ask Daniel to share with us his thoughts on Asian urbanization and how Covid-19 might encourage a re-think.

Mega-City Madness? (w/ Daniel Moss)

Geopolitics

This week I’m in conversation with Mark Clifford, a long-time resident of Hong Kong, a former journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post, and for the past 13 years, Executive Director of the Asia Business Council. In our conversation we look to Hong Kong. It’s been 23 years since the handover of the former British colony to to the People’s Republic of China. In that time, economic prosperity has grown, but so has political disharmony. In years past, public protests – sometimes in the millions – have provided Hong Kong residents with the means to make their voices heard. With the exception of pro-democracy marches in December 2005, the first of five promised decades of guaranteed autonomy went relatively well. Hong Kong had its issues like any other major metropolitan center, but China – for the most part – behaved, leaving Hong Kong to do what Hong Kong does best – make money. Maybe it was the jarring of the global economic crises in 2008 or repeated failed promises by Beijing to allow universal suffrage, but by 2010, tensions mounted. For nearly every year since then, the people of Hong Kong have taken to the streets, tongue-lashing China for it’s sometimes subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – infringements on Hong Kong’s sovereignty. Security laws have been cause for the largest protests. One year ago, an estimated two million people turned out when the Hong Kong legislature – at Beijing’s behest – tried to push through a controversial bill allowing criminal extradition to China. Two million Hong Kong Chinese can’t be wrong. They’ve lived on the edge of the world’s most powerful communist country and many are all too familiar with how the mainland bends the law to support its own ends. So what does this all mean for Hong Kong’s economy and the companies vested in its future? Listen to my conversation with Mark and find out.

Hong Kong Doth Protest (w/ Mark Clifford)

Geopolitics

This week I’m in conversation with Vivek Couto, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Media Partners Asia, a market research and consulting firm catering to the telecom, media and entertainment industry. According to Vivek, total minutes spent viewing online video in Southeast Asia jumped 60% in the first quarter of the year. Most of that new viewership occurred via smartphones, which suggests that video streaming is a private affair. Gone are the days when families circled up around the TV set to watch their favorite drama or gameshow. That’s a problem for content providers and advertisers who rely on programming reach. While programming choice is great for consumers, it makes the economics of the media industry ever more difficult. Even before the Covid crises, pay-TV operators were feeling the pinch. Billions of dollars have been deployed by licensed operators from Singapore to Seoul. They’ve spent handsomely on fiber optics networks, satellite links, and customer care and billing services just to keep their customers happy. Then along came the disrupters, those so-called over-the-top or OTT providers that charge a low monthly fee for all the streaming video you can consume. You know the ones I’m talking about: Netflix, Hulu, HBO-Now. Add to these a new tier of regional or single-market providers, and the market is flush in quick and cheap subscription choices. How the industry is struggling to adjust is the subject of my conversation.

Media Madness (w/ Vivek Couto)

Future Tech

After Covid-19, one of the biggest subjects occupying academia and boardrooms is Conscious Capitalism. You’re either deeply familiar with the term, or you’re not. If you’re not, climb aboard. Capitalism as we know it is about to undergo a major transformation. For the better part of a year now, the topic has been coming up in conversations with CEOs, investors and thought-leaders, who say the old paradigm of operating solely in the interest of shareholders is done and dusted. The new paradigm is more inclusive. That means accommodating and protecting the interests of a broader group of stakeholders, including employees, the environment, and society at large. Some cynics say it’s already too late. Optimists, on the other hand, believe that through consensus building, re-allocation of resources, and top-down leadership, it is not only possible, but probable. Evidence abounds showing that corporations can be both profit- and purpose-driven. Up this week, the asset management industry. As buyers and sellers of corporate assets, they are the proverbial gate-keepers of corporate financial performance. With $80 trillion under management worldwide, there’s power at play. Fortunes have been made and lost on the decisions laid down by asset managers. For the longest time, financial performance has remained the central barometer for all buy and sell decisions. This too must change. Enter a new breed of asset manager. Those that believe that the best corporations are those that do well by doing good. In this week’s episode, I speak to one such individual. Munib Madni [https://www.linkedin.com/in/munib-madni-cfa-641942150/] spent 13-1/2 years with Morgan Stanley before he saw the light, resigned, then re-emerged as CEO of his own asset management firm, Panarchy Partners [https://panarchypartners.com/]. In this conversation with Munib, we talk about the evolution of the industry, the forces now shaping a new kind of investing, and the emergence of corporations, poised to make a difference.

Purpose-Driven Investing (w/ Munib Madni)

Corporate Purpose

Lockdown to Rebound. That’s the theme of this this episode. But, unlike other episodes where we ferret out experts living and operating in the greater Asia region, this conversation brings it all back home - literally. Hunkered down in Singapore, I – like many of you – have had ample time to contemplate life and some of the bigger questions. We’ve all employed coping mechanisms, started new hobbies, or maybe just caught up on sleep. There’s no right or wrong solution. It’s all about creating some peace of mind, but also developing a few practices to better build physical and mental well-being. Fifteen years ago, Anne created Youhealing, a service designed to offer health, nutrition, and wellness advice. Over the years she’s consulted with thousands of clients on how to best restore and preserve good health. She’s been talking about the importance of boosting the immune system longer than anyone I know. That seemed like appropriate fodder in a world where personal healthcare responsibility is the custom of the day. So it is, on the occasion of our nightly dialog, that we turned our attention to what life in lockdown has taught us. We also ventured into what can be done to combat a virus for which there’s currently no medical solution.

Lockdown to Rebound (w/ Anne Hockett)

Health & Science

My guest in this Inside Asia episode is Adam Schwarz, Founder and CEO of Asia Group Advisors, a strategy and investment advisory firm operating across Southeast Asia. Adam and his firm have made it their business to understand the economic and geopolitical complexities that inhabit this part of the world. In this conversation, we unpack some of the challenges the region faces from the Coronavirus outbreak to the rising influence of its neighbor to the north – China. As my conversation with Adam reveals, investors are swarming, supply-chains are shifting, and confidence is mounting. The sub-region’s ability to weather and managed the Covid-19 crises will either make or break the rate of that ascendance. Much is yet to be seen. Politically, the US has distanced itself from the region for all the wrong reasons and at precisely the wrong time. US investors and multinationals operating in this part of the world aren’t happy about that. Layer in China’s ambitions and the fact that it is now the region’s largest trading partner and the possibility for one of two scenarios emerges. I start out by asking Adam to reflect on how less developed markets in the region were equipped to handle the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

Southeast Asia: Political Pawn or Proxy (w/ Adam Schwarz)

Geopolitics

If this conversation with MyDoc CEO, Dr. Snehal Patel is any indicator, the Coronavirus pandemic has given the healthtech sector and unasked for boost. From Singapore to China, telemedicine is taking a load off bricks & mortar hospitals scrambling to care for Cvoid-19 patients. In Singapore alone there are nearly a dozen tele-medicine providers. Download an app, register, and within minutes, your in video consultation with a live doctor. He or she can diagnose and prescribe what you need. And here’s the best part, any medication, if required, can be delivered to your home. It’s simple, and affordable, and yet, some habits die hard. For many, there’s face-to-face appeal of a doctor’s visit. Some discussions are simply better had in private. Doctors are trusted with the most sensitive - and in some cases – life confronting matters. But more than that, the story of telemedicine calls into question the larger tale of a healthcare system gone rogue. Infectious diseases - as recent circumstances have shown - still pose a real threat. And yet, the lion’s share of government and private sector investment has for years been directed at the treatment of chronic ailments. Perhaps this pandemic is just the jolt governments in the region need in order to rethink the future of healthcare.

Telemedicine's Breakaway Moment (w/ Dr. Snehal Patel)

Future Economy

Earlier this week, the city of Wuhan discharged from hospitals the last of its patients infected with Covid-19, while nationwide, only three new cases were reported. In the latest official count, China reported 82,000 instances and 4,633 deaths. Many countries in Europe and the U.S. have blown well past that. Of course, no one knows if, when and how a second wave of the virus will come. The bigger queston – at least for the moment - is the economy. How hard was it hit and what long-term damage has been done? At least one group – venture capitalists – appear unperturbed. Their enthusiasm for China tech start-ups knows no bounds. In late March alone, Chinese firms recorded 66 venture capital deals. That’s the highest level of activity in 2020 and nearly the same level from the same time last year. Not surprisingly, Robotics, EdTech, Supply-Chain and Healthcare companies received the lion’s share of funding. Any solution that might serve the new operating realities of a post-Covid-19 world are hot prospects, and getting hotter. Here to talk to me about the Chinese start-up culture is Rich Robinson. He’s spent over 20 years in China tracking and participating in the rise of the China tech revolution. His awe for the Chinese entrepreneur is apparent, but he has some worries too.

China’s Enduring Start-ups (w/ Rich Robinson)

Geopolitics

Prior to the outbreak, the greatest force in this part of the world was China. It’s awesome 40-year sprint to rise from ecominic backwater to international Superpower is the stuff of legend. For the longest time, it was a tale of economic prowess and an apparent embrace of free-market enterprise. A sign, perhaps, of China’s joining the economic league of nations. But appearances can be deceiving. The Middle Kingdom may have a plan of its own. The past few years suggest as much. Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China is flexing some newfound geopolitical muscle marked by ambitious plans that speak of global expansion and smack of hubris. Two programs in particular - The Belt and Road Initiative [http://english.www.gov.cn/beltAndRoad/] and Made in China 2025 [http://english.www.gov.cn/2016special/madeinchina2025/] have received the lion’s share of attention. But there are dozens of others that reveal China’s newfound ambitions. From infrastructure to artificial intelligence, China is on the march. Into this vacuum comes my guest, Michael Schuman. He’s a long-time journalist with The Wall Street Journal and Timemagazine, and author of several books. His latest: Superpower Interrupted. The title says is all.

Superpower Interrupted

Geopolitics

My guest this week is Andrew Hewitt, founder of GameChangers 500, an organization bent on identifying and ranking global organizations looking to make a difference. Andrew and his GameChanger colleagues have come to believe, and I quote, “that the profit-at-all-cost model just isn’t working,” end quote. Many of our listeners know, this is a subject near and dear to the heart. The world is coming to realize that the Earth is resource limited. The party is dwindling, and if, as a race, we hope to survive and thrive, change is essential. Essential, indeed. But unfortunately, not inevitable. For that, we need to do some heavy lifting. Some say only the private sector with its vast resources, top talent and eye on innovation can lead that change. But making the leap from profit- to purpose-driven is no easy task. No one knows this better than Andrew Hewitt. In our conversation he shares many of the ups and downs that come with being on the front lines of a purpose-driven movement.

A Case for Conscious Capitalism (w/ Andrew Hewitt)

Corporate Purpose

My guest this episode is Frank Lavin, former Citibank executive, US Ambassador to Singapore, and the Founder and Chairman of ExportNow, a business designed to deliver US-brand products to China. Frank and I spoke at the outset of the pandemic. Since then, things have grown worse. Markets are volatile, trade is disrupted, and cities the world over are in varying stages of lockdown. Our conversation is an attempt to pull back momentarily in order to reflect on some of the broader trends that inform Asia’s prospects in the medium- to long-term. How long the crises will continue is anyone’s guess. But make no mistake, the world will be forever changed because of it. Without becoming Covid-19 centric, we hope – in coming episodes - to touch on the virus’ impact. How will a post-Covid world re-balance global power? What’s the anticipated impact on consumer behavior? Will corporations find in this moment an opportunity to change its practices and adapt to a new set of rules? I hope you'll join us. If you haven't already, please subscribe to Inside Asia wherever you download and manage your podcasts. Or visit us at www.insideasiapodcast.com.

Asia’s Balancing Act (w/ Frank Lavin)

Geopolitics

My guest this episode is Dr. Prabhavati Dwabha, the passion and vision behind Ramana’s Garden, which for the past 20 years has offered refuge for abused and abandoned children from all parts of India. Most know her as just Prabha, She’s American by birth but India has served as her adopted home for almost 40 years, and what she’s been able to achieve here over the course of four decades is something quite astounding. Prabha has succeeded where countless others would have thrown in the towel. What makes here different? Well, for one, she’s tenacious. Pitbull tenacious. Her life is defined by a determination to persevere against all odds. Ramana’s Garden is testimony to that fact. Where others flounder, Prabha just gets it done.

Angel Warrior (w/ Prabha Dwabha)

Mavericks

My guest this week is Edward Booty, Founder and CEO of Asia-based reach52, a company established three years ago to provide health screening and distribution services for remote communities in Asia using digital apps and mobile communications. First, fair warning: This week’s episode is less than cheery. It’s a cautionary note for what may lay in store for the world’s poor and under-resourced. While relatively wealthy nations reel from the sudden onset of Covid-19 and all attempts to contain the outbreak, billions of others - 52% of the world population in fact - resides in rural enclaves awaiting a pandemic that could kill in droves. To understand what’s at stake, we need to look at the numbers. From Southeast Asia, to Africa, and many parts of South America, healthcare infrastructure, including the most basic primary care services are woefully in short supply. According to the World Bank, average per capita healthcare spend for the poorest 30 countries is just $33. Quality care is a dream. Hospitals are a luxury. So it is that while urban dwellers take cover, scramble to self-isolate, and practice the art of social distancing, the world’s rural poor look on, wondering if and how they’ll survive when Covid-19 comes calling.

Covid-19 and the Rural Health Gap (w/ Edward Booty )

Future Tech

What are you doing – you alone – to safeguard your personal health and well-being? It’s a question that keeps popping up for me. Ultimately, who’s responsible for healthcare? Governments? Doctors? Pharmaceutical companies, perhaps? How about hospitals? This week’s guest, Dr. Bruce Lipton, offers some insight. His 2005 book, Biology of Belief unleashed a flurry of new questions and critique around the role of conventional science and the attempt by the pharmaceutical industry to kidnap and control the health destiny of each and every individual. Big stuff! Bruce is no stranger to controversy. In the fifteen years since his book’s publication he’s pursued his science and unraveled the mysteries of the human body, the behavior of the human cell, and the nature-born ability of each of us to manage our health by adjusting to the conditions of our respective environments. This is a conversation in three parts. First, Lipton explains the function of the cell the way Dylan puts words to music. In part two of the discussion, we talk about the pharmaceutical sectors attempt to create much of what the body already does naturally. And finally, I ask him to envision a healthcare system less dependent on pharmaceuticals and more dependent on self-awareness and consciousness. Sound radical? Well, it’s not. It’s science.

The Medicine of Consciousness (w/ Dr. Bruce Lipton)

Health & Science

This week I’m in conversation with Dane Chamorro, senior partner at Control Risks. The firms charter is to help organizations succeed in a volatile world, and nothing has created volatility more than the Coronavirus. Some of our listeners might recall the conversation I had with Ben Rolfe, in November last year. In the first half of our discussion, we celebrated his organization’s efforts to combat and largely eradicate malaria in the region. But we also discussed the inevitable rise of other infectious and contagious diseases. It’s a spooky harbinger of the dawning of Covid-19. We spoke again in February. This time from an isolation chamber at the Singapore Center for Infectious Diseases. Ben reached out while in confinement telling me how he had returned from a trip to Thailand, and not feeling well, presented himself to the authorities. From his hospital bed, he shares with us his front-line experience and the Singapore response to the outbreak. A week later, he was released. Hundreds of others haven’t been so lucky. That was a month ago. Since then Coronavirus has run rampant and just days ago, the World Health Organization declared the virus a global pandemic. As other news services generate updates on the spread of the disease, government response, and ways to prevent and protect one’s self, we plan to offer our listeners a number of unique perspectives on the broader implications of the pandemic. I kick off this episode’s conversation by asking Dane to characterize “risk” as it related to corporate and government decision-making.

Risky Business (w/ Dane Chamorro)

Corporate Governance

My guest this week is Cary Horenfeldt, a self-styled digital payments expert. He’s an advisor to Bain & Company and consultant to an ever-growing FinTech community in Asia and beyond. Based in Singapore, Cary sees growing enthusiasm for digital payments. Regulators are relaxing rules, making way for new entrants, while merchants contemplate ways to drive sales across new payment platforms. The only real loser in this payments frenzy is cash, and no one seems too sad to see it go. So-called digital wallets are all the rage, accounting for 54% of all China e-commerce sales, which in turn, represent 620.5 billion dollars of a booming 1.2 trillion dollar marketplace. “Super Apps” created and supported by Chinese behemoths Alibaba and WeChat capture QR codes with the swipe of a smartphone, making payments quick, smooth and seamless. In less than 20 years, China has risen to become the world’s digital vanguard. It now leads the world in digital payments, and with only 56% smartphone penetration there’s still lots of upside.

Cashing Out (w/ Cary Horenfeldt)

Future Economy

On Saturday, February 8, deaths attributed to the Coronavirus surpassed those from the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003. It’s the speed of the spread of this particular disease that’s cause for concern. Data shows that it took just 20 days, compared to 80 for SARS, to result in 800 deaths. But data can be misleading. Because the infectious footprint of the Coronavirus is so much larger than SARS with the Chinese city of Wuhan at the epicenter, it feels precarious. Against this backdrop, I received a message from Ben Rolfe. He was texting from an isolation room in Singapore’s National Center for Infectious Diseases, suspected of contracting the Coronavirus. Ben is one of a handful of experts in the region who track and tackle infectious disease. Regular listeners may recall our conversation last November. In that episode, entitled “Asian Contagion,” Ben celebrated the dramatic reduction in malaria across the region, but raised concerns about other forms of infectious disease provoked in part by rapid urbanization, limited healthcare budgets, and poor planning. Finding himself on the front-line of an epidemic, surrounded by healthcare workers in biohazard suits has given Ben a rare, albeit unwanted, perspective, and the conversation that follows is a warning to us all.

Going Viral (w/ Ben Rolfe)

Geopolitics

This week, we’re back with a program favorite, Jim McGregor. For Jim, China has been a stomping ground for more than 30 years and he brings to our conversations the thing we appreciate the most – perspective. To truly understand China is to witness the country through the long arc of history. It’s as consistent as it is surprising. In certain instances, it takes a crisis to reveal the underbelly of a nation steeped in secrecy. This time, the crisis came in the form of the corona virus, striking at the heart of China’s Hubei Province, and resulting in the lockdown of Wuhan, one of the country’s most essential industrial centers. The number of infected has skyrocketed to more than 20,000 people in less than two weeks. Wuhan remains the epicenter of the outbreak, but cases are spreading throughout China and the world, with more than 25 countries reporting confirmed cases. The economic impact on China, and the rest of the world for that matter, has also raised concerns. Because of an over weighted dependency on China for manufactured goods, any slowdown on the Mainland will most assuredly have an impact on the global economy. Economists say China’s growth could slip from 6.1 to 5.6% in 2020 because of the outbreak, and by extension, trimming 0.2% off global economic growth. Not an attractive prospect when staring down the barrel of a possible Recession later this year, or early next.

China 2020 Foresight (w/ Jim McGregor)

Geopolitics

This week I’m in conversation with Elisa Mallis, Vice President and Managing Director at the Center for Creative Leadership. She’s talking about Corporate Boards in Asia and how the time has come to re-evaluate the role of the Board member in order to establish a new kind of leadership culture. The Center, better known by its acronym, CCL, has made its mark as one of the world’s preeminent leadership training and development firms. For decades, CCL has researched global leadership trends then tailored programs to equip executives in the art of change and adaptation. Elisa her colleagues have recently completed a year-long study covering six key markets spanning South and Southeast Asia. The results suggest that Asia’s Boards – by their own admission – are way behind where they need to be in order to lead their organizations through complex times. The world is faced with bold new challenges and what’s needed is a bold new response. So, say hello to the Board. While CEOs and their operating teams focus on day-to-day challenges associated with running the company, targeting earnings and managing costs, Board members are being called upon to step up, assume greater responsibility, help set the organizational agenda, and fill its ranks with domain experts and technical specialists.

Building a Better Boardroom (w/ Elisa Mallis)

Corporate Governance

This week I’m in conversation with Sasha Conlan, Founder and Owner of Singapore-based Sasha’s Fine Foods. We’re back in Singapore, and it’s that funny time of year where we find ourselves sandwiched between the Christmas season on the one end and Chinese New Year on the other. Over the course of my thirty years in Asia, I’ve come to appreciate this 4-5 week “in-between” period as a time to reflect all that has occurred and all that has yet to come. More often than not, food is involved. Whether we’re talking stuffed turkey or pork dumplings, the holidays mean food and lots of it for weeks on end. My mid-riff is the only evidence on hand, but here’s the point: Whether American or Chinese, French or Indonesian, we all imbibe in the culture of food. Increasingly, however, the source of our favorite foods are less known to us. For most, plucking vegetables from the home garden or slaughtering the fatted calf are chores reminiscent of a by-gone era. Grocery stores are the modern-day go-to. The source of most of our nutrition needs. But what exactly does that mean? Or more importantly, what, if anything, are we giving up by relying on middlemen and retailers to source the food we rely on? Sasha says rising consciousness, growing concerns around processed foods, and a simple, healthy desire for farm-fresh products are creating new opportunities for small business owners that can deliver.

Food Inc. (w/ Sasha Conlan)

Future Economy

This week, I’m in conversation with Sriven Naidu. Sriven works in higher education and professional development consulting. He’s based in Singapore and has found a discernable increase in interest from corporations desperate to improve employee satisfaction, team performance, and commercial results. Week-in, week-out, we introduce topics that organizations in Asia (and elsewhere) are grappling with. This week, we take a look at mindfulness. The term means different things to different people, and in preparation for this program, I spent some time perusing a number of descriptors. Wikipedia’s defines mindfulness as, “the psychological process of purposely bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment without judgment.” What the heck does that have to do with the running and operating of a modern corporation, you ask? Well hold tight, because in this episode I tracked down someone who lives and breathes mindfulness at the organizational level. How can mindfulness help? That’s the question I put to Sriven. I asked him to explain how two seemingly antithetical concepts – mindfulness and commercialism – might, in fact, co-exist.

Mindfulness: A Corporate Panacea? (w/ Sriven Naidu)

Corporate Purpose

In this week’s episode I’m in conversation with Nick Fang, Managing Director of Black Dot, a Singapore-based media consulting and advisory firm. In our conversation we banter about the idea of what it means to design and imbed a national narrative. Nick has worked as a journalist, a presenter and a public commentator. Since leaving journalism, he’s dabbled in politics, served as a member of a local think-tank, and contemplated what we’ll call the evolving Singapore narrative. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves. Curious, isn’t it. We, as humans, are masters of the art of story-making. Just as we design tales to project to the world who we are and what we stand for, so do nations employ similar devices to align its citizenry to a common set of ideals or principals. Singapore has oftentimes been seen as a country small enough to test new ideas and approaches and demonstrate to the world what’s possible. It is exemplary in every way, but most notably in the roll-out of infrastructure, institutions and incentive structures that keep Singapore on the cutting edge.

In Search of the Singapore Soul (w/ Nick Fang)

Geopolitics

In this week’s episode I’m in conversation with Ben Rolfe, CEO of the Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance. While most of us are out and about, getting on with living and working, a small but essential group of researchers are watching the way we live and work; studying disease patterns and contemplating the odds of epidemics. Communicable diseases come in all shapes and sizes. And while many are encouraged by human activity relating to how we eat, greet, wash and copulate, others are more insidious. But here’s some good news. Malaria is in retreat. That right. One of the world’s most debilitating mosquito-born diseases is whistling its swan song throughout much of Asia. China, it appears, hasn’t had a case in three consecutive years. And other emerging markets like Myanmar are seeing such vast reductions that it too hopes to declare victory in just a few short years. And It’s Ben’s goal is to create a malaria-free Asia by 2030.

Asian Contagion (w/ Ben Rolfe)

Geopolitics

My guest this week is young explorer and accomplished photographer, Alex Pflaum. In our conversation we turn back time and wander into the wily world of the ancient Silk Road, where Alex spends his time these days. He’s betting on a renaissance among budding Central Asian economies, not in trade, but in tourism. At the time we spoke, Alex was working round-the-clock, finalizing the layout for his new book. Captured in his images is the awe-inspiring expanse of virgin landscape. There’s a raw beauty to it. Not for the feint-hearted, I thought, but for the last of us who find pleasure in remoteness. This is the Silk Road, after all. The very name conjures up images of camel convoys, Mongol hordes, boundless horizons, and of course, the Great Game, that period in the 19th century when British and Russian spies vied for territory and trade rights throughout Central Asia. But for Alex, the new Silk Road offers fresh opportunities for adventure seekers, eco-tourists and a few madmen as well.

Revisioning the Silk Road (w/ Alex Pflaum)

Geopolitics

My guest this episode is Kyle Hegarty, Singapore-based entrepreneur with an expertise in sales training and development. For years Kyle has worked with multinational and Asia-based sales teams and culled from this experience a treasure-trove of tales on what it takes to do business in this part of the world. His new book, soon to be released, is titled, The Accidental Business Nomad: A Survival Guide for Working Across A Shrinking Planet. Kyle’s diatribe comes at an interesting moment. There are countervailing forces in play. On the one hand, global commerce and Internet access are bringing people closer together. On the other hand, some countries are starting to think that too much economic integration is a bad thing. The prospects of Recession are on the rise and leaders from the US to the UK are calling for protectionism to safeguard jobs and bolster homegrown businesses. Just as there’s no stopping the political winds from shifting, nor can one prevent the wings of commerce from beating. People are at the heart of all commercial exchange, and so it is that Kyle has turned his attention to the many things that can go wrong when diverse cultures meet in the marketplace. In this week’s episode we discuss tales of cultural communication mishaps.

Grappling with Cultural Miscommunication (w/ Kyle Hegarty)

Leadership

My guest this week is Gove Depuy, sustainability consultant, community-based planner, project leader and an advocate for bio mimicry. What are we talking about? Islands, and the growing idea that islands might serve as learning ecosystems for new ways of communing with the Earth we inhabit. It’s not an entirely new idea. In 1962, legendary author Aldous Huxley, wrote and published the book Island, as a utopian companion to his better known and more dystopian novel, Brave New World. Inspired by time spent in Bali, Huxley described a people living in harmony with nature. Today there’s a lot more traffic and a concerning amount of trash and plastic, but it’s still Bali – an island where animism and Hinduism blend to create a unique pact between humans in rhythm with the environment. I sat with Gove by the banks of one of Bali’s many picture-perfect rivers, adjacent to the Five Elements Retreat. It proved the perfect setting to talk about life in Bali, community-based projects, and ultimately, the promise of islands as a petri dish for exploring new, potentially more sustainable ways of living in the world. Amidst the thick, verdant jungle, cascading waterfalls and buzzing birds and insects, it’s hard to imagine we face a climate crisis of epic proportions. Yet, we do.

A New Island Mentality and the Quest for Sustainability (w/ Gove Depuy)

Future Economy

My guest this episode is Rebecca Fannin, founder of Silicon Dragon Ventures and author of the new book, Tech Titans of China. She’s been on the program once before. Exactly one year ago we spoke about the rise of China’s tech giants, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, known collectively as the BAT. Four years earlier, Alibaba became the largest initial public offering in US history and true to investor expectations, the company under Jack Ma grew from strength to strength. Rebecca points out how few Westerners had heard of Toyota, Honda or Mitsubishi before the 1980s. It was on the back of the global oil crises that Japan offered drivers in the US and Europe a cheaper, more fuel-efficient solution. The rest is history. We may be looking at something similar this time around. Electronic Vehicles, or EVs are the next big thing in transportation and no effort or expense is being spared in China to become a world leader in EV design and manufacturing. In this episode we delve into the shocking growth of China tech and how in just the past year, US and other Western markets have thrown up a defense against the Chinese onslaught.

Titans of Tech (w/ Rebecca Fannin)

Future Economy

My guest this week is Rob Garrett, Innovation and Impact Investment specialist and Managing Partner at Hezar Ventures. We hear a lot these days about the escalating global wealth gap. How the richer are getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Much of that wealth is acquired and accrued by family dynasties. Globally, something in the range of US$ 6 trillion is thought to be controlled by private family interests, with Asian families accounting for nearly a third of that. For historical and political reasons, Asian families are quiet about their money. How or where they invest is a private affair. But as my conversation with Rob reveals, opportunity, necessity and generational influence are converging. Profits are still important, but so is the positive impact of investments that generate environmental or social good. In this week's episode, we discuss the rise of the family office in Asia, the breadth and depth of family money influence in the region, and what now moves some of these organizations to contemplate a shift in investment strategy.

Family Impact (w/ Rob Garrett)

Future Economy

My guest this week is healthtech advisor, novelist, and lucid dreamer, Tony Estrella. We live in stressful times. Maybe not more stressful than times of yore when our ancestors lived in fear of war, famine, or plague. But a particular form of stress brought on by always-on technology, chaotic schedules, and data overload. Our brains and our bodies can only withstand so much. And to manage that edge, the modern-day worker employs alcohol, exercise, or pills to calm the nerves and relax the body. It’s problematic and if you haven’t figured it out already, what the body really needs is a mental holiday. Short of throwing away your personal technology and escaping to a remote island, there is a more practical solution, and it’s available to you every day at no cost. What am I talking about? Sleep. So it is in this episode of Inside Asia that I turned to health industry expert and investment advisor, Tony Estrella.

The Science of Sleep (w/ Tony Estrella)

Health & Science

My guest this episode is Oliver Tonby, Chairman of McKinsey & Company in Asia Pacific. As the firm’s top representative in the region, Oliver has developed a unique perspective on Asia, informed by access to the region’s presiding corporate and government leaders. In a newly released report entitled “Asia’s Future is Now,” he and his colleagues point to an unprecedented rise in Asia’s commercial, trade and infrastructure development. Nothing, so it appears, can keep Asia down. For decades, the region - largely powered by China - served as a low-cost manufacturing base, feeding the world’s insatiable appetite for consumer, luxury and electronic goods. From advanced clean-tech solutions to the latest in digital media applications, the region teams with innovation at all levels. Throngs of engineers and entrepreneurs are emerging from Indian, Southeast Asia and Chinese universities with a license to design and build. Western markets and corporations are witnessing the technicolor change and in Board rooms from New York to London the question is being asked: What will it take to compete, now and in the future?

Asia's Future is Now (w/ Oliver Tonby)

Geopolitics

I have a very special guest this episode, our hundredth episode of Inside Asia! Anne Hockett is a healthcare professional and wellness advisor. She’s lived and operated across Asia for more than three decades and through her medical insight and devotion to the art of wellness, she offers a unique blend of Eastern and Western healing. In this week's conversation we discuss some of the apparent limitations of Western medicine and how the world is increasingly open to alternative methods. And we delve into the mind-body pattern and explore ways that story and metaphor help us detect and embrace our personal patterns of unwellness. Thousands have benefitted from her synthesis of knowledge, expertise and empathy. If I’m long-winded in my description and admiration for Anne, it’s due in part to the fact that she’s also my wife. I’ve had the benefit of watching her evolve as a practitioner and a human. Best of all, I’ve been on the receiving end of her love and support.

Re-imagining Health (w/ Anne Hockett)

Health & Science

My guest this episode is serial entrepreneur, tech optimist, venture capitalist, and long time friend, Paul Meyers. WI first met Paul in 1997. He sat behind a custom-built desk-top terminal with plans to deliver cable-TV news across high-speed networks. Real-time news at your fingertips. Can you imagine? It was a revolutionary idea at the time. Today, its yesterday’s news. Paul has spent nearly 30 years operating in Asia, first as a film-maker then as a pioneer in the interactive and mobile space. He’s a serial entrepreneur who in recent years has turned his attention to vetting, advising and funding start-ups from Indonesia to Bangladesh. Paul’s CV reads like an Alice in Wonderland journey through the early years of what we then called the interactive movement. It’s a mind-bending experience to explore all that Paul has witnessed.

Asia’s Impact Investing Landscape (w/ Paul Meyers)

Future Economy

Brian Rogove, Founder and CEO of Singapore-based A-Star Education is in the for-profit education business. And when you consider the premium that Asian families place on education, it’s easy to see how profits might follow. Brian doesn’t beat around the bush when talking about education’s return-on-investment. He says that while “for-profit” education feels like a dirty phrase to those in the West, Asians see the private sector as critical in shoring up public education short-falls throughout the region. Dissecting the relative strengths and weaknesses of education in Asia is as complex and diverse as the region itself. When it comes to public education, quality is oftentimes directly proportional to the level of government spending. Building schools and staffing them with well-versed teachers takes time and money. It’s for that very reason that large-scale private equity firms are entering the space. Baring, Blackstone and KKR are just a few of the many major investors increasing their holdings in education companies worldwide. And Asia is a key focus.

Education ROI (w/ Brian Rogove)

Future Economy

In this weeks episode we meet politico, public relations specialist, former ambassador, private equity advisor, digital nomad, and public commentator, Curtis Chin. Curtis is many things to many people. And while he likes to think of himself as a kind of modern-day Renaissance man, his parents say that’s code for “unemployed.” We’re talking about what it means to have what Curtis calls, “a portfolio” life.” We also move the conversation in the direction of Asia in transition and take from Curtis his view on the emerging and potentially disruptive influence of China. His comments come at a critical time when the world is debating how best to engage with this emerging Superpower in order to secure political détente, new prosperity, and greater integration of our global economy.

The Portfolio Life (w/Curtis Chin)

Future Economy

China is not the nation it once was. It’s grown up, become stronger; more resilient and self-assured. Its influence in matters of global geopolitics is absolute and bending the knee to the US is most assuredly not in the script. Jim McGregor, long-time China resident, corporate advisor and respected insider, shares his unfiltered opinion on the evolution of US-China relations and how and why things have gone so off kilter. In this week’s Asia Insider Minute, we take a cut at thinking past the blame and towards the solution - and imagine a future where policy-makers on both sides see a future fashioned from collaboration versus competition.

The Great China Divide (w/ Jim McGregor)

Geopolitics

Neil Bearden is an INSEAD Professor, investor, decision scientist, and children’s book author. Neil is many things, but above all others, he’s a story-teller. On this week’s episode he shares his views on the art of story-telling and why it is so essential to lean into story in this age of science. And why we, as humans, have found such meaning and utility in the telling and receiving of stories.

The importance of story-telling (w/ Neil Bearden)

Leadership

This week’s guest is Glenn Chickering, Head of Faculty at the Green school on Bali, Indonesia. Students there live and breathe the environment and all things sustainable. Raise the subject of climate change with any 4th grader here and you’ll get an earful on everything from personal accountability to corporate responsibility. Sitting in the heart of the jungle, surrounded by rice paddies and flanked by a river, there’s arguably no school like it in the world…

Sustainable Education (w/ Glenn Chickering)

Future Economy

Gregory Burns is an artist, story-teller, and Olympian. It’s an unlikely combination of talents and the fabric of a man who’s made Singapore his home. The 19th century American writer and Naturalist, Henry David Thoreau claimed that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Is it possible that the artist offers us a way out?

The Artist's Way (w/ Gregory Burns)

Health & Science

This week’s guest is Ian Chapman-Banks, CEO of Sqreem, an AI-enabled adtech company working to take on the US 1 trillion-dollar global advertising business - a sector ripe for disruption. It’s no easy feat to entirely unwind an industry eco-system, but that’s what Ian and dozens of ad-tech entrepreneurs around the world are trying to do. As he rightly points out, the playing field has shifted. Advertising goes where consumer eyeballs roam. And in this case, digital platforms are the place where consumer buying decisions are taking place.

AI and the Ad Industry’s Death Rattle

Future Economy

Take a quick poll among your friends and associates on what they consider to be one of the greatest challenges of our day, and increasingly, liberals and conservatives alike will say climate change. The subject has had its share of detractors and political nay-sayers, but with the passage of time, evidence mounts that humans – not Mother Nature – are the undeniable chief culprits of this pending disaster. Acknowledging the crises is one thing. Actually doing something about it is another. Where to begin? My guest this week, Assaad Razzouk, says there are lots of moving parts in this climate change puzzle, but holding corporations accountable, he says, could prove a catalyst. Assaad has a vantage point on the subject. He’s Group Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, a Singapore-based clean energy investment group that buys, owns and operates projects throughout India and Southeast Asia. From this vantage point, Assaad has learned a few things about government intransigence, corporate behaviour, and public indifference. Rather than sit on what he knows, he’s taken to social media to beat the drum in favour of environmental responsibility.

The Angry Clean Energy Guy (w/ Assaad Razzouk)

Geopolitics

This week we turn to the subject of Education. It ranks alongside food, shelter, and job opportunity as a foundation requirement for any progressive society, yet, the very tenants of traditional education and the perceived importance of a formal degree are increasingly the subject of scrutiny, and in some cases, derision. The universal question being asked is this: Do high schools and universities effectively prepare students for a world rife with change, disruption, and the unpredictable impact of artificial intelligence and the likely displacement of hundreds of millions of jobs? To help me answer these questions, I spoke with Crystal Lim-Lange, a self-described “future-readiness expert,” who in partnership with her husband, Dr. Gregor Lim-Lange, have created a business to help students cope with the growing pressures of growing up and entering the workforce.

Education Overhaul (w/ Crystal Lim-Lange)

Future Economy

Anurag Banerjee is the Founder and CEO of Quilt.ai, an artificial intelligence, or AI-enabled consulting firm that mines data for the greater good. Anurag’s group recently released its “Beyond the Bottom Line: Sustainability Report” with two stated objectives: The first: To uncover six so-called Cultural Codes of Sustainability, representing what matters to people with regards to being ‘Sustainable’, ‘Ethical’ and ‘Responsible.’ And the second: To measure and rank the Sustainability Performance of 50 Organizations across 10 Industries. In our conversation with Anurag we explore the insights of Quilt.AI`s sustainability report, discussing the evolving willingness of consumers to make sustainability-driven choices, as well as what brands might do in order to become more sustainable.

Why Sustainability Trumps Consumption

Future Economy

Richard Borsuk is a veteran journalist, long-time resident of Southeast Asia, and a leading expert in Indonesian political economy. When I first met Richard in the early 1990s, Indonesia felt like a sleepy backwater, better known for its plantations and fishing villages. Back then, from my high-rise and fast-paced outpost in Hong Kong, Indonesia felt like a sleepy backwater, better known for its plantations and fishing villages. Still, it was a nation on the rise. In my conversation with Richard, we explore how Indonesia’s rising religious and sectarian divides could put a damper on the country’s economic prospects. In a country where 50% of the population remains under the age of 40, youth holds the key – both as a powerful voting block and also as the custodians of a more forward-looking, economically vibrant Indonesia. Of course, youth can go both ways. With better job prospects and improved economic output, Indonesia could begin to take its rightful place as one of the most important economies in Asia, if not the world. On the other hand, should the country fall on hard economic times, the youth might not be so forgiving.

Indonesia: The Dreaming Giant

Geopolitics

This week’s episode brings us to Lebanon, a country of six million people precariously situated between arch rivals - Israel to the south and Syria to the north. It’s also a part of what some say is a re-emergent region of Western Asia. Lebanon sits at the heart of the Mediterranean basin. And that very fact poses both promise and peril. Promise, because of its rich and diverse culture that when combined with expertise in trade and finance, could earn for Lebanon its rightful place. Peril, because Lebanon is – as it has always been – subjugated by unwanted meddling from foreign interests. Its recent history is pockmarked by the devastating effects of war, sabotage and assassination. Still, there’s hope, and that - perhaps more than any other feature - characterizes the people of Lebanon. Join me in my conversation with my Ronnie Chatah - the son of Mohammad Chatah, who served both as Lebanon’s Ambassador to the US and a former Minister of Finance - who shares the story of modern-day Lebanon by drawing on his own experiences of hope and loss in this city.

Lebanon: Asia's Wild, Wild West

Geopolitics

This week we take a break from the big themes of tech, trade, environment, and other topics driving Asia’s transformation, in order to explore a small group of islands at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago. The Komodo Islands are unique in so many ways. It’s a world-class diving spot where you can swim up-close and personal with giant manta rays, drink sun-downers and watch fox bats fly overhead by the thousands, and of course, take a peek into the world of the legendary Komodo Dragons. However, not all is well in the land that time forgot. Komodo National Park is home to 5,000 dragons but increasingly, the giant reptiles are under siege from a trifecta of tourism, food shortages and smuggling. Join me on this trip to the Komodo Islands to learn more.

The Komodo Islands and EcoTourism

Geopolitics

John Stanton is a venture capitalist and co-founder of Chosen, a leadership experience company that seeks to re-shape the way high impact entrepreneurs and executives think, live and engage with the world around them. If the name Chosen strikes you as Old Testament or even elitist, think again. The term comes from the Japanese word 挑戦 (chō-sen), meaning ‘to challenge’. And that’s what the seven-day curated experience is all about; bringing ambitious men and women face-to-face with an array of physical, emotional, and intellectual experiences that challenge without threatening. With Chosen, John is looking to deliver back to the market a healthier, re-invigorated and more self-aware professional armed with an ability to traverse life in the fast lane.

John Stanton: co-founder of Chosen

Corporate Purpose

This week’s guest is Aaron Fishman, Founder and CEO of East Bali Cashews. In our conversation, we explore what it takes to make a labor and capital intensive cashew processing business fly and what it means to be a social enterprise. Aaron’s point of view will surprise you. Although East Bali Cashews has been touted as a best-in-class example of a model social enterprise, Aaron thinks the term has become overplayed. “It’s the quality of our product that sets us apart,” he says, nothing more.

Aaron Fishman: East Bali Cashews

Corporate Purpose

Increasingly, technology defines our future. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, robotics, machine-learning, blockchain, 3D printing, and much munch more. It all speaks to a world preparing to unlock and accelerate the way we live. As this new wave of innovation further empowers the individual and diminishes the role of traditional institutions, governments need to have some say in what happens and what doesn’t. What will it mean, for instance, when blockchain empowers a crypto-currency revolution that undermines a nation’s principal medium of exchange? One choice is to intervene and intercept. Another choice is to get involved and invest. Having a vantage point on the world of bleeding-edge technology is the privilege of my guest this episode, Steve Leonard. Steve is the Founding CEO of SGInnovate – a technology incubator and early-stage investment firm with direct backing from the Singapore government. Listen to today’s conversation to learn more about Singapore’s approach to innovation, and how Steve Leonard and his colleagues at SGInnovate are driving an agenda to prioritize deep-tech solutions geared for the public good.

Steve Leonard: Founding CEO, SGInnovate

Future Tech

Diana Wu - The Future of Work (clip)

Corporate Governance

My guest this week had an euphonious moment when a close friend and work colleague unexpectedly took her own life. That set in motion a series of questions about life and the world of work that resulted in a book, called Futureproof: Reinventing Work in an Age of Acceleration. Diana Wu's book is a tour de force in understanding and addressing the changing world of work facing white-collar workers and professionals. Diana addresses some of the many ways people tackle workplace demands and how others opt out for more dynamic less myopic professional paths. She also notes how the gig economy is throwing up new possibilities allowing smart, risk-ready individuals to create livelihoods with a new twist. The workplace is a central part of living. More than income, corporate professions have the power and potential to add meaning and purpose. Looking back over the long-arc of your professional career, where do you stand? Has it delivered all that it promised? Could it be time for that hard conversation, that existentialist debate with yourself that starts with…What does it all mean? Find out more by listening to this week's episode.

Diana Wu : The Future of Work

Corporate Governance

Water permeates all things. It’s the backbone ingredient to the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the sanitation we’ve come to rely on. According to Stanley Samuel, it’s high time to re-evaluate the importance and the value we place on this prized commodity. Through his company ECOSOFTT, Samuel has set out to address both the over-consumption and under-consumption problems associated with water.Depending on the location and the circumstances, he and his colleagues use a combination of for-profit and not-for-profit approaches to drive water conscious behavior. Will this hybrid model a la ECOSOFTT prevail? Learn more by listening to our conversation.

Stanley Samuel : Solving Asia’s Water Crisis

Mavericks

This week’s guest is Raja Samu Samu VI of Maluku, the current Secretary General of the Association of Indonesian Rajas and Sultans - along with his public relations and project advisor, Rex Sumner. While the Raja’s role in Indonesia is largely – if not entirely- ceremonial - he has designs on brokering a new set of local-foreign partnerships to improve and showcase all that Indonesia has to offer. Agribusiness, sustainable farming, urban renewal and cottage industries are all initiatives receiving his time and attention. My encounter with the Raja made for a different kind of Inside Asia episode - a diversion from our normal fare, but still fabric to the story we call Asia.

Raja Samu Samu VI : The King of Kings

Geopolitics

Whatever your impression about the conventional "Board of Directors", its make-up, breadth and accountability are all about to change. That’s the view of this week's guest, Stephen Langton - head of the Board & CEO Advisory Group for the Asia Pacific region at Russel Reynolds Associates. Langton says – perhaps surprisingly – that Asia is making a play to lead reforms in Board effectiveness. He says that in many countries in the region, governments, customers, shareholders, and citizens are demanding more from corporations and calling out Boards to do more and drive results. Boards are increasingly being called to task on the so-called “social license to operate” or SLO. But are companies ready to deliver something more than customer value and think in broad terms about environment, community and the greater social well-being? Find out by listening to our full conversation.

Stephen Langton: Remaking Boards

Corporate Governance

There are periods of time when the stars align for every part of the world, and Asia has those stars aligning today, says Dr. Parag Khanna, founder and managing partner of FutureMap, a data- and scenario-based strategic advisory firm. Khanna is a recognized commentator on Asian geopolitics. He appears regularly at global forums, government gatherings, and closed-door briefings. He’s also the author of a new book, The Future Is Asian: Commerce, Conflict, and Culture in the 21st Century, in which he tries to correct what he sees as an excessive focus on the rise of China in world affairs. The countries of Southeast Asia, he argues, are left in China’s shadow, and that he says, is a failed assessment of the region’s potential.

Parag Khanna : The Future is Asian

Future Economy

Just as the automobile transformed the lives of Americans 100 years ago, so the smartphone is having the same effect on the country of India. That’s the view of Ravi Agrawal, Managing Editor of Foreign Policy and author of India Connected: How the Smartphone is Transforming the World's Largest Democracy. Smartphone sales may be slowing globally, but not in India. It’s the second largest phone market in the world after China with over 430 million users. And still, that only accounts for 45% of the addressable market. In other words, while demand for smartphones in most parts of the world is slowing, the appetite in India is accelerating. To grasp the significance of the meteoric growth of smartphones in India, I asked Ravi to put things in context. What does it mean now and what could it mean in a few years’ time when smartphones become ubiquitous?

Ravi Agrawal: India's Smartphone Revolution

Future Economy

If you’re wondering why we spend so much time on the program addressing US-China relations, it’s because we believe it serves as a bellwether for a shifting world order. While China flexes its newfound geopolitical muscle with sights fixed fast on global markets, the moon, and more, the US appears mired in a crisis of national confidence. US headlines these days speak less of global outlook and more of walls and protectionism. Indeed, the American pioneering spirit appears to be beating a retreat. And at the risk of oversimplifying things, it is the juxtaposition of China vs. the U.S. that symbolizes to the world an inevitable shift in power. To discuss this – and more – I’m joined by Bob Manning, Senior Fellow at that Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. Bob has made a name for himself reflecting on some of the big geopolitical shifts in our time and its impact on the U.S. Getting his perspective on the changing temperament in Washington vis-à-vis China is the subject of our discussion These days it’s downright fashionable to criticize China. In the US capital’s corridors of power, there’s no love lost for the People’s Republic. “Arrogant,” “over-reaching,” “hegemonic,” are all words to describe China and its preeminent leader Xi Jinping. It’s not so much what China does, but how it does it that gets other world leaders up in arms. With respect to the U.S., it’s a matter of national ego – if there even is such a thing. What the US really appears to want is a handshake and a thank you from the Chinese leadership. My guest this episode is more conciliatory. While he too sees legitimate reason to criticize China for gaming the system to get what it wants commercially and politically, he feels that the U.S. would do well to first get its own house in order. “Instead of whining about China,” he says, the U.S. should be figuring out how to compete with them.”

Bob Manning: US-China Relations

Geopolitics

Tensions between the United States and China continue to simmer amid trade negotiations, global influence, and the recent arrest of Huawei's CFO in Vancouver. For context on where things are and where things might go from here, I spoke with Elizabeth Economy, the C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and Director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and, of course, an acclaimed author—her most recent book is The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. We discuss the escalating tensions surrounding the US/China trade agreement and the HuaWei situation and its potential ramifications. I ask Elizabeth if the the Trump Administration is executing a coherent foreign policy aimed at containing Chinese incursions, or something more reactive—simply a way for the Americans poke Huawei until it gives in to its demands.

Elizabeth Economy: US China Tensions, Huawei, and Xi Jinping's Coming Challenge

Geopolitics

This episode I’m speaking with Sam Tsui, Managing Director of Evolution Advisors, a boutique advisory and investment firm specializing in helping corporates and investors find and and execute on deals in Asia. Before that—for about a decade—Sam worked for Microsoft, identifying acquisitions and partnerships across Asia Pacific. Our topic this episode: China’s global expansion. Trump’s attempts to curtail it in recent weeks has riled the Chinese in recent weeks, but can anything stave off the Mainland’s appetite to grow their presence? For some, the thought of a walled-in China as an imperial power may seem like a novelty, but to the people and nations of Asia Pacific it’s a matter of historical record. For thousands of years, the Chinese were on the move, welcoming tribute from its smaller neighbors. Are we seeing the aspirational engines of Chinese ambition beginning to turn again? Where landgrab and patronage served the interests of Imperial China in centuries past, it’s now data that seems the target. We’ve talked about the power and delicacy of data on previous programs. In my discussion with Ogilvy’s Chris Graves we looked at how – with enough data – behaviors can be shaped and manipulated. In our episode with Anurag Banerjee, it became terrifying apparent how data can be leveraged for good and evil. We’ve also spoken widely with the likes of Fortune’s Clay Chandler, The Conference Board’s David Hoffman, and many others about the rise of China Inc. But how real is this? And where does xenophobia enter in? The way the world portrays a country in the eyes of the consumer means something. So it is that as the US and other nations stoke fears on China, reservations naturally rise. How does the growing anti-Chinese rhetoric impact China’s overseas investment strategy? This is the shape of the cultural clash that Chinese capital runs into when it moves overseas. How China reshapes its image abroad may tell us more about its potential for future success than any amount of money it could throw at overseas buying opportunities. As always, thanks for listening.

Sam Tsui: China's Overseas Investments

Geopolitics

Fashion is an industry that depends on fast and frequent shifts in taste. To keep up with consumer demand, brand-name makers of clothing and accessories have developed a habit of using cheap, sometimes unethical, labor to drive production. Environmental concerns have also fallen to the wayside. The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world, according to some. Landfills everywhere are piled high with textile waste and toxic chemicals that are used in the manufacture of the new clothes we buy. My guest this episode is trying to change that. Stephanie Dickson is a fashion industry marketer turned sustainability activist. Her latest venture is Green is the New Black, a festival for conscious suppliers and buyers of fashion products. She’s making a real difference in a specific industry, and the important thing to know is that she’s not alone. For her—as for many millennials—the refusal of the status quo, to simply accept the byproducts of business as usual is also refusal to turn a blind eye to the environmental and labor abuses that have been understood as necessary in the fashion industry. There’s a consciousness and an intent on asking the questions that, for years, have been understood as unaskable. I think of my own generation and how we assumed there would be trade-offs. Making high-quality products at low prices means using resources – and lots of them. But not Stephanie. She believes the system can be changed—from within. It’s a fascinating discussion. What we’re seeing is a movement of educated and outspoken professionals more interested in building up what we have rather than tearing down all we’ve got. Armed with smart phones and clarity of purpose, this generation will use the tools of Capitalism’s making to make the Capitalists accountable. As always, thanks for listening.

Stephanie Dickson: Green is the New Black

Future Economy

This episode we focus on the utopian side of artificial intelligence. It’s not a subject you hear much about these days, and this program is no exception. Our guests have had a lot to say about AI’s possible horrifying applications. But like most things, there’s another side. In this episode we turn to AI’s better angels—and see if we can believe in them. My guest is Anurag Banerjee, Founder and CEO ofQUILT.AI [http://quilt.ai/], an early-stage tech and consulting firm that merges machine learning with human and cultural intelligence to create insight for good and for profit. It’s a fascinating conversation. I find myself wanting desperately to believe that AI can cure our most complex social and cultural challenge, and to worship at the altar of AI Altruism. And certainly there’s a great deal that might be possible. But it won’t come for free. We must sacrifice privacy in return for insights that could change our world. And it might be worth it. Anurag Banerjee believes that technology – powered by AI - can connect us and solve society’s biggest problems. Our machines know us. They know what we want before we do. That’s a boon for any organization with something to sell. But what about the ability to save someone’s life? Intervene in a crisis? Prevent a terrorist attack? Or slow the rate of suicides? Will large corporations with profit-hungry shareholders go toe-to-toe with tiny start-ups wielding AI sling-shots? That depends on your mind-set and whether you see the future as utopian or dystopian. Me? Well, I’m on the fence. How bout you? This is not an episode to miss. Thanks for listening.

Anurag Banerjee: The Social Impact of Artificial Intelligence

Future Economy

This episode our topic is the changing Hong Kong landscape. My guest is Mark Clifford, Executive Director of the Hong Kong-based Asia Business Council. Over the last twenty years Mark has served as lead editor for some of the region’s most prestigious news and business publications, including The South China Morning Post, The Standard, and the much admired, now defunct, Far Eastern Economic Review. Among other things we discuss the newly opened sea bridge linking Hong Kong to the mainland have started to bring about. On the one hand, the bridge is paving the way for a new Greater Bay Area – the brainchild of Chinese Communist Party planners who believe that linking Hong Kong with ten South China cities, they can incite a tech and development revolution. It’s a glittering 21st century set of mega-cities with a chrome plated infrastructure to match. It might look great, but Mark Clifford has reservations. He puts more stock in the free flow of information than mass transit. In many ways, China is simply doing what China does best – building stuff! What happens, asks Mark, when the country exhausts the three cheap inputs—labor, land, and capital—that til now have powered decades of double-digit growth rates? Change is in the wind. But how prepared is the South China workforce to toggle from export-led to import-driven? Is there enough slack in the domestic economy to get behind a new generation of software developers, robotics engineers, data scientists and entrepreneurs? It’s a fascinating discussion. As always, thanks for listening.

Mark Clifford: Hong Kong's Changing Landscape

Geopolitics

My guest this episode is none other than Clay Chandler, Executive Editor, International for Time Inc, and Asia Editor for Fortune. He’s also the author of the special "Sino-Saturday" edition of Alan Murray's influential Fortune CEO Daily newsletter. If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter, my advice to you is to do so immediately – exceptional weekly insights from news veterans. This is a wide-ranging, must listen to conversation that eventually alighted on the topic of Artificial Intelligence superpowers. It raises some interesting—and also pressing—geopolitical questions. For example, should efforts be made to restrict China’s access to overseas markets or are we in a brave new world where data access is fair game for anyone who can access it? As Chandler points out, contrary to what many imagined, the Great Firewall has proved effective. China has been successful in limiting market penetration of digital giants Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, otherwise known as FANG. In retrospect, the story we told ourselves about the globalizing power of the web was part of a bigger story about China opening up and engaging with the world. Digital had the power – or so we believed – to eat away at the edges of Communist ideology and make way for new modes of thinking. None of this happened. As Chandler points out, China moved to capitalize on its digital blockade, and in a two-decade frenzy of innovation and investment, created digital service alternatives that are not only better, but oftentimes superior to anything FANG has to offer. But is that the whole story. Chandler warns of a potential pivot away from China as multinationals reassess the role the country plays in their global portfolios. If, over the past quarter century Asia, generally, and China, specifically were seen as critical features of a global strategy, that may be about to change. The big question is whether we will still feel that way when more severe economic implications start to kick in and the cost of goods start their precarious climb. How will global consumers feel about China then? As always, thanks for listening.

Clay Chandler: China's Digital Discontinuity and the Efficacy of the Great Firewall

Geopolitics

Returning to the program this episode is Julien de Salaberry, Founder and CEO of Galen Growth Asia. He and his partners at Galen Growth identify and catalyze connections between investors and healthtech entrepreneurs. We last spoke some six months ago when he gave us the rundown on the general state of healthcare in Asia and some of the groundbreaking projects under way that will one day change the face of healthcare services as we know it. Julien and his partners at Galen Growth are doing some stunning work to spur healthcare innovation by identifying burgeoning healthcare startups across Asia and then awarding innovators. They kicked things off last year and now are coming up on the announcement of the 2018 winner. I asked him to take us into the process for deciding which startups advanced. A key takeaway from our conversation: People matter. Technology is sometimes given the credit – or the blame – for whether a startup succeeds or not. Yet, it’s people that drive the business, who unleash technology need to be part of the equation as well. Sit investors down and have a deep-dive conversation about why they favor one start-up over another and you witness a subtle shift into a discussion on the entrepreneurs themselves. This is also a fascinating discussion about the opportunity for innovation that China represents. It’s not just vast market size or relative sector immaturity; it’s the level and intensity of government buy-in. The Chinese government is focused on supporting any initiative that might hold the promise of improving the quality and cost of healthcare in a nation of 1.4 billion people. This is a subject we’ve touched on from various directions in previous episodes. China’s population is both aging and subjugated to a spate of hazardous environmental conditions that threaten to test the limits of the Chinese healthcare system unless something is done about it. What does this mean for the world of healthtech investing? Will it become the case that the biggest breakthroughs come not in markets with the best technology, but with the most open and receptive market conditions? What’s the tipping point for data privacy in the realm of healthcare? As always, thanks for listening.

Julien de Salaberry: Innovating HealthTech in Asia

Future Economy

In the wake of deteriorating relations between China and the United States, I decided it was time to give our old friend Jim McGregor a call. He needs no introduction to regular listeners. Author of "No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers” and “One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China,” Jim is a regular commentator on China business trends and advises some of the world’s leading multinationals. I had questions—beginning with asking Jim what he really thought about the current standoff. Is this a matter of routine diplomatic brinksmanship, or is there more to it? Is the real agenda of the Trump’s aggression toward China an attempt to destabilize it in the wake of its growth and increasingly central position in the world? Will the Trump doctrine be remembered as: “Rant loudly and swing to kill?” And should China’s economy begin to falter – as some observers say it has – will Xi Jinping fold, restore order if only to preserve power? It took me back to the Cold War. And that made me wonder if maybe this story is about more than a stand-off between two authoritarian figures. During the last Cold War—the US-Russia standoff—the two systems were diametrically opposed. Soviets were cast as the Great Enemy and in the absence of high-speed data networks that link one nation to the next, all we could do was believe it. China is different. The country embraced capitalism and showed what ingenuity and grit could do to catapult a nation from poverty to wealth. There’s also very tight integration between China and the U.S.. Consider the 350,000 Chinese students studying in American Universities, the tens of thousands of Chinese graduates working in Silicon Valley, and the legions of Chinese executives working in U.S. cities? All have a vested interest in a peaceful outcome. It could be that is going be what makes the difference.

Jim McGregor: A New Paradigm - US China Cold War

Geopolitics

This episode I’m at the American Club Union Bar in Singapore with digital media and advertising sector veteran, Ken Mandel. The topic of our conversation: the past and the future of advertising. It’s a space Ken knows better than most, having held Asia-wide leadership positions at Publicis, 141 Worldwide, XM Asia, Ogilvy & Mather, Yahoo!, Salesforce.com and Hootsuite. Advertising is big business and still growing. Today nearly half of the $630 billion in global ad spend has gone digital with Google and Facebook. Together they generate $150 billion per year, feeding targeted ads to billions of digital addicts. Where will those eyeballs roam in the near future? That’s is, literally, a $100 billion-dollar question. Ken makes a number of striking observations, including a skepticism about what Facebook and Google advertising has been able to accomplish. Facebook and Google have a lot of data and they combine it with a platform that allows for ease of access as well as scalability. But has it been effective? Will it continue to be effective? There are some signs that advertisers may be re-thinking their global digital strategies. As Ken points out, the conversion funnel—the Facebook and Google clicks that turn into actual purchases—is narrow. While those social networking and internet search platforms might be effective tools for shifting public opinion, they do not necessarily translate into an O2O transaction. That’s a key buzzword one needs to know because it’s the holy grail of digital advertising. O2O means “online to offline.” That’s what advertisers are really after, the key to moving someone out of the digital environment to the real world, from seeing a product on their iPhone to actually holding it in their hand. Ken’s take on what the future holds might be surprising and that’s what makes this episode essential listening.

Ken Mandel: The Dilemma of Ad Tech

Future Tech

My guest is one of the most dedicated and articulate environmental activists working today, Richard Vevers, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Agency [https://theocean.agency/]. Richard is a pioneer of underwater 360-degree photography, and invented the cameras that took Google Street View underwater. It was while working on that project that he became aware of the fact that much of the planet’s coral – and with it, 25% of all sea life – is at risk of disappearing. He committed himself to raising public awareness, and one of the results is the Netflix documentary film, Chasing Coral [https://www.netflix.com/title/80168188]. For those of us who’ve lived and worked in Asia, this environmental crisis has a particular urgency. On the one hand we’re confronted by a bounty of natural resources and a variety of natural environments that are unmatched anywhere on earth; however, we also see levels of indifference to preserving those environments that are astounding. Developing Asia has been magnificent in leveraging technology to side-step or leapfrog problems that once stumped today’s more advanced economies. But there’s also a dark side. While technology might aid us in raising awareness and monitoring mankind’s impact, it won’t save our oceans. The developed and largely industrialized countries of the world have been the greatest abusers, choosing maximum economic growth over environmental protection. Now it’s Asia’s turn. Will countries in this region wake up to the fact that economic growth at the expense of the planet may not simply mean a dirtier place for all of us, but indeed, the difference between life and extinction? It’s a fascinating and urgent discussion. As always, thanks for listening.

Richard Vevers: Chasing Coral

Mavericks

How did you sleep last night? It’s a simple question that should admit of a simple answer. Sleep, after all, is a relatively uncomplicated act. Night falls and you brush your teeth. You lie down, turn off the light, your breathing deepens and the next thing you know you’re out. If only things were that simple. Every week, it seems, there’s a new study proving how sleep is necessary. Without sleep, scientists say, you’re prone to gaining weight, feeling sad and losing your sex drive. The problem is we’re not getting enough of it. Some estimates put the incidence of severe sleep apnea in the western world as high as two percent for women and four percent for men. That’s millions of people tossing and turning. New research suggests the problem may be even worse in Asia, and specifically in China where due to a confluence of health, environment and anatomical issues, people are starved for sleep with a dire shortage of resources to address the issue. To help us get an handle on this, this episode we reached out to Dr. Suzanne Shugg, Professor of Adult Medicine at Rutgers University in New Jersey and co-founder of Teleplus Healthcare [http://www.teleplushc.com/], a company that is focusing specifically on improving the sleep situation, targeting patients in China and Taiwan specifically. As Dr. Shugg points out, in developing markets where resources are limited and physicians are focused on the two extreme ends of the medical spectrum – primary and chronic care – many underlying causes associated with sleep, psychology or fitness sometimes fall by the wayside. For millions of Asians, the advent of industrialization, urbanization, financial and work stress and bad technology habits are conspiring to leave people sleepless. Add to this some of the anatomical complexities associated with being ethnically Chinese, and you can see just how severe the sleep apnea issue in Asia could become. Enter Dr. Shugg and her associates, who are in the process of leveraging digital platforms and testing technologies that patients can use at home to test their own sleeping habits. It’s not a matter of the digital disrupting the ways in which things have always been done. It’s a case of the digital finally getting at the outcomes we would have wanted all along. Sleep is the perfect of example of what is possible in terms of preventative healthcare in the digital age. Thanks for listening.

Suzanne Shugg: Telemedicine Solutions to Sleep Disorders in Asia

Future Tech

My guest this episode is clean energy entrepreneur, investor and commentator, Assaad Razzouk. He is Group Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, a global clean energy investment firm headquartered in Singapore. Razzouk points out that the need for clean energy throughout Asia is not an abstract notion. There’s an urgency to the situation and everyone knows it. We don’t have to imagine it any more. It’s here. Pay a trip to China’s Hebei Province and witness an environmental calamity in the making. Shaking people out of their comfort zones and getting them to own a long-term solution is never easy. What China does – or doesn’t do – in other words has major repercussions for the rest of the region. Carbon has made a precipitous climb over 25 years, earning China the dubious title of world’s biggest polluter. Annually it emits 10.4 billion metric tons of the stuff, or about 30% of the world total. If that’s the price one pays to become the world’s largest manufacturing base, the Grim Reaper is on the move and looking for payback. More than six million Chinese die annually from pollution-related diseases and analysts predict that as the population ages, these numbers are bound to grow. Still there’s hope. China knows it has a problem and isn’t resting on its laurels when it comes to tackling pollution. Already it leads the world in solar and wind power and plans are in place to do more. There are also signs that carbon levels are peaking. Now it's game-on to reduce those levels on pace with California’s progress in recent years. To that end, California Governor Jerry Brown is looking to partner with China. Last year he signed a wave of cleantech cooperation agreements and today scores of technical and design exchanges are under way. But is it too little too late?

Assaad Razzouk: Clean Energy in Asia

Future Economy

Longtime listeners of the Inside Asia podcast will know this is not documentary filmmaker Thomas Morgan’s first appearance on the program. About a year ago I sat with him on a roof-top bar in Singapore’s trendy Club Street district while he was in the throes of completing a film he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get finished. That film was Soufra—the tale of a Palestinian entrepreneur and refugee living in Beirut who builds a better life through a business run out of the back of a food truck. And yes, it did get finished after all. This episode begins with Thomas filling us in about the rest of this remarkable story. I then turn to discussing Crazy Rich Asians. The movie, that is. Box offices receipts have blown past the $100 million mark and show no sign of slowing. For Hollywood’s first all-Asian cast film, that’s a major accomplishment and signifies a recognition that Asia-focused films are here to stay. Gaining global recognition has been a four-decade endeavor for the Asia film industry. The story we’ve been telling over the last year and a half of Inside Asia is one about the way in which people are slowly—and often out of necessity—changing the way they think about Asia. Tech innovation, AI, healthcare innovation, e-marketing, mobile payments, robotics, you name it…the days when innovation was understood to move from west to east are over. Crazy Rich Asians is one more addition to this chapter in that story. The film’s ambitions – like those of Asia at large – are global, not local. Thomas Morgan tells us this shouldn’t come as a surprise. As always, thanks for listening.

Thomas Morgan: Film in Asia

Mavericks

We're taking liberties this episode to reach beyond our traditional stomping ground in Asia. We're talking about the essential nature of communications and its central role in maintaining peaceful human coexistence. Whether subjugated to the salvos of a certain US President or manipulated by global social media corporations, toying with the truth can have serious social and political consequences. To explore this issue, I went to Washington, DC to meet with Chris Graves, President and Founder of the Ogilvy Center for Behavioral Science. He's former Global Chairman and Global CEO for Ogilvy Public Relations where he landed after two decades in media and news, including 18 years with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. Graves and his team at Ogilvy have created a set of diagnostic tools that aid in mapping cognitive bias and tap into the hidden forces that determine--often irrationally--the choices we make. What Graves is telling us is that human beings are hard-wired to make bad decisions. We look first for the information that confirms what we want to think in the first place. This is Behavioral Science in the Age of Trump. It's an illuminating discussion. Thanks for listening.

Chris Graves: Behavioral Science in the Age of Trump

Corporate Governance

Rebecca Fannin wrote Silicon Dragon: How China is Winning the Tech Race more than 10 years ago, at a time when both China’s tech companies were on the rise—and the future was unclear. She’s my guest this episode, and her account of those days is fascinating—and not simply a matter of early entry and good luck. Take the case of Jack Ma. I remember inviting Ma to Singapore in 1998 to join a panel of eCommerce entrepreneurs at a time when the industry was in its infancy. I watched in amazement as he won hearts and minds with his visionary – some, then, might have said outlandish – predictions for our digital future. Looking back now, what is striking is that, above all else, Jack Ma had a story to tell. It wasn’t everything but it was enough to win investment support from investors like Goldman Sachs, Fidelity, and Softbank. My guest Rebecca Fannin—who eventually went on to found Silicon Dragon Ventures—gives us her own take Alibaba, but also reminds us that these are different times. Today the room is crowded with Alibaba wannabes and even more crowded with heavy-breathing investors who want a piece of the China tech dream. Is it too much money chasing too few deals? Why do companies and investors alike continue to undervalue the importance of enlightened and dynamic leadership? Could it be that in an environment where innovation operates at breakneck, dizzying speed, the human dimension – embodied by the charismatic CEO – may prove to be the key determining factor in China’s quest for global tech dominance? As always, thanks for listening.

Silicon Dragon: China, Tech Race, Jack Ma, Leadership

Geopolitics

William Overholt and I first met almost thirty years ago, way back in 1991 when I was a cub reporter with the Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. He was then working in investment banking, though it was already clear then that he would be more than that. Bill is a thinker. Someone with the uncanny ability to draw on history, policy and economic trends to forecast the future. Today, he is known as Professor Overholt, a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He’s previously served as Director of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Asia Pacific Policy and is the author of eight books, most recently China’s Crisis of Success. It was reading that book that made me reach out to him and reconnect after more than 20 years. In his new book, Overholt argues that that the so-called “miracle economies”—Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore—arise as a result of certain specific conditions. They start by answering fundamental and pressing economic questions. These are countries where cohesion is born out of crisis. That tends to generate a very different set of priorities than those encountered by America’s Founding Fathers. But as Bill Overholt sees it, there’s a catch—eventually, he argues, political liberalization must have its day. Without it, the miracle economies cannot make the leap from manufacturing-driven and export-led, to something greater. Which brings us to China. Are we seeing the move toward political liberalization that history suggests is waiting in the wings? Here’s the big question: If Asia’s Four Dragons are evidence that political liberalization can usher in a new level of economic expansion, must China follow suit? As always, thanks for listening.

William Overholt: Asia's Miracle Economies and the Question of China's Liberalization

Geopolitics

This is not the take on artificial intelligence (AI) that you’re going to find in the popular media or on corporate websites. Most everyone is thrilled about what AI can and might do someday soon. Self-driving cars, remotely controlled delivery vehicles, homes that clean and restock themselves automatically, medical technologies that can predict (and prevent) our every illness—these are the tip of the iceberg, and for the companies that will manufacture and control them, they can’t get here soon enough. But there is a dark side. My guest this episode is James Barrat, futurist, filmmaker and author of AI: Our Final Invention. With a title like that, you know the news he brings is not good. Among other things, James and I talked about the “intelligence explosion”—the point at which a computer is able to replicate itself better than human beings can. That’s not so far in the future, James says, but for some reason its seen by very few as a clear and present danger. How far away are we from the intelligence explosion? Ten years? Fifty years? Three quarters of a century? As with all things tech, there’s the prospect of acceleration. And in the case of AI, that means we humans may not be ready. Are we looking at a handover or a takeover?: In these times of rampant corporate competition and geopolitical intrigue, what hope can we have for agreeing on the ground rules for AI development and deployment? As always, thanks for listening.

James Barrat: The Intelligence Explosion - AI and the Coming Cross-over Point

Future Tech

We’ve been talking about the impending US/China trade war now it appears our worse fears are coming true. President Trump has followed through with $250 billion in tariffs impacting over 6,000 China-made products—with, apparently, more to come. China has retaliated with its own set of tariffs. No one can say where this is headed, though we can be certain that it’s consumers—and workers—on both sides of the dispute who are going to take the brunt of it. To get perspective on what an all-out trade war might look like, we reached out to Wendy Cutler. She served under the Obama administration as Deputy US trade representative and now holds the title of Vice President and Managing Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute. Watching this trade debacle unfold has been particularly painful for Wendy, who spent years developing and negotiating the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement, or TPP. Her perspective on the current situation is essential listening. Trade accords are complex matters. There’s politics to consider, protectionism, currency adjustments and adherence to literally dozens of ongoing bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. The Trump administration would have us think differently. There are good deals and bad deals, he tells us, a bad deal being any one that doesn’t favor the US. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes trade work in the first place. Compromise is the name of the game, and for experienced negotiators like Wendy Cutler, it’s a matter of listening and discerning the minutia of what’s doable for all of the parties involved. China has its own unique set of trade issue, and in this episode we get into some important detail. Pressuring China to make changes is one thing, but refusing to negotiate is another. There are many reasons why applying tariffs then walking away is a bad idea, but here’s the biggest one: China, and the rest of the world for that matter, have other options. And what happens then—when a new TPP is negotiated without the US at the table? As always, thanks for listening.

Wendy Cutler: US China Trade War

Geopolitics

Most of our listeners will have already heard about the Singapore Hospital Hack. A brief refresher: at some point on the 27th of June, the Singaporean healthcare database was breached in what is being described by the Singaporean government as a “deliberate, targeted, and well-planned” cyberattack. The health records of at least1.5 million people were compromised, including that of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong—whose information seems to have been targeted. Though none of the information was altered the hackers had access to the system for about a week, during which they exflitrated crucial data on outpatient-dispensed medications. How did this happen? Who’s behind it? To get some perspective on this we turned to two key members of the Inside Asia brain trust. The first is Mack Banner, who recently retired from four decades of running hospitals in Singapore. The second is Mikko Niemela, Founder of the Cyber Attack Company Silverskin, President & CEO of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Company Kinkayo and author of Anatomy of a Cyberattack. We don’t have all of the information yet, not by a long shot. But one thing is certain, and that is that we are going to see more of it in the future. Are you ready? As always, thanks for listening.

Singapore Hospital Hack

Health & Science

Third generation family-owned empires are at the epicenter of Asia’s growth story—the foundation upon which many national economies have been built over the past fifty years. But with the advent of global trade, digital technology and fast-paced innovation, these same businesses are finding it hard to keep pace. It takes capital, grit, and perhaps most importantly, world-class talent to go cross-border—a move into markets without the advantage of political connections or cultural familiarity. To get a perspective on the challenges facing these companies and the strategies that are proving effective, I sat down in Singapore with leadership consultant and executive coach, Bill Cornwell. He’s the founder of Cascade Consulting and Professional Training and also serves as a senior faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership. He’s been working in Asia for more than 15 years, and been a coach to dozens of family-run businesses around the region. According to a recent McKinsey study, fewer than 30% of founder or family-run businesses survive past the third generation. That’s to be expected—if you consider the charismatic leadership of the family founders who built commercial empires from practically nothing. Generational tensions emerge as grandkids decide to opt out or change things up, and when that happens there are two choices: either sell the business or recruit outside talent. But that means moving away from a leadership model based on loyalty in exchange for one driven by performance indicators. It’s not an easy transition. What do businesses do? Enter private capital. Private equity investors want transparency, financial clarity, and systematic approaches. Making changes to appease investors creates tension and that’s a problem for businesses that have traditionally defined success in terms of generational continuity. It’s a complex, knotty issue. But there is a way out. As always, thanks for listening.

Bill Cornwell: Solving Family-Business Factor in Asia

Leadership

The drones are coming—though they’re not here just yet. But they’re on their way. The recreational photo-junkies who use them to buzz beaches and mountain resorts are the tip of the iceberg. Probably more like the tip of the tip of the iceberg. The high-pitched buzz of an overhead drone is either fascinating or irritating. In fact, some locations have banned the use of photo drones altogether, citing safety and privacy concerns. But the question of whether you’re for or against drones is beside the point—the technology that makes drones possible has arrive and sales of both personal and commercial drones are growing at a 30%+ year on year clip with US$11billion in projected sales by 2020. And, yes, the worldwide leader in drone manufacturing with an estimated 70% global market share is China-based Da Jiang Innovations. Imagine all the things drones can and will do: Amazon and McDonalds are experimenting; security firms are deploying drones; and there are drones to measure the weather and provide rush hour reports. You name it and one day, a drone will likely do it. That’s a lot for governments—or anyone else—to digest. To help make sense of it, my guest is Timothy Reuter, Civil Drones Project Head at the World Economic Forum. As listeners know, the Center was established by the World Economic Forum as a kind of “think-tank” or “do-tank.” Its mission involves establishing public/private partnerships, then looking for program and policy initiatives to enhance the likelihood of success. As always, thanks for listening.

Timothy Reuter: The Drones are Coming

Future Tech

In this episode we’re looking back at the Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump meet-up in Singapore. It now feels like the distant past. And that’s the point. This news cycle is more like a news cyclone. There was much ado about the meeting of the two corpulent men, but now that the dust has settled, what do we have to show for it? To get perspective we reached out to two key members of the Inside Asia Network, both of whom have a deep knowledge of the region and who also happen to have been on the ground in Singapore. We first speak with Steve Okun. He’s Senior Advisor at McClarty Associates and for the last twelve years has served as Governor of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce. He’s a trusted source who happened also to have a ringside seat at the festivities. Was this one of those surrealistic moments that defied logic and protocol, or was it the first small step toward the giant leap of opening North Korea? And what was it like in Singapore when the circus arrived? Next we talk with Frank Lavin, Founder and Chairman of Export Now and a former US Ambassador to Singapore. Frank is based in Singapore, and, as you might expect, found himself pulled in by CNN and others to comment. I put the same question to him that I put to Steve Okun: Is the Trump/Kim meeting to be seen as a window of opportunity, or further evidence that we are living in the Matrix where perception and reality have parted ways? And, again, what was it like on the ground?

The Trump-Kim Summit

Geopolitics

Our guest this episode is Adam Schwarz, founder and CEO of Asia Group Advisors, one of the most astute Asia observers in the business. I wanted to ask him what he’s thinking about Asia trade since the election of Trump and the changing role of the US globally. In most every discussion of Asia trade since the election of Trump China takes center stage. There’s good reason for that, but it’s important to also maintain a broader perspective. What does Trump mean for the rest of the Asia region, and how do other countries these days see and react to US policies emanating from Washington. At the end of the day, what are the implications for the region as a whole of China waxing and US waning? By politicizing trade, Trump gives license to his declaration of America First. Bilateral, so he believes, makes America sound stronger; back in control. But in practice, it’s not that easy. And doesn’t always make sense. These are early days this trade melodrama. We’re at the close of the first act. Perhaps. On the one side you have an American President prepared to put into practice the policies born of campaign promises tailored to a Republican base: Get tough on China! Save American jobs! It got him elected, but it’s bad economics and could have disastrous consequences. On the side we have an emerging China, determined to exert more influence when it comes to global economic affairs. The supporting cast—and the mainstream media does have a tendency to forget they exist—is comprised of Asia’s other countries who may find themselves vassal states of a rising Superpower if some semblance of reason is restored to US trade policy. This story will have its twists and turns, harrowing moments of trial and triumph, moments of suspense and shocking revelations. We’ve seen one already. In early May, Trump made a move to ban sales of U.S. products to Chinese telecommunications company ZTE. A few days later he reversed himself and said that an about-face was part of a wider move to ease the threat of $150 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump’s reasoning…and I quote: “Too many Chinese jobs would be lost.” What? Chinese jobs? Did we hear this right? It begs the question: Has Trump suddenly grown empathetic to global repercussions of a trade war where any job lost, anywhere is a bad thing? Or, is he laying the ground work for a run at the Chinese Presidency, figuring that if he unseats Xi Jinping, he can control the outcome and make every country great again. Stay tuned. The plot thickens. Return to your seats. And buckle your seatbelts.

Adam Schwarz: Trump, Trade, and Asia

Geopolitics

How concerned should Americans be with Chinese investment in US tech companies? Over the past few years China-based firms have invested in more than a hundred US-based tech deals. These deals focus on the cutting edge of tech, investing in artificial intelligence, 3d printing, facial recognition and military software. Needless to say, this has some US policy makers nervous. China has already surpassed the United States in next generation tech categories like ecommerce and mobility. Rather than playing catch-up, China is banking on its ability to break through to the next level of tech innovation. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, Made in China 2025 is a government sanctioned policy initiative with the goal of keeping China in front as the world’s leading manufacturing center. Identifying and acquiring technologies to advance its cause is a central tenet of Made in China 2025. My guest this episode is Brewer Stone, Partner at Nfluence Partners. Brewer works with emerging technology companies and their venture capital and private equity investors. Brewer points out Chinese investors are making different kinds of investments and assuming new levels of risk to achieve their objectives.

Brewer Stone: China Tech

Geopolitics

My guest this episode is none other than Hans Vriens, Managing Partner of Vriens & Partners, the leading firm around Southeast Asia specializing in government affairs, public policy and political risk analysis. Hans has lived and worked in Asia since the ‘90s. He’s former President of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong, former Vice Chairman of APCO Worldwide in Southeast Asia as well as a political economist at the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong. He’s done it all. Literally. The work he does now involves pulling together corporations and nations. He’s like a kind of corporate marriage counselor. There are two parties who are attracted to each other, both of whom knows they have something to gain—and maybe much to gain—from the other. So far so good. But they don’t know each other all that well. And to make things more complicated, they have both been living together for so long that they’ve built up their own habits, their own ways of doing things. Hans puts them across the table with one each other and helps translate. Maybe gets them to hold hands for a while. The rest of what happens us up to them. It’s a fascinating, essential discussion. Thanks for listening.

Hans Vriens: ASEAN Political, Economic and Governmental Insights

Geopolitics

Investors love stability and predictability, and for that reason Nepal has not appealed to many. With a per capita income of only $970, Nepal ranks among the poorest in Asia. The country is mountainous and largely dependent on agriculture and foreign remittance from Nepalese who’ve left the country to work overseas. There’s also a shifting political landscape and a general lack of stability. It’s not surprising that outsiders see more risk than reward when contemplating investment in Nepal. My guest this episode is trying to change that. Tim Gocher is Founder and Chairman of both the Dolma Foundation and the Dolma Impact Fund, the first international Private Equity and Impact Investment fund for the country of Nepal. No matter how you cut it, investing in Nepal is a high-risk proposition. For Tim and his investors, the objective is two-fold. Making money comes first but a close second is the fund’s ability to deliver to the Nepalese a high degree of socio-economic benefit. Investing in an under-developed market like Nepal comes with risk. But risk means different things to different people. For some, it conjures up images of opaque regulatory regimes, political in-fighting, and all forms of corruption. Others see opportunity. For visionaries like Tim Gocher, there’s both money and impact there for the making. High risk has a tendency to suppress project and investment valuations. That’s a good thing for Private Equity players charged with building value and growing multiples. As always, thanks for listening.

Tim Gocher: Nepal, Impact Investing, Frontier Markets

Geopolitics

Healthcare is deliciously complex and investors the world over are salivating over ways to both simplify the process of insuring, managing and monitoring patients. At the same time, we’re witnessing the development of almost inconceivably sophisticated new devices and medications that are already preserving and enhancing human life. There’s huge investment in R&D ranging from robotic surgery to genome decoding to AI-enabled predictive health screening. So much so, that it feels like we’re living in a world where the inverse of Moore’s Law is the rule—processing power is improving exponentially, and healthcare solutions are top beneficiaries. To better understand the opportunities of the moment—and, as I learned in our conversation the barriers for investment and innovation are coming down—I turned to Julien de Salaberry, Founder and CEO of Galen Growth Asia. He’s a self-described healthcare change catalyst. He and his partners at Galen Growth are working to build the HealthTech ecosystem in Asia. In Asia – and particularly among the less developed markets – health-tech solutions will need to remain far more focused on the practical, vs. the dramatic. It’s all well and good for the wealthy to grow replacement organs in a petri dish in order to live to 150 years and beyond, but what about the tens of millions of poor and underserved people who still can’t afford to see a doctor, let alone insure themselves against the costs of unexpected illness. Is there a healthcare solution for them? Governments across the region are asking and for investors who see tech as a way of lowering the cost of healthcare vs. raising it, the payoff is huge. As always, thanks for listening.

Julien de Salaberry: HealthTech in Asia

Health & Science

Here’s the opposite of a newsflash: we’re in the midst of a global reevaluation of social media and its power. Facebook has been having a hard time recently, and before that it was Twitter. Amidst all the backlash, it’s notable that LinkedIn—the de facto social media platform for professionals —seems to have somehow risen above the fray. To better understand Linked-in’s business model, I sat down with Olivier Legrand, LinkedIn’s Managing Director and Vice President for Asia Pacific and China. The company got its start in the U.S. but soon grew worldwide to become the largest single network of professionals, job-seekers and key influencers. Full disclosure—for the last decade or so, I’ve worked as a headhunter in the executive search industry. It’s a job that connects people and companies in the same way as LinkedIn. It’s a social media platform that, at various times in the past, I have had a complicated relationship. This podcast often tells stories of digital disruption, and here—at least potentially—is another one. What can LinkedIn tell us about the skills gap? What’s the role LinkedIn in a gig economy? What is powerful about this episode is the takeaway that LinkedIn allows for connections between people, and that the company prioritizes the relationships and trust it has with their users. I hope this remains the case. Not too long ago, another social media executive said something quite similar. Now he’s testifying before the US Congress, explaining and even re-defining trust as it exists or should exist between companies and customers. How will this bode for the world of social media? Time will tell. And, again, thanks for listening.

Olivier Legrand: The Other Social Network

Future Tech

Last month many were caught off guard by the decision by President Xi Jinping to abolish term limits and assume permanent leadership status. It’s a move that seems to fly in the face of the preceding two decades largely dedicated to carefully, slowly—sometimes reluctantly—building institutions. Add to the mix that China and the States seem on the brink of a trade war. Get ready for months of debate over Sino-US trade, technology and geopolitical influence. What’s it all mean? Is the Chinese consolidation of power a sign that trouble is ahead or is it a sign of unprecedented stability? A momentary lapse of reason or a calculated, carefully argued and debated move on the international chessboard? To get perspective we reached out to David Hoffman, senior vice president and managing director of The Conference Board in Asia. He’s a friend of the show and we’ve come to rely on his insight. As many of our listeners will know, the Conference Board is a hundred-year-old business association with more than 1,200 public and private sector members spanning 60 countries. David has spent the past decade building out the China Center for Economics and Business and reading the tea leaves of China’s political and economic trends. With China on the rise and its workings more opaque than ever, insight is everything. Thanks for listening.

David Hoffman: Xi Jinping, China, Trade War?

Geopolitics

This week: Crypto-mining. If you’re looking at that lead sentence and thinking “WHAT?” you’re not alone. As you’re about to find out crypto-mining is the latest techno-fad and what some are calling a breakaway play for financing our digital future. It’s a story that came to us via our friend Peter Wall, who we last spoke to about digital nomads on a Bali beach. We checked in with him and found him in the wilds of Northern Canada tending a flock of high powered computers and fomenting the future of Block Chain. Peter’s now Vice President of Operations at Argo Blockchain, a burgeoning high-tech player in the world of crypto-mining. He explains exactly how crypto-mining works, why he’s involved, and goes onto put the whole crypto mining endeavor into context by comparing it to other currencies. If global currencies are intertwined and pegged to one another in order to establish a kind of global monetary equilibrium, what’s the arrangement with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all other forms of cryptocurrency? How are we to know if anything is worth anything? And what exactly does a crypto miner mine? The very idea of crypto-currencies as little as 15 years ago would have elicited mockery and laughter. It still sounds far-fetched, but so must have Colorado when the gold miners of the 1850s set out to stake their claims. Instead of dynamite and pick axes, these crypto miners are armed with complex algorithms high-speed computers, and light-speed transaction capabilities. It all takes money and energy – and lots of it. It’s not an episode you can afford to miss.

Peter Wall: The Crypto-Mining Gold Rush

Future Economy

Here’s something that most everyone who listens to our show knows: China is on the brink of a trade war with the United States. It’s not surprising, but it also doesn’t make a lot of sense. It was enough to drive Trump’s top economic advisor, Gary Cohn, to resign his post. In the meantime, China marches onward. For some perspective, we got Steve Okun on the line. He’s President of the Asia Business Trade Association, the first pan-Asia business association dedicated to the promotion of trade issues in cooperation with governments. Steve’s been busy in recent weeks via a number of media outlets but what you’ll hear here is more detailed, more in-depth. As Okun points out, there’s nothing surprising about Trump throwing multilateral trade deals under the bus. Trump feels he can bully his way to better trade deals, but that flies in the face of every economic and political convention tested over hundreds of years of global trade. The US isn’t the first – or the last – empire to threaten a trade war to get its way but Okun reminds us that it’s a two-way street. We’ve seen this before! When George W. Bush imposed tariffs to protect Florida orange growers and Michigan auto-makers, trade partners reacted swiftly, imposing tariffs of their own. Rather than risk a rapid escalation of trade barriers, Bush backed down, and narrowly averted an all-out trade war. If the same thing happens this time and everyone from the Canadians to the Europeans begin retaliating, what will Trump do? Thanks, as always, for listening.

Steve Okun: Trump, Tariffs, and Trade in Asia

Geopolitics

Nowhere else on the planet are threats to the environment are more real and the impacts more severe today than in Asia. This might come as a surprise to some. It shouldn’t. It’s a kind of perfect storm. There’s both a close proximity to the major drivers of environmental degradation—China, India, and Indonesia, to name a few—as well as a high demand for food, land, and water. Nowhere else is the challenge of balancing development and conservation more acutely felt. Other regions face similar challenges, but within a situation where the population density is much less. This is the magnitude of the challenge. Now is the time to talk about the issue. Our guest this week is David Emmett, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific at Conservation International. His is an essential voice in the conversation, and also controversial one because of the willingness his organization has shown to work with corporations that have a less than stellar, often downright abysmal environmental record. Conservation International gives us a model, and more than that, it gives us an avenue of approach to the clear and present danger to the environment in Asia. Say what you want, but corporations have learned a few things about taking an idea to market. If the market, in this case, is the environment, why not engage companies to lend their managerial, financial and operational expertise in the name of environmental sustainability? Maybe public-private partnerships can make a real difference. As always, thanks for listening.

David Emmett: Conservation International and Solving the Environmental Crisis in Asia

Corporate Purpose

It’s been a busy week in China. On a number of fronts. There’s a trade war brewing, sure—check back with us in a couple of days for our take on that—but in the meantime Xi Jinping has just done what no one thought would ever happen again—he consolidated power and received a mandate from the 3,000-strong National People’s Congress to rule China indefinitely. This marks the end of nearly three decades of collective power, where institutions were designed to replace personalities as a framework for governing. This raises more than a few questions Does Xi’s grab for power come as a surprise? Is it a reflection of what’s going on in the world, or just something Xi thinks he can get away at a time when China seems to be nearing the height of its economic and political power? To get some perspective on this we called our friend Jim McGregor—China expert, senior corporate advisor, author of No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers. As usual Jim pulls no punches. But listen for yourself. Thanks for joining the conversation.

Jim McGregor on Xi Jinping: Imperial Flashback or Authoritarian Checkmate

Geopolitics

When you hear the term “private equity,” it conjures images of corporate raiders and Wall Street moguls. You think of Gordon Gekko from the film Wall Street, hair slicked back, reminding you that greed is good and that money never sleeps. Maybe there’s some truth to that image. But not the whole truth. It’s one side of the story. My guest this episode gives us the other. Peter Kennedy is an impact investor—he’s head of CLSA’s Clean Resources Private Equity Fund. Peter’s Clean Resources Fund targets growth stage investments in renewable energy, purification technologies, and sustainable agriculture. Though his fund is focused on doing good work, this is not a charity. Peter is in the business of making money, as long as it makes the world a better place. Peter invites us to see how the private sector, armed with advanced technology, can ensure a better future. Water management is a strategic imperative. From purification, to treatment, to distribution and monitoring, it is time for us to raise water to its rightful place and apply ingenuity and engineering solutions in support of this resource. It’s about survival in every sense. This isn’t about what’s right. Investors and technologists are now prepared to combine forces and address water shortages. The degree to which governments see this as an equally compelling challenge is the real question. Politics reward the short-sighted and water conservation (like energy) is a long-term proposition. Do nothing and cities and farm lands will suffer. The world will be a changed place. Don’t believe me? Have you read about Cape Town in South Africa? This spectacularly beautiful city with a population of nearly 4 million people is on the verge of running dry. Authorities point ominously to “Day Zero” – a time in early May – when the city will have no choice but to shut off water supplies and establish water collection points to preserve what water they have left. Dozens of other metropolitan cities around the world face a similar fate. Peter Kennedy invites us to see how the private sector, armed with advanced technology, can address the problem and ensure a better future.

Peter Kennedy: The Commodification of Water

Future Economy

Cross Border digital trade is one of the fastest growing aspects of commerce today. We’re talking something in the realm of 2-3 trillion dollars B2C and 17 trillion in B2B transactions. It’s an issue that’s starting to raise eyebrows in countries around the world who worry that the big digital players might be taking revenue away from their markets and not paying their fair share of tax. Most listeners will be familiar with our probing for that place where tech, policy and society comingle, and, more often than not, clash. It probably won’t come as a surprise to learn that the world over, policy is having a hard time keeping pace with technology. My guest this episode is Ziyang Fang, a San Francisco-based tech lawyer and policy advocate with the World Economic Forum. He’s point man on a project to determine the economic impact of Digital Trade and Cross Border Data Flows. Having worked in both public and private sector, Ziyang is uniquely qualified to comment on digital trade and just why governments around the world are up in arms. Ziyang reminds us that we can only keep this ground of innovation in tact through increasingly sophisticated forms of public-private initiatives. Only together can the critical issues be brought to light where ordinary people can see them clearly and understand all that’s at stake.

Ziyang Fan: Digital Trade and Cross Border Data Flows

Geopolitics

This is our “Center Yourself” episode. I know what you’re thinking. You didn’t come here for meditation. You came for fresh perspectives on the region. You came for the stories and conversation. You did not come here to meditate. But if you’re like millions of others out there—stressed out from keeping dozens of balls in the air, from never having enough time, haunted by the feeling you’re always coming up short—you’re not at your best. Whether you’re an executive, a digital nomad, or a entrepreneur looking to get a startup off the ground, you know how difficult it is to shut down at midnight and pick it back up again at 6:00 the next morning. Or do you shut down at all. We’re willing to bet most of you check your phone over 500 times a day. It’s hard to keep up and keep it together. It’s not just one of those days, it’s one of those lives. Meditation, maybe, can help bring it all into perspective. And as CEOs around the globe are finding, it’s a practice that produces results. That’s why we wanted to make sure it was part of Inside Asia. My guest this episode is Toby Ouvry, one of the best in the business when it comes to guiding people through and toward meditation and mindfulness. He spent five years as a Buddhist monk within the Tibetan order —a journey that brought him to Singapore. He left life as a monk, but didn’t leave meditation. Instead, he established a practice for layman looking for relief. Today, he runs mindfulness programs for MBAs at the INSEAD School of Business, and helps a wide range of clients that hail from corporations, government and NGOs. In recent years, meditation has become quite trendy, but Toby was on the path well long before this, advocating the benefits and guiding people through it. As always, thanks for listening and please join the conversation. Leave us a review on iTunes and tell us your story. How’s meditation changed your life? How do you work it into your schedule? What tips can you share with our listeners?

Toby Ouvry: Center Yourself

Health & Science

Near the end of 2017 President Trump took a historic eleven-day trip to Asia. He visited five key countries, made headlines around the world, and raised a number of questions along the way. Chief among them perhaps: what is Trump’s strategy on trade with Asia. What is Trump thinking? My guest this episode—Nelson Cunningham—happened to be in the region at the same time. Co-Founder of the international advisory firm McLarty Associates and former Special Advisor to President Clinton for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Nelson had a unique vantage point on how Trump’s visit played out. In addition to being able to gauge the Asian reaction to the visit, Cunningham has a powerful purchase on the American perspective and the way in which the visit was being viewed from within the proverbial beltway. With the trip in the rearview mirror, we need to ask if Trump has anything to show for it—any new initiatives, policy decisions, trade agreements, diplomatic breakthroughs? As always, thanks for listening.

Nelson Cunningham: Trump, Asia, and Trade

Geopolitics

It is hard to overstate the massive resources Asia-born businesses have thrown at the technology revolution, the huge amounts brain power and capital committed to developing new products and services in this part of the world. We’ve all heard the stories of how China’s Huawei Corporation has enlisted armies of engineers, packing them into football field-sized warehouses, shoulder-to-shoulder, breaking code and coding new software. My guest this episode gives us some perspective on how we arrived at this moment. Asia tech guru Jeremy Wagstaff is a Technology Correspondent in Asia, a keen observer with a thirty-year history of reporting in the region. It’s also a discussion that looks to the future, one that as much about where Asia tech is today and where it’s going as where it’s been. Ten to twenty years ago, it was Asia’s lower labor costs that drew investors and manufacturers to the region. These days, its brain-power, innovation, and an unbridled hunger to win that for some—including President Trump—makes Asia look more like a threat than a trading partner. One note. Be sure to listen to the end of the episode when we arrive at the question of why Alipay is such a priority for the Alibaba group. Taking Alipay global is clearly one of Jack Ma’s leading commercial initiatives. His reasons for doing so, however, are somewhat mysterious. As Jeremy points out, a mobile payments gateway is a pretty thin margin business laden with hefty infrastructure and security costs. What else is at stake? I hazard a guess, but I’m interested in knowing what you think. You can reach me here: stine@insideasiapodcast.com. Looking forward to hearing from you and, as always, thanks for listening.

Jeremy Wagstaff: Tech in Asia, Indonesia, the Alipay Question

Future Tech

Some of you will have heard the term “4th Industrial Revolution.” If you haven’t…well…don’t look now, but you’re living though the midst of it. So what is the 4th Industrial Revolution: it’s an era defined by a mashup of new technological advances; big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and yes, advanced robotics. And it’s robotics that lies at the center of it, where innovation meets human substitution. Here’s the billion dollar question: What happens next? What do you and your business need to do to survive this revolution? And why is now the time to get smart on the subject? To help us grapple with these questions and more, my guest is Dr. Jing Bing Zhang, Research Director at IDC Asia Pacific Group, a global market research and strategic advisory firm. He’s a man in high demand these days. Our conversation took place right after he had finished lecturing to a group of senior foreign and Chinese executives representing the automotive, consumer electronics, food, insurance and banking industries. It was an astounding display of how rapidly robotics is rising and displacing tasks once reserved for humans. Here’s just one of the takeaways from our conversation: By the year 2020 Asia-Pacific will represent more than 70% of worldwide spend on robotic technologies, with China emerging as the global leader in both industrial and commercial applications. The implications are global. If China is hellbent in driving greater productivity and efficiencies while lowering costs by using robots over humans, the rest of the world will need to do the same. The robots, in short, are on your doorstep. To help you get ready, here a refresher on Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, a timely reminder of what it felt like for Garry Kasparov to lose to Big Blue, for the nay-sayers out there here’s a list of the seven worst tech predictions of all time, and, finally, my DHR White Paper: “The Rise of Robotics and Its Collision with the Workforce” which I co-authored with Dr. Zhang.

Jing Bing Zhang: The Rise of the Robots

Future Tech

You’ve probably heard of Block Chain. But what is it? How does it work? Those are just two of the questions we put to my guest this episode, Jeremy Wagstaff, a Chief Technology correspondent in Asia. It’s a complex situation, one that’s important now and that is going to be more important in the future. This is the New Kids on the Block Chain episode. What does the future hold? Are we on the cusp of a Utopian existence where virtual reality and the Internet of Things blend seamlessly with our higher selves? A moment where every thought and desire can be instantaneously translated into action to generate an evolved state of being? Or are we staring down the barrel of a dystopian future, where the least of our decisions is carefully monitored by governments and corporate security units who profess good intentions while unleashing A.I. bots to decipher and predict your every move. It’s not that you’ll be powerless to change the mind of the machine that decides your future, or control the companies that right now are mining your data, it’s that you won’t know those verdicts are happening in the first place. You may never know they’re happening at all. Your insurance rates will rise magically, inexplicably. You will be denied a loan for no discernable reason. When things get bad enough, the people will revolt. They will take back their data. And if that happens, the block chain is going to be at the center of everything. Thanks, as always for listening.

Jeremy Wagstaff: New Kids on the Block Chain

Future Tech

This is not the North Korea discussion you’re expecting. There’s no escalating saber-rattling and not a single mention of nuclear warheads. We know your newsfeed is filled with rumors of a US-North Korean nuke-fest and we thought we’d do something a little different. This episode I sit down with the Founder and Program Director of Choson Exchange, a Singapore-based NGO with a mission to bring small business training and development to average North Koreans. That’s right: Choson teaches entrepreneurship to North Koreans. If you’ve not heard of Choson it’s not surprising. They keep a low profile and tend to slip under the radar. But what they’ve accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. For seven years now, the group has sponsored more than fifty exchange programs, sending hundreds of business savvy volunteers to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, to train and guide burgeoning ranks of North Korean entrepreneurs. North Korea ranks as one of the poorest, least open countries in the world. Yet, there’s a booming appetite from its citizens who want to know what it takes to start a business, create a product, introduce a new service, and ultimately, make money. Here’s a question to ponder—are economic sanctions imposed by the US and UN an effective means of bringing Kim Jung-un’s government to its knees or do they end up punishing ordinary people who are simply trying to survive? The effectiveness of sanctions is an age-old debate. Maybe we need to find ways of changing the conversation. By bringing to North Korea the tools it needs to enter the global economy, there’s the hope of removing – or at least diminishing – the need to take up hostilities or throw up blockades. Thanks, as always, for listening. If you’d like to volunteer for one of Choson’s programs, please visit the groups website at www.chosonexchange.org.

Entrepreneurship in North Korea: The Choson Exchange

Geopolitics

To celebrate the retail craziness that arrives in each November in North America, we bring you an episode focused on the most overtly commercial day of the year in China – Singles Day! Singles Day started in the 1990s as a quirky “why buy for others when you can buy for yourself” online sales phenomena. In 2005, the Chinese eCommerce giant, Alibaba, picked up on the idea. Other eCommerce players soon jumped onboard and the results are hard to believe: $25.3 billion in online sales in one 24-hour period—a 40% increase over last year. To put these numbers in perspective: Singles Day grosses five times more spending than US’ biggest retail events, Black Friday and CyberMonday combined. To get a handle on what’s going on in Chinese retail, we paid a visit to Alibaba’s HeMa Department story, a high-tech, cashless, and mobile-enabled store that might just revolutionize the shopping experience. It was an eye-opening, hilarious experience. The place is not quite fully deployed, but it’s getting there. In ways once thought unimaginable, the Chinese customer has become the most digitally astute in the world. Sleek mobile apps, elegant micropayment services and service ubiquity are all day-to-day enablers tailored for Chinese buyers. QR codes are as familiar to an 80-year old woman selling vegetables from a street stall as they are to social media savvy millennials. At the heart of it all, of course, is data. As is the case with online shopping, every touch of the mobile phone keypad is captured by Alibaba. Shopping patterns, habits, purchasing decisions, even product rejections are analyzed. Too Big Brother for you? Not so sure you like the idea of drones and robots entering your home and restocking your fridge Will consumers in North America and Europe embrace this new mode of shopping and transaction with gusto the way the Chinese have? Hard to say. Jack Ma is betting on it. You can take a video tour of the HeMa store here (http://www.alizila.com/video/take-tour-hema-supermarket-experience-new-retail/) and see for yourself how online and offline shopping is being merged.

Alibaba’s HeMa Department Store: data, eCommerce, Chinese Retail

Future Economy

This episode tells the story of yet another major disruption in the making. This time it’s the telecommunications and media sectors and it’s the result of a complicated confluence of events—a sort of perfect storm. Here’s the rundown. There are three moving parts. It’s tricky. First there are the telecommunications companies, or telcos. Long dependent on charging for voice calls to generate revenue, they are in the process of shifting their business models to bill instead for high-speed data. No longer is the price of a phone call determined by the distance the voice travels or the length of the call. In a world where consumers have been moving to no or low-cost voice over IP, or VOIP services, telcos are changing up their game. Second, there’s the mobile phone operators. At one time, they made a killing on SMS or text messaging. Now, they’re losing revenue hand over fist to a new generation of messaging services such as WhatsApp or WeChat. These smartphone apps allow for dynamic communications, group chats, even free voice communications. Third, there’s the pay TV operators. For decades, they’ve paid big licensing fees for Hollywood content and make a profit by offering entertainment “bundles” to customers at standard monthly subscription rates. Today, subscribers in Asia and elsewhere are cutting cables and cancelling subscriptions, opting instead lower-cost on-demand over-the-top or streaming video on demand services like Netflix, Hulu, iflix or HBONow. All three have one big thing in common and that’s massive underlying infrastructure and network costs. From the fiber optic cables that run the length of the ocean bed carrying voice and data internationally, to the constellation of satellites that relay signals, to the set-top boxes that sit in every cable-TV household, total investment for telco, mobile and pay-TV companies extends well into the trillions of dollars. To help navigate through all of this I spoke with David Goldstein, a long time player in the Asia market, cutting his teeth in the telco business during its heydays in the 1990s, and most recently, serving as the Head of Asia, for a streaming video on demand, or SVOD service, called iflix. He’s an insider, in other words, with deep knowledge of where the industry has been. And where it’s going. Thanks, all of you, always, for listening.

David Goldstein: Disruption of Media Delivery in Asia

Future Economy

A vast transformation is taking place. Those of us who live in Asia are watching in happen. Here are some numbers. From 2000 to 2010, 200 million people moved into urban areas throughout Asia. This is expected to continue at a rate of 3-5% annually for the foreseeable future. East Asia one now has more than 800 urban areas, including eight megacities with populations of over 10 million people. It is one of the greatest—if not the greatest—migration in human history. And for most it’s been a good thing: higher income, better education levels, cell phones, you name it. It’s also brought an unprecedented level of burden on public healthcare systems. A lot of stats could be quoted, but here are two that tell the tale. According to the World Health Organization a staggering 10% of adults in China, or 100 million people, live with diabetes. Another 230 million suffer from at least one type of cardiovascular condition, with another 120 million heart patients entering the system between now and 2030. The health care industry needs to find ways to adapt—but how. To get perspective on the issue, we brought to the table healthcare executive Mack Banner who was in the process of winding down a career that spanned three decades in healthcare in various parts of Asia. Among other things, Mack and I discuss how certain Asian heath care markets have a distinct advantage over providers in places like the United States because of the way they are able to leap frog over more conventional and expensive delivery mechanisms that have been in place for years and are slow to change. We also talked about the current situation. Could it be digital that comes to the rescue? As Mack Banner points out, the possibilities offered by technology for the improved management of patient care are almost endless. But still there’s resistance. For an in-depth look at the issue, take a look at a recent white paper I’ve written on the subject, here(http://www.dhrinternational.com/insights/digital-remedies-consumerization-healthcare). As always, thanks for listening!

Mack Banner: Digital Remedies for the Consumerization of Healthcare

Health & Science

We live in transformative times. China is coming into its own in an unprecedented way. Previous episodes have focused on this trend in a connection with a variety of sectors: trade, economic growth, politics, digital media, environmental policy. In this episode our focus is on corporate leadership and China’s overseas ambitions. Evidence of global expansion first came to light in 2016, when Chinese companies spent $246 billion in overseas acquisitions. The move alarmed Chinese regulators who feared capital flight and its implications for the RMB. In 2017, outbound capital has slowed to a trickle, but that hasn’t altered the aspirations of Chinese executives who increasingly believe that China’s time has arrived at last. Commercial success at home, however, does not always translate to success abroad. That’s where our guest this episode comes in. Elisa Mallis is an executive coach and leadership development expert. She’s been working for years with Chinese executives, guiding them in the development of a global mindset. She’s also an aspiring astronaut. I asked her what the Chinese corporate leadership had to do if they planned to win the hearts and minds of those with a global mindset. Take a look at this chart. It tells the whole story. Western economic dominance is a mere blip on the historical screen. For centuries, the territories of modern-day India and China dominated trade and wealth. The last hundred years of industrial revolution first in Europe, then in the US, changed all that…at least for a while. It’s not so much a question of when, but how Chinese corporate leaders will engage with the rest of the world. Will they adopt Western leadership and managerial practices? Or will they arrive with a new set of operating principles? Elisa reminds us that we are living in very different times. She suggests that through a process of mutual understanding and adaptation a new leadership paradigm will arise – one premised on what she calls, a global mindset.

Elisa Mallis: China Going Global

Geopolitics

The word “hacker” has been around since the early ‘60s. It first shows up at MIT after the successful hacking of a telephone system. “Many telephone services have been curtailed,” announces the memo where the word debuts, “because of so-called hackers” who have “accomplished such things as tying up all the lines between Harvard and MIT, or making long-distance calls.” Those were the days. Hackers looking for free long distance! Today we all worry about what would happen if our lives and businesses were to fall victim to hackers. As the recent Equifax breach demonstrate, we are all cyber-vulnerable in ways we can’t even guess. With so much negative press around hackers it’s hard to see them as anything but mischievous if not downright disruptive. My guest this episode represents the other side of the hacker coin. Mikko S. Niemelä is the founder of Silverskin Information Security – a cyberattack company and Kinkayo – a cyber threat intelligence agency. Mikko’s the kind of hacker you want on your side. We sat at a small café tucked between the five-fingered towers of Suntec City, the commercial tech hub in Singapore that also features a convention center, shopping mall, and a Lamborghini showroom. It seemed appropriate that our conversation about hacking should take place at this intersection of fast cars and tech wizards. Mikko and his band of merrymen at Kinkayo are out to provide a service to companies and stock exchanges that otherwise might be operating in a state of naïve oblivion. It’s an audacious undertaking, but one that Mikko argues is of the greatest necessity. It’s essential and amazing perspective. You can find more about Mikko as well as the full version of what’s behind Mikko’s claim that Asia has the cybersecurity advantage here.

Mikko Niemelä: Asia, Cyberattack, The Dark Web

Future Tech

We’re on the cusp of a possible environmental crises in Bali. Mount Agung is about to erupt. We don’t know when, but Bali remains on high alert. It’s now more than two weeks since the volcanic threat level was raised to its maximum. Earth tremors are a daily event and as many as 150,000 people – mostly farmers and herders – have been evacuated a safe distance from the volcano’s blast zone. We’re rushing this episode out with things still in flux. Bali is my home. It’s imperative that people understand how things look on the ground. Rucina Ballinger. Photo by Suki Zoe. My guest is Rucina Ballinger. A resident of Bali for more than thirty years, Rucina first came to Bali when she was in her twenties. She fell for the place and a guy who happened to be part of the Balinese royal family. They got married and since then she’s dedicated herself to the people of Bali. She’s also one of the most thoughtful and insightful commentators on Balinese culture and tradition. I wanted to ask her what people are doing to prepare and to give us some perspective on how this impending eruption is understood from within Balinese culture. For nearly three weeks, authorities have been calling the eruption of Mount Agung “imminent.” Seismic activity continues unabated and though it’s taking longer than expected the danger is just as real today as it was weeks ago when the alarm was first sounded. In the meantime, people are preparing for the worst, gathering supplies, stockpiling bottled water, and running blankets and tents to the tens of thousands environmental refugees that are camped out on the outskirts of the so-called “red zone.” While the government has planning teams and military on the ground to help orchestrate the evacuation, NGOs are playing their part as well; rallying volunteers and filling the gaps by focusing mostly on supply-lines, providing water purification systems, and safety masks to protect against the threat of toxic ash. To learn more about the real-time situation in Bali and what you can do to help visit the website of Kopernik at www.kopernik.info. Click on the “pitch in” tab and thanks, as always, for listening.

Rucina Ballinger: Bali Prepares for Mount Agung Eruption

Geopolitics

The past few months have been turbulent. Natural disasters are wreaking havoc everywhere. Just as the U.S. has been beset by a string of powerful hurricanes, Bangladesh is experiencing some of the worse monsoons ever with an estimated one-third of the country under water, more than a thousand dead and as many as 41 million people displaced or affected by the floods. Earlier this month, Mexico endured its own crises: a succession of powerful earthquakes that have killed more than 300 people and left thousands homeless. And now it may be Bali’s turn. More than a week has gone by since the island was placed on high alert—a 3,000-meter high volcano is set to erupt. I’m recording this from my home just 35 kilometers west of the mountain. As of this moment, close to 130,000 people have been evacuated. This brings me to the topic of this week’s episode, which eerily addresses the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami in Fukushima, Japan. You’ll hear about how Kent Wertime, Co-CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific, joined the recovery effort to discover what human endurance really looks like. He also learned something about his adopted country and the people of Japan. I wasn’t in Japan at that time, but the event reverberated throughout the region. Many of us living and working in Asia lost friends, offered shelter, and did our best to raise relief funds to support those who suffered the tsunamis devastating effects. The residents of Senai, on Japan’s northeast coast, suffered the most. But the earthquake that triggered the tsunami was felt 350 kilometers away that day in the Japanese capital of Tokyo. A long-time resident told me that when the quake struck everyone rushed into the streets and out of the buildings. Even in open, no one felt safe, he told me. “I stood in amazement,” he recalled, “as the pavement rippled and curled around us. I didn’t think pavement could do that,” he said. “It forever killed for me the idea of stable ground.” It’s an unforgettable conversation. Thanks for listening.

Kent Wertime: Fukushima, Bali, Corporate Philanthropy

Corporate Purpose

What’s the future look like for travel and tourism? From health care, to telecom, to asset management, very few industries are spared the onslaught of a tech-driven business proposition that brings with it major disruption. The old timeworn solutions to old timeworn problems are rapidly disappearing. I sat recently with the Asia Pacific head of one of the world’s largest hotel chains and when I asked what kept him up at night, he barely missed a beat: AirBNB, he said. Barely a decade old, this rooms-for-rent business is today valued at more than US$30 billion. It boasts 150 million users, and operates in close to 200 countries. Today, AirBNB has more rooms on offer than the top three global hotel chains combined. What started out as a quirky lodging alternative for the casual tourist is rapidly becoming a high-end choice for the business traveler. Re-thinking the future of travel and its implications for the hospitality sector is the subject of this episode. My guest is Gaurav Sinha, Founder of Insignia Worldwide & Chairman and CEO of Quillon Hospitality. Maya Ubud Resort & Spa in Bali Befitting the topic of our discussion, I spoke with Gaurav on the beautifully manicured grounds of the Maya Ubud Resort in Bali. On a grassy knoll, we watched the late afternoon sun paint the gardens with a soft orange glow and listened to the rise and fall of the sound of cicadas. Sinha spoke of something different than the “industrialized luxury” that has become all too familiar, where success is determined by room rates and occupancy levels. The day is coming, he suggested, when hoteliers will wake up to a new brand of service, driven less by the bottom-line and more by a commitment to assist the traveler in the experience of the place to which he or she has traveled. It’s a riveting discussion. Thanks for listening.

Gaurav Sinha: Innovation and Humanity in Hospitality

Corporate Purpose

The question this episode: “What does a globalized, digitized, and increasingly liberalized China look like?” Official Chinese government pronouncements tell us that change is underway. Reforms are in place and things are opening up. But, of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that. While tidings of speedy privatization and catastrophic growth delight mainstream capitalists, Chinese officials are less enamored. A planned economy has been the path to prosperity for China for more than 35 years. But as China emerges as the world’s second largest economy, the stakes have changed. Future growth depends on greater global inter-connectedness and therein lies the rub. Going global means less control, more opening up, greater liberalization and of course, some element of volatility and even chaos. These are words that make China’s Communist Party leaders wince. It’s a brave new world and how China responds to these challenges is the subject of this week’s episode. To help us answer this and other questions my guest is David Hoffman, senior vice president and managing director of The Conference Board in Asia. During the course of our conversation Hoffman invokes the so-called “birdcage” analogy made popular by the Chinese communist stalwart, Chen Yun. David paraphrases Chen’s 1982 essay saying, “the market is a beautiful songbird that can make beautiful music, but it must always be confined within the steel cage of the state, lest it escape and reap chaos.” But can the chaos be contained? Is the market a songbird or a winged dragon? Big questions. It’s a fascinating, essential discussion with one of the leading minds on the subject.

David Hoffman: China's Economy at the Crossroads - Caged Songbird or Winged Dragon?

Geopolitics

In many ways, the failure to invest in China is a failure of the imagination. Of course there have been risks in the past, and there continue to be; but China is changing. The market is maturing and regulations are becoming increasingly transparent. The combination of internal banking sector constraints and China’s newfound global ambitions is resulting in new opportunities for global financial institutions. My topic this episode is asset management in China and my guest is Peter Alexander, Founder and Managing Director of Z-Ben Advisors, a consulting firm based in China. Peter’s built his career around advising clients on how to best capitalize on growing investment opportunities in the Greater China market. During his conversation with me Peter makes an important point: it’s far easier to latch onto past events to justify staying away from the China market then it is to take run at future possibilities. He reminds us that confirmation bias is always at play particularly when it comes to bad press around treatment of foreign financial institutions in China. It’s easy to find information to support conclusions you have already drawn. That’s human nature. The important thing is to see around it. The question is not whether you’re going to get in the game, it’s when. Investing in China requires a new playbook and a novel approach. It’s new territory, and there are risks and challenges. The rules may feel unfamiliar. But as Peter says, if you can get your head around the cultural divide and the nuances of operating in China, there’s money to be made. This is, as Peter says, the beginning of the beginning. There are miles to go. What is your China strategy? Whether you’re all in all the way, half way, or not at all, the time is rapidly approaching when to not have an answer is to not be in the game. So, to the world’s financial institutions and asset managers, I ask: Can you afford not to be in China?

Peter Alexander: Asset Management in China

Geopolitics

In this special bonus episode of the Inside Asia Podcast, we explore the unlikely career trajectory of healthcare industry disruptor, Rosaline Chow Koo. Rosaline is the founder and CEO of CXA, the first data-driven private insurance and workplace wellness exchange in Asia. In this episode, we explore Rosaline’s backstory – from a daughter of immigrants growing up in Watts to her scrappy career in Wall St., we trace the career of one of today’s most impactful innovators.

Rosaline Chow Koo: The Birth of an Innovator

Health & Science

Here’s some old news: this past January President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement—the TPP. It shocked some, but it should have come as no surprise. Candidate Trump—like Candidate Clinton—made the TPP withdrawal a central campaign promise. And fact is for a lot of Americans, getting out of the TPP made a lot of sense. If the US is the big dog why would it want any other dogs at the same table? At bottom, Americans—like Trump himself—thought the TPP dissolution would a chance to put the art of the deal into practice. If the US was going to win, in other words, it should play one on one. The idea that bilateral trade agreements are by definition much better for the US than multilateral agreements is at the core of Trump’s approach to…well, his approach to pretty much everything. This episode, we ask if this is true—and what happens next. What will replace the TPP? My guests are Deborah Elms, Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore and Steve Okun, a member the board of governors on the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, which was—under Okun’s leadership—the first business association to endorse the TPP (before Obama even announced that the US would be a part of it). This is a fascinating, detailed discussion that does justice to the complexity of the issue. It’s not the sort of thing you’re going to hear anywhere else. Listen to the end for an extraordinary story of one of the most unexpected and underreported consequences of the TPP dissolution from Deborah Elms. This is not an episode you can afford to miss. Thanks, as always, for listening.

Deborah Elms and Steve Okun: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Geopolitics

What is China doing in Africa? Is it to establish a beachhead for access to natural resources and commodities? Is it a new frontier for China investment, technology and services? Does China see Africa as the last among market greenfield opportunities, where telecom networks, roads, ports, power plants and payment systems are all in the earliest stages of development? Some observers question China’s means of doing business in Africa. Specifically, the way Chinese companies extract government concessions or do closed-door deals with the African elite. It feels shady to some, and perhaps it is. Perhaps it isn’t. The lingering fear is that China wont’s so much enrich Africa as it will exploit it. There’s certainly no scarcity of controversy and bad press swirling around the topic. In this episode, we get past the hype and hullabaloo by speaking to Eric Olander, founder, host and mastermind behind the China Africa Project. As many of our listeners will already know, Eric is also the host of the China in Africa Podcast which has a listenership that numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Each week Eric and his co-host— South African-based Cobus van Staden—showcase experts with deep knowledge of the trends, developments, investments and controversies associated with China in Africa. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that Eric has established himself as one of the most rigorously informed and brilliantly articulate voices on the subject. I sat down with him on my last trip to Shanghai, and from the executive lounge atop the JW Marriott, and I asked him what he made of the China/Africa connection. Eric’s brilliant and brilliantly articulate—and can be controversial. Thanks for listening.

Eric Olander: What is China Doing in Africa?

Geopolitics

This episode is the second part of my conversation in Shanghai with author and China expert Jim McGregor. And just to recap: it’s still stinkin’ hot and Jim is still in his baseball cap. That’s about as lighthearted as it gets. Sorry. In case you missed our last episode—and if so, you can download it here—it featured Jim’s worrying assessment of the current state of US/China trade. As Jim pointed out, no matter what we might tell ourselves in the US about our open system and its virtues, the fact remains that anyone—and this includes nations—who are dealing with a major Chinese investor or company are also and always dealing with China, Inc. What are the consequences of the bargain we are striking with the Chinese? How does the US create reasonable and transparent defenses to shield our own interests while at the same time finding ways to re-energize American entrepreneurs and companies to consider the interests of the United States alongside their own? The recent withdrawal of the US from the TPP is just one example of the American myopia that impedes the ability to answer this question effectively. And what about the alarming headlines this morning that suggest a more serious conflict looms? As I write this, North Korea is threatening a “physical response” to aggressive trade sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration. Jim provides a frank perspective on the situation and what can be done about it. The US has made a habit of asking China to intervene with North Korea and I ask him if they are doing enough. Or is there something that China could be doing but aren’t doing because they know there might be something in it for them? This is Inside Asia. Jim McGregor’s is a voice more urgent and necessary than ever before. This episode is required listening for anyone presuming to be informed about the current state of affairs. Thanks for listening.

Jim McGregor: Trump, China INC, and the North Korea Question

Geopolitics

Back by popular demand this episode—and the next!—it’s the inimitable and indispensable voice of Jim McGregor. Author, China expert, senior corporate advisor, McGregor remains one of the keenest observers of China when it comes to foreign business and trade matters. I caught up to him at home in Shanghai where I braved unbelievable heat to conduct one of the most bracing interviews we’ve had on the show to date. Jim was one of the very first guests I had on the podcast, and he’s back a second time by popular demand. He does not disappoint. It’s a wide-ranging discussion and McGregor pulls no punches. We start off by discussing the current state of US-China trade. In a recent article criticizing the US for pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership, Jim pointed out how the decision plays into the hands of the Chinese. Put simply, at a moment when the US is loudly retreating from the world stage, the Chinese are filling the vacuum, ramping up trade, investment and influence in the wake of American naval gazing. What are the consequences of American distraction? During the second part of our conversation I ask if the US should be worried by the Chinese push to acquire the technologies of the future. Has the America resigned itself to the fact that the Chinese are stepping up? Are we looking at a future owned by China Inc.? Is there anything the US can do to stave off the mainland’s rise to power? Bluntly, can we compete? It’s not a discussion you can afford to miss. Thanks for listening.

Jim McGregor: Trading with China, Inc.

Geopolitics

This episode finds me in Singapore with executive coach Bill Cornwell. All tolled Bill has logged more than 20 years in Asia and in the past decade shifted his professional focus to executive coaching, working with a wide variety of Asia’s business leaders. A short list of his clients says all that need be said about the results he delivers: BASF, Estee Lauder, McGraw Hill, Motorola, Johnson & Johnson and senior government leaders in ranging from the Singapore Ministry of Health to its police force. Though the benefits of executive coaching are more widely acknowledged than they were once, it’s still a somewhat controversial topic. Particularly when it comes to oneself. Is coaching necessary? Does it make a difference? Do I need a coach? For some, seeking out an executive coach is the last thing we would do. People who need coaching have something wrong with them, we might tell ourselves. Plus, I’m pretty successful anyway—why would I turn to a coach? This episode might just change your mind. It’s not just what Bill says about the various ways that coaching can make a difference that’s important, it’s the way he says it. This is a man who knows how to listen and that’s what makes him uniquely able to have a transformative effect on the lives of his clients—particularly in Asia Pacific. He knows people and he knows the region. It’s a uniquely powerful mix.

Bill Cornwell Part I: Executive Coaching

Leadership

This episode I’m in the dining room of the Westin Hotel in Singapore. My guest is Kent Wertime, the Co-CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific. Our conversation took place in the brilliant sunshine, beside a wide window that overlooked the Singapore ports, towards Malaysia. This week my topic is the shape and impact of the digital revolution in Asia. Kent first wrote about what he was seeing in his groundbreaking book DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Marketing & Digital Media. That was essential reading for me when I first arrived in Asia. During our conversation, Kent provided some idea of the ground that a history of digital emergence in Asia might have to cover. As everyone knows, Asia has been forerunner in terms of mobility and mobile applications. There’s a reason for this, of course; they didn’t have the fixed line networks that were everywhere in the West. Adoption rates of mobile devices and use of data took off immediately in Asia. It’s a history that’s sometimes forgotten—and one that disrupts our idea of the west being the home of innovation in the digital age. But there’s also a dark side and Kent is remarkably candid about that as well. We live in a world where tens of thousands of mental actions and re-actions occupy our every minute. We intertwine (and sometimes convolute) our professional, personal, emotional lives by the millisecond and spit them out through a wild array of digital mediums. And to what end? Are we trying to he heard? Or are we trying to hear? This is the reality of the situation, Kent tells us, when it comes to our digital selves. Our minds are made up for us and our biases are confirmed invisibly, even inevitably.

Kent Wertime Part I: The Digitalization of Asia

Future Economy

This episode our focus is on impact investing—investments made with the aim of generating both financial return and social or environmental impact. The reasons for corporations wandering into philanthropy vary. Oil companies might want to change public perception. Hedge funds might be averting criticisms of greed. Brands looking to boost sales want to find ways of connecting themselves with programs that appeal to their socially conscious customers. And yes, there are CEOs who simply want to make the world a better place. Impact investment sounds simple. Find a good thing and throw money at it. But it’s not that easy. There have been literally thousands of attempts to try to marry for-profit with non-profit. More often than not, good intentions fall flat. Projects may help employees feel better about their employer but in many cases the experiment is short-lived and the results are simply one-offs. Creating sustainable value requires more planning and involvement than was evidenced during the last wave of so-called corporate social responsibility, or CSR. Impact investing – as we just learned – shows promise of being longer lasting and even self-propagating. My guest this episode is Steve Okun, a remarkable executive whose work with Bali Cashews shows what thoughtful intentional philanthropic investment is capable of, and that it needs to be closely integrated into ongoing business practices if it is really going to improve a situation. Steve is a government and public affairs expert and most recently, a senior member of the Asia division of global private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, or KKR. A former member of the Clinton Administration—he served as Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Transportation—he also did a stint at UPS as Vice President of Public Affairs in Asia. Thanks for listening and let’s continue the conversation. What other impact investing initiatives are you aware of? What are some of the challenges they face. Take a second and tell us about what social enterprise ventures you’ve seen which could use some backing or organizational expertise.

Steve Okun: Impact Investing & Social Enterprise

Corporate Purpose

This episode I’m joined by Clancey Houston, former CEO of China Healthcare Corporation and one of the foremost thinkers on China’s evolving healthcare landscape. As the debate on affordable healthcare rages in the United States, China too contemplates its healthcare future. This nation of nearly 1.4 billion is in a state of rapid transformation. The economy has been on a tear with China blowing past the US to become the world’s largest and most productive manufacturing center. But every economic expansion has its dark-side—or maybe several dark sides. For China, urban overcrowding, economic disparity, and environmental decay are taking a toll. One of the sectors where we see that clearly is in health care. None of this has been lost on the Chinese government. According to a recent report by Deloitte, China will spend a projected $892 billion on healthcare by 2018. That’s less than a third of US healthcare spend on a population one-fourth the size of China. In short: demand for quality healthcare in China is off the charts. Until recently, public healthcare was a Chinese citizen’s only choice. Now, the floodgates are open for private investment and today, for-profit hospitals are springing up everywhere. As a former CEO of one of China’s new hospital ventures, Clancey has a unique vantage point on the country’s healthcare evolution. One note about the interview. There’s a bit of background noise. True to this program, I recorded this in the field, and this particular field was the bullet train from Shanghai to the capital of Beijing. It’s a twelve-hundred-kilometer (or 745 mile) journey and we traveled at 350KM/H (or 217 miles per hour). For five hours we reclined in our Business class seats intermittently talking and watching the Chinese landscape fly by.

Clancey Houston: The Evolution of Healthcare in China

Health & Science

This episode I’m in Hong Kong—at the foot of the Great Escalator—with Mark Clifford Executive Director of the Asia Business Council and author of The Greening of Asia—essential reading, if you ask me. The question of China and the environment is a timely subject made urgent in the wake of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement. Trump’s disdain for the environment and dismissal of the scientific evidence pointing to global warming is a subject unto itself but the broader question speaks to the political vacuum left in its wake. Given that the U.S. has absented itself, which nation will assume the required leadership role to get us out of the global environmental mess that we humans have created? All eyes are now on China. There’s no disputing the science of environmental change. We can already see how the world has been and will continue to be altered because of it. Like it or not, climate change will affect us all. Economies undermined, businesses demolished, communities under water, and lives lost. We brought this on ourselves. The question now is what can be done, and who’s going to do it. China has both the political will and the economic capacity to make a difference. But only if it acts in a decisive and thoughtful fashion. As we’ve heard in our discussion with Mark, decisive has its dark side in China. Mark Clifford is uniquely positioned to give perspective and context on this issue as it has played out in the past, and also to speculate about the direction in which things might be headed. In the environment, China faces its greatest challenge yet. As the world’s biggest polluter, it has something to prove, to itself and to the world. For more information you can visit Mark’s website, HERE. Additionally, take a moment to read The Economist’s review of Mark’s book, The Greening of Asia, HERE.

Mark Clifford: The Greening of Asia

Future Economy

Whether we like it or not, democracy is in decline. Like climate change, the erosion of democratic institutions is something that creeps up on us. It’s what happens when you take countless insidious little short-cuts over time, end-rounding one law or the other, creating exceptions for some at the expense of others. Do this long enough and the foundations of democracy begin to crumble. 1995 was the high point of democracy, but the times have been changing. My guest again this episode is noted author and Asia insider Adam Schwarz, founder and CEO of Asia Group Advisors. Last episode, my discussion with Adam focused on Indonesia and its somewhat uneven embrace of democratic ideals and systems. This week Adam and I broaden our conversation and discuss some of what is behind what seems to be a general move away from democracy in many parts of Asia. As Adam points out, one of the key reasons for this shift is that democracy is messy and difficult. It requires institutions and the rule of law. All of that takes time, and time is often in short supply in these contexts. Situations in which things needs to be done quickly and with little discussion make for circumstances under which it becomes easier for democratically elected leaders to bend others to their will, circumventing the democratic institutions that might be in place. During the 1990s and before, there was the US at least, a symbol of the possibility of democracy. But even that has crumbled. With the Trump administration’s “America First” platform, human rights and support for burgeoning democracies around the world have been replaced with threats of trade retaliation, sanctions, and even military invasion. American diplomatic benevolence is in retreat and, as Adam observes, for governments in Asia teetering between the forces of democracy and authoritarianism, the latter is looking a lot more likely.

Adam Schwarz Part II: The State of Democracy in Asia

Geopolitics

My guest this episode is Adam Schwarz, founder and CEO of Asia Group Advisors. He’s a former journalist, a strategy consultant and he now runs his own firm. I sat down with him at the Conrad Hotel in Singapore, which looks out on the new stadium and the Suntec area. We were—well, he was— drinking a bloody Mary. Adam started things off by telling me about his early days at the Jakarta Post in the late eighties where he learned firsthand just how political “facts: can be, and candidly reflects on how this realization caused him to rethink his understanding of media and journalism. We then move on to discuss his time at FEER, as it was known at the time, the Far East Economic Review. FEER has since disappeared but it was once THE place to go for an authoritative view of what was happening on the ground in Asia. There wasn’t anything like it before and there hasn’t been since. Adam concludes by focusing on Indonesia and its experiment with democracy and how it connects to other democratic movements across Asia Pacific. As you can tell there’s more to say—yes, this is just Part I of my discussion with Adam. Next episode he returns to where he left off and speculates about the impact the Trump Administration may be having on the evolution or devolution of democracy in the region. It’s a fascinating discussion.

Adam Schwarz: Indonesia's Experiment in Democracy

Geopolitics

This is Part II of my conversation with documentary filmmaker Thomas Morgan. Once again, we’re in the Screening Room with a rooftop view of Singapore’s restaurant and club district. If you haven’t listened to the first of this two-part episode with Thomas, don’t miss it. In our initial discussion we talk about Morgan’s early days and the events that conspired in mid-life to lead him to documentary film-making. The essential thing for Morgan is seeing his subjects—and filming them—in a way that results in change. That’s not just film-making, that’s “film-anthropy. A sublime blend of visual art and action—oriented philanthropy. Thomas Morgan is more than a film-maker. He’s an astute observer of the human condition with a visionary drive to tell the stories of others and make the world a better place. In this second episode, our focus is on the film industry writ large and on Soufra, his latest project. The title means “feast” in Arabic and it’s been selected for screening later this year at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival. In Singapore, we get a sneak peek at none other than the Screening Room. At a time when the world is increasingly set on defining the Muslim world based on its proximity to terrorism, Soufra offers up a very different view. It chronicles the powerful story of Mariam Shaar, a Refugee and Social Entrepreneur in Beirut, who launches a successful catering company with a group of diverse and equally driven women. Through the lens of Morgan’s camera, the lives of others become a kind of distant country, which we as the audience can briefly inhabit. In this age of instant downloadable visibility, we’re too often presented with a window to the world that feels hazy and ambiguous. Morgan’s work has the opposite effect. It brings life into sharp focus. He unpacks human stories of suffering and triumph, and even improbable friendship.

Thomas Morgan Part II: The Business of Film Festivals, Film in Asia, and Making Soufra

Mavericks

This week finds me with documentary filmmaker Thomas Morgan in the Screening Room in Singapore’s club district. It’s a four level shop house with a rooftop bar with a private “screening room” on the third floor. It seemed a fitting location for my conversation with Thomas. If you haven’t Morgan’s work, you need to. He’s an up-and-coming documentary film-maker who through happenstance found himself moving from Charlotte, North Carolina to Singapore. From here, he struck out to identify projects with compelling protagonists and story-lines. And hit on them, he did. His films are immersive and extraordinary. His protagonists are the unwanted, the disenfranchised, the poor, and the outcast. His mission is to levitate his characters from the mean streets of their worlds in order to transport them into our living rooms and our lives. What’s most revolutionary is his approach. When Thomas makes a film about a subject, whether it’s homelessness in America or a children’s shelter in Nepal, he asks how a situation can be improved and changed. The essential thing for Morgan is seeing it—and filming it—in a way that results in change. That’s not just film-making, that’s “film-anthropy”. A sublime blend of visual art and action—oriented philanthropy. This is the first of two episodes with Thomas, in which he tells me about his early days and the twists and turns that led him to the work he’s doing today. Thomas started off selling copiers, moved on to investment banking, and then left that very lucrative career after being moved to make a film about homelessness in America. It’s a compelling, hilarious and remarkable story. Visit Thomas’s website, HERE, to learn more about his extraordinary work.

Thomas Morgan Part I: An Accidental Filmmaker and the Origins of Film-Anthropy

Mavericks

This episode finds me at the IBM Watson Center in Singapore. My focus is the evolution of social media and its implications in Asia. My guest is Ken Mandel, President of Innovation and Commerce at Publicis Media, a French-based multinational advertising and public relations company, and one of the world’s biggest. Ken is a Digital Industry Veteran. He’s been in leadership positions with a number of cutting-edge digital media and advertising firms, first as CEO & Regional Director of XM Asia Pacific, and later as CEO of Neo@Ogilvy in Singapore. He also helped establish and grow Yahoo! in the region, and served as the company’s Managing Director for Southeast Asia. During his tenure he opened for the erstwhile Internet giant four new markets in less than two years. No matter what sector you’re working in, digital transformation is a reality and companies around the world are rushing to think through what it means to successfully adapt. In his conversation with me, Ken provides a fascinating perspective on the emergence of digital disruption and its impact on the present moment. He’s someone who saw it arrive, which I think makes him uniquely qualified to speculate as to where it’s going. One of the places it’s headed—and has already arrived at—is Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Perhaps the most fascinating part of our conversation occurs near the end of the episode when Ken speculates as to what impact Artificial Intelligence might have beyond digital marketing and social engagement. Mix AI with social media and might it lead to an ultimate undermining of the very democratic systems and principals that we now take for granted?

Ken Mandel: The Evolution of Social Media and the Rise of Artificial Intelligence

Future Economy

This episode I’m on the beach in Bali with Peter Wall, Canadian documentary filmmaker and Co-Founder of the Hub in Ubud, a co-working space in the hills of Bali. We’re not far from my home. I’m writing this in the same place where I recorded the voice overs for the episode itself, an antique one-room shack called a gladag. It sits surrounded by thick jungle and we use it as a kind of home office. The left wall has been replaced with a full pane of glass giving me a framed view of the lush surroundings. Through the thin slats of wood you can hear the sound of cicadas, wind chimes, the occasional cry of a rooster, and fluttering of palm fronds. Most of the time when I tell people that I call Bali home, they get this dreamy look in their eyes. And it is dreamy. The town of Ubud, in the uplands of Bali, is stunning, but it’s also predictably over-run with women in yoga pants and men with man-buns, thanks in no small part to the Julia Roberts film Eat, Pray, Love. But Ubud is more than a preserve for neo-hippies. Increasingly, Ubud is also the destination a new generation of “digital nomads:” professionals in search of the prophetic work-life balance. It’s a place where people from every possible background can come together to work, play, and create. Despite the publicity, Bali remains a sanctuary for the soul, a place where mysticism and magic still abide. A word in the local Balinese dialect—taksu—captures this blend of harmony, nature, and inspiration. It is more a “feeling” than an event, imbued with a sacred quality. It might seem odd that in the absolute tranquility of these surroundings, Peter Wall co-founded a work space for techno-entrepreneurs. But as you’ll hear, it actually makes a lot of sense. You can find more information about Peter and his work in film here including his important companion documentary for iconic Canadian singer Gord Downie’s “Secret Path.” And here’s where you can find directions to Hubud the co-working space that Wall helped found.

Peter Wall: Digital Nomads and the Culture of Taksu in Bali

Geopolitics

The episode is the first of a series that will focus on healthcare in Asia. My guest is Rosaline Chow Koo, Founder and CEO of CXA, the first data-driven private insurance and workplace wellness exchange in Asia. Put simply, Rosaline and CXA are revolutionaries. In an environment where disruption has become a buzzword, this is what it actually looks like. You don’t need me to tell you that the insurance industry is notoriously convoluted and opaque, and healthcare insurance specifically is mired in issues around patient privacy, medical reimbursement and quality of care. But maybe that’s starting to change. That’s what’s interesting—and thrilling— about my conversation with Rosaline. You’re going to hear how insurance is poised to become one of the last in a long line of industries to fall to the internet. This is a story you’ve heard before. Amazon started it, then Ebay, then aggregators like Travelocity. Now it’s hitting the insurance industry. That sounds easy—even inevitable—but it isn’t. As Rosaline reminds me in the episode, I was one of the first to whom she broached her big idea (I connected her with her first VC, who, as it turns out, didn’t invest!), and though it was clearly brilliant, I had real doubts about whether it would fly or not. Think of the industry she was looking to disrupt: health insurance. Though simplifying things would improve the lives of consumers, insurers have little or no interest in simplifying the process. They make big money by keeping data out of the hands of consumers and the employers who have to pay for health insurance. Their whole business model is based on the idea that a majority of healthy employees will make up and pay for the healthcare costs of the few who aren’t so healthy. It’s this playing the odds that has allowed healthcare companies to make an obscene amount of money. Here’s where Rosaline comes in. She launched CXA as a better, more cost-effective, tailor-made alternative to the insurance products offered by others. It’s going to make life better for millions of people. What’s her secret? Data. You’re going to want to listen to her tell the story. Thanks for listening.

Rosaline Chow Koo: Disrupting Healthcare

Health & Science

This episode I’m in Tokyo with long-time Asia media executive, David Shin, President and Representative Director for Fox International Japan. Here’s the background you need. Call it Inside Asia’s “Guide to Asia Media.” First, a few fun facts: over 800 million homes in Asia currently subscribe to cable or pay-tv services of some kind. That’s a lot. It’s all the more impressive if you consider that just twenty-five years ago, multi-channel pay-tv didn’t even exist here. Back then Asian viewers were on a restricted daily diet of B-class melodramas and government propaganda. That all began to change in the early1990s, when Richard Li – the son of a Hong Kong tycoon – launched Star TV. It was a rough start and anything but conventional. Li assembled a ragtag team of former media executives, entrepreneurs and deal-makers who put their heads together and came up with a plan that sounded like a Hollywood screenplay than an actual business deal. Li wasn’t prepared to place an order for a new satellite and then have to wait years for its delivery. Instead, he hunted down and purchased a second-hand satellite from the Soviet Union. That was just the beginning. It gets stranger. Sending his new toy into orbit posed another challenge. The French and Americans had virtually cornered the satellite launch business, so what did Li do? He turned to the Chinese. China’s leaders were keen to show the world they had the capacity and know-how to penetrate space. The fact that China had never before launched a commercial satellite didn’t seem to bother Li and his minions. For weeks, they ran full-page ads emblazoned with three large words – “Watch This Space.” If this were a great myth, in the next chapter we would have found Li lost in space. But this was Hong Kong in 1990. Anything was possible. And so, on April 7, 1990, in the remote Chinese province of Sichuan, the Long March 3 rocket was launched. It actually happened. I know. I was there. I saw the launch with my own eyes. We’d arrived only hours before on a chartered flight from Hong Kong. Li and a bevy of tycoons in front and I and my journalist cohort consigned to the rear. Between us sat a phalanx of bankers and insurers. We all thought StarTV a laughable idea, but damn if it didn’t work. Li’s media enterprise set in motion a tsunami of TV entertainment for a starved Asian audience that today generates nearly US$40 billion in annual revenue. Which is not to say that it’s been easy. Not everyone liked the idea of people in Asia glued to “American Idle” and episodes of the “X Files.” For some governments in the region (China in particular), it was a cultural affront and in some case, in violation of censorship laws. For others, it was an opportunity to build new cable-TV companies to redistribute programming courtesy of the big Hollywood brands. Whatever the feeling, it’s fair to say that in Asia it all started with Star TV. Post-launch and throughout the early 1990s, Star lay the groundwork. In those ensuing years, droves of US media executives ranging from CNN’s Ted Turner to Disney’s Michael Eisner touched down in Hong Kong for an audience with Li. They came bearing gifts of programming catalogues. Soon enough, Asians from Kyoto to Kabul were watching Hollywood films, American sitcoms and blockbuster game shows, all from the comfort of their tiny living rooms. It was a virtual bonanza for companies like Sony, Turner, Time-Warner and Disney who cut lucrative programming distribution deals with the region’s burgeoning cable-TV providers. Slowly at first, then more quickly, Asian production companies entered the fray, offering their own repertoire of programming that spoke more precisely to the tastes, preferences and aspirations of a growing Asian middle class. Over time, US films and TV programs began to lose their appeal. The Hollywood crowd will deny it, but in Asia, a local fare of homegrown programming is quietly displaced American-style TV. Equally disheartening is the encroachment of video streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, and a slew of other Asian home-grown services. It’s a powerful entertainment substitute for a population that today watches more than half its video entertainment on mobile phones and devices. In this part of the world at least, video is on the go. The days of circling up around the living room TV set are pretty much over. All of this leaves global media brands wondering where future Asia growth will come from. That was where I started in my conversation with David Shin. You can also stream or download this episode and others by clicking here and going to iTunes. If you like what you hear, please rate any of our episodes and leave a brief comment. We want to know what you think.

David Shin: The Invention and Reinvention of Media in Asia

Future Economy

This episode I’m in the offices of one of Singapore’s original start-up “incubators” in conversation with Eric Rosenkranz. Some listeners are going to know him already. Eric is Founder and Chairman of e.three, a strategic advisory that helps companies of all sizes on how to grow. Powerfully insightful, brilliantly articulate, uniquely generous in taking me into the inner workings of his thinking and the work he does, Eric has had a most remarkable—and in a way improbable—career. He rose through the ranks of one of the world’s great advertising agencies and then threw it all in to dedicate himself to Asian start-ups. It wasn’t the path he imagined for himself. But then, unexpectedly, he found himself brought on by an unlikely Chinese entrepreneur to help secure a listing on NASDAQ. What happened next is the stuff of start-up legend. For most everyone else, that would have been a crowning achievement of a storied career. But not for Eric. Instead, he pivoted and turned toward start-ups. Since then he’s mentored, funded, and advised scores of young Singapore companies in search of the dream. This is not a conversation you will want to miss. It’s absorbing and entertaining and, yes, it ends with there being more to say. Here’s the good news—there’s a part two that’s waiting for you and free to download and share. Subscribe to the podcast here on iTunes and to our InsideAsia Newsletter here and never miss an episode.

Eric Rosenkranz Part I: Incubating Startups

Future Tech

My guest is Eric Rosenkranz, former Vice Chairman of Focus Media China, now founder and CEO of Advisory firm, eThree. I’m speaking to him in the offices of Expara, one of Singapore’s earliest venture capital firms that specialize in incubating and training start-ups. In case you missed our last episode, it featured Eric’s unforgettable tale of a billion-dollar startup that began with the idea of placing video feeds in Chinese elevators. It was that success that led Eric to position himself as mentor to some of Southeast Asia’s most promising young entrepreneurs. He’s the guy folks turn to in hopes of taking their game to the next level. That’s our focus this time: executive mentoring. Most everyone will agree that supporting and developing leadership teams is one of the most crucial functions in ensuring a company’s success. In practice, however, the effort is widely neglected. As a corporate headhunter, I’m regularly astounded at the meager investment that most company’s make in their people. Formal training programs, top-team development strategies, and psychometric testing are all highly structured techniques for bettering people to boost performance. Start-ups or mid-size companies may not have such extravagant resources, but it doesn’t mean that talent development should be regarded as any less important. Classic “mentoring” is one of the oldest, most effective, and truest forms of instilling skills, building loyalty, and passing on knowledge. Even so, I’m continually struck by how effective mentoring has fallen off the radar for many companies. It’s all the more shocking, when you consider how much lip-service is paid to the idea. Whether it’s due to fewer resources or the more intimate nature of being an early-stage company, mentoring among start-ups tends to be more prevalent, and while it’s hard to quantify, there’s some indication that it’s enjoying a bit of a resurgence. Around the world—and Eric gives us a unique glimpse into the challenges specific to Asia—the concept and practice of mentoring via “incubation” or more informal means, appears to be enjoying a comeback. As Eric points out, the key to effective mentoring is to think less about one size fits all, and to think more about tailoring mentoring to the most immediate needs of young entrepreneurs on a trajectory to become savvy, fast-growth executives. Subscribe to the podcast here on iTunes and to our InsideAsia Newsletter here and never miss an episode.

Eric Rosenkranz Part II: Executive Mentoring

Future Tech

This episode I’m in the somewhat unusual office of John Kao, an author and strategic adviser based in San Francisco. When it comes to issues of innovation and organizational transformation, there’s no one better than Kao. You hear that in our conversation. Probably you know Kao already. He was dubbed “Mr. Creativity” by The Economist, a publication that does not call anyone Mr. Creativity. As I say in the episode, Kao sometimes calls himself an innovation activist. He’s been on faculty at the Harvard Business school and at MIT, authored several books, even advised a number of countries on the subject of how to speed innovation. He also plays the piano. There’s a lot of people who play the piano but Kao is serious about it. So serious there’s a Steinway and Sons piano in the center of it. It makes sense. Music is very much at the center of the work he does with companies and countries around the world. This is something we talk a lot about in our discussion, the way in which innovation is about inspiration but also about developing a set of core competencies that allow you to know what is an idea of interest and what isn’t. It’s like jazz that way. You practice your scales on the piano, drill yourself with etudes, and one day—magically, it seems, to everyone but you—you suddenly have a good musical ideal. Innovation and entrepreneurship is like that. Kao makes business sound very groovy. In our conversation, I take it a bit further and ask if there are companies who have actually put his wild ideas into practice. What corporations that have shown a willingness to let go of structure to let creativity come through? Is it worth the risk?

John Kao: Improv and Innovation

Mavericks

On this episode, my guest is Frank Lavin. Bespectacled, buttoned-down, he reminds one a little of Clark Kent. And like Clark Kent there’s a lot of sides to Frank. He’s done a lot of things. A former Reagan aide, Frank has been the US Ambassador to Singapore and is a former Director of the Office of Political Affairs in the White House. That’s the short list. He’s also held senior finance and management positions in Hong Kong and Singapore. He’s anyone’s definition of an Asia Insider. I wanted to talk to him about his newest venture, which turns a popular misconception about US China trade on its ear. Most of the time when people think about the economic opportunities offered by China, they think about importing goods. Lavin and Export Now do the opposite. Instead of looking for profits in exports from China, Lavin’s newest venture Export Now does the opposite and offers businesses a variety of solutions to import goods into China. It’s a fascinating discussion. We met up on the 52nd floor of Singapore’s Tower Club, which has the best views in the city, looking out over the harbor, and Marina Bay sands. Our interview concludes, as you might guess, with Lavin Trump Presidency and how changes in the American political landscape might impact what it means to do business in China. For more detail on Export Now and the possibilities it might offer you or your business, the best place to start is their website, which gives a complete picture of the different services they offer. For a deeper dive, there’s his book “Export Now.” A lot has changed since that came out in 2011, and you can find Lavin’s more recent take on China’s consumer surge over here at Forbes where you should also bookmark Lavin’s excellent and ongoing Forbes blog on e-commerce in China.

Frank Lavin: Export Now

Future Economy

Author, China expert, senior corporate advisor Jim McGregor on how to do business with the Party, the shifting shape of innovation in China, global ambition, and his visit to a rat restaurant. When I started putting together the list of people and personalities I wanted to feature on this podcast Jim McGregor—acclaimed author, China expert, Senior Corporate Advisor—was at the top of it. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that Jim knows China better than anyone. The second is that I love talking to him. He’s a born storyteller and he always finds a way to make me laugh. I first met him years ago, back when we were both journalists working an Asian beat. Since then he’s gone on to be one of the most respected China experts in the world. During our conversation he tells a mesmerizing story about a sit-down he had with Chinese and American diplomats. The Americans had turned to Jim to tell it like it is, and he did exactly that. His thoughts on the Trump presidency and what it means for Chinese-American economic and other relations are here as well. Like all my interviews on Inside Asia, this one was not done in a studio. I’m on the ground. This episode finds me and Jim in the executive lounge of the Marriott Hotel Northeast, one of the first global hotels in the capital of Beijing, just a stone’s throw from the US Embassy. We sat in a darkened corner of the lounge drinking scotch. One last thing. This is a candid conversation. Not exactly NSFW, but if you have little kids around, you might want to listen to it with the headphones on. That’s all I’m going to say. If after you hear this you’re looking for more McGregor, check out his recent article on the “Art of the Deal” in China and his perspective on how Trump can with with China. While you’re at it, you might also want to get hold of Jim’s crucial book No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers: The Challenges of Chinese Authoritarian Capitalism.

Jim McGregor: Nationalism, Trade, and China

Geopolitics