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 unpo...
Dec 02, 2021•44 min•Ep. 256
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...
Nov 16, 2021•42 min•Ep. 255
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...
Nov 10, 2021•21 min•Ep. 254
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 so-called 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 – th...
Nov 03, 2021•29 min•Ep. 253
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 be...
Oct 29, 2021•44 min•Ep. 252
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, ...
Oct 11, 2021•35 min•Ep. 251
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 Grea...
Sep 20, 2021•39 min•Ep. 250
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, u...
Aug 30, 2021•30 min•Ep. 249
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 ...
Aug 22, 2021•30 min•Ep. 248
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, 8...
Aug 16, 2021•34 min•Ep. 247
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 ...
Aug 09, 2021•41 min•Ep. 246
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 o...
Jul 18, 2021•35 min•Ep. 245
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 tappin...
Jul 12, 2021•31 min•Ep. 244
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 ne...
Jun 28, 2021•47 min•Ep. 243
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 ...
Jun 20, 2021•40 min•Ep. 242
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 s...
Jun 08, 2021•34 min•Ep. 241
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 ...
May 30, 2021•43 min•Ep. 240
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.
May 24, 2021•37 min•Ep. 239
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-agen...
May 17, 2021•35 min•Ep. 238
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 backw...
May 10, 2021•49 min•Ep. 237
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, a...
May 03, 2021•39 min•Ep. 236
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 fou...
Apr 26, 2021•39 min•Ep. 235
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 l...
Apr 18, 2021•35 min•Ep. 234
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 ...
Apr 02, 2021•42 min•Ep. 233
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 a...
Mar 24, 2021•38 min•Ep. 232
“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...
Mar 12, 2021•41 min•Ep. 231
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. Patriarcha...
Mar 05, 2021•45 min•Ep. 230
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 attentio...
Feb 26, 2021•49 min•Ep. 229
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 w...
Feb 19, 2021•39 min•Ep. 228
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. Unfortunat...
Feb 07, 2021•40 min•Ep. 227
