The Front Row Podcast
Front Row Podcast features interviews with experts aimed at expanding your mental map of the world. Produced in Singapore, it targets audiences in Asia and globally.
Episodes
#93-Former UK Secretary of State, Vince Cable On Why The West Needs To Engage With China and India Rationally
Sir Vince Cable is one of Britain's most experienced observers of Asia's rise, having tracked China and India for over three decades from inside both business and government. As Chief Economist at Shell in the 1990s, he built the scenario work that helped shift one of the world's largest companies towards serious investment in China and India — at a time when both were regarded interna
#92 -Professor Kumar Ramakrishna Explains The Rise Of Self-Radicalization
Thank you for checking out my episode with Prof Kumar Ramakrishna. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. For more information on the school and its programmes see here - https://rsis.edu.sg/publications/rsis-publications/annual-reviews/Professor Kumar Ramakrishna is one of Southeast Asia's foremost authorities on terrorism, extremi
#91- Chandran Nair - Southeast Asia's Wake-Up Call Has Arrived -
Chandran Nair is the founder and CEO of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT), an independent pan-Asian think tank based in Hong Kong committed to understanding the dynamic relationship between business, society, and the state, and to reshaping the rules of global capitalism. A Malaysian with a background in chemical engineering and biochemistry, he spent the first decades of his career in sust
#90 - How Deng Xiaoping's Visit To Singapore Changed China Forever - Professor Tan Kong Yam (In Partnership with RSIS)
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Professor Tan Kong Yam. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. For more information on the school and its programmes see here - https://rsis.edu.sg/publications/rsis-publications/ For show notes and information on our collaboration, please go to ykeith.com/rsis GUEST
#89- Founder of Trip.Com on The Most Existential Challenge Of Our Time - James Liang
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with James Liang. James Liang is the co-founder and executive chairman of Trip.com Group, the online travel company he helped launch in 1999 as Ctrip and built into one of the world's largest travel platforms, listed on Nasdaq and operating in more than forty countries. A gifted student who entered Fudan University at fifteen be
#88 : Why The US Chip Ban On China Backfired - Robert Wu
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Robert Wu. You can check out his awesome Substack here! https://www.baiguan.news?r=8th0v Robert Wu is the CEO of BigOne Lab, China's leading alternative data and research company, backed by S&P Global and used by institutional investors and corporations around the world to track what is actually happening on the ground
#87- Ex Straits Times Chief Editor on LKY's Ideas, Singapore's Literacy Paradox And Why You Must Read
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with former Chief Editor of Straits Times- Warren Fernandez. Warren Fernandez is a journalist, editor, and public intellectual whose career spans more than three decades at the centre of Singapore's media landscape. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Straits Times — Singapore's flagship English daily — and is perhaps best k
#86- Ha-Joon Chang : Why We Need A New Global Economic Order
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Hajoon Chang.Ha-Joon Chang is a South Korean economist and one of the most widely read critics of neoliberal orthodoxy working today. He is currently a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He is best known for his book 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, published in 2010,
#85- GovTech CTO on The Secret Behind Singapore's World Class Digital Infrastructure
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Chang Sau Sheong. Sau Sheong Chang is the Chief Technology Officer of GovTech Singapore, the government agency responsible for Singapore's national technology infrastructure and digital public services. In this role, he oversees the development and maintenance of platforms that underpin daily life for millions of Singaporea
#84- Kishore Mahbubani: How The Future Of Global Order Will Look Like
Kishore Mahbubani is one of Asia's most prominent public intellectuals — a former diplomat, academic, and author whose career spans decades at the intersection of geopolitics, philosophy, and statecraft. He served as Singapore's Permanent Representative to the United Nations on two occasions and as President of the UN Security Council, before becoming the founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew
#83- Expert Investor : "This Is Southeast Asia's AI Endgame" (Dimitra Taslim)
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Dimitra Taslim.Dimitra Taslim is seasoned tech investor and currently, serves as a Venture Partner at Granite Asia. Before Granite Asia’s spinout and rebrand from GGV Capital Asia, Dimitra was part of the investment team at GGV Capital, where he helped source and support investments across emerging Asian markets. His work at Gr
#82- NUS Longevity Expert : The AI Revolution in Healthcare Has Arrived
Dr. Dean Ho is currently Provost’s Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering, Director of The Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM) at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and Director of The N.1 Institute for Health (N.1) at the National University of Singapore.His central argument is that medicine has always been built on popul
#81- Obama White House Fellow : America Must Rethink Its China Strategy Now. Here's How - Zhengyu Huang
In this episode, I sit down with Zheng Yu Huang — technology executive, White House Fellow, and author of Rethinking China — to examine what he argues are dangerously flawed assumptions driving US policy towards China, and what a more clear-eyed strategy would look like.Huang's career is unusually well-positioned for this conversation. After Stanford and Harvard Business School, he rose to Man
#80- SMU President, Lily Kong: Why Singapore Must Reinvent Universities Now -
Professor Lily Kong — President of Singapore Management University — is one of Singapore’s most distinguished geographers. Trained as an academic, she built her career studying the intersections of culture, religion, and urban space, producing work that bridges rigorous scholarship and real-world policy impact.In recent years, her focus has shifted toward the future of higher education. Through pu
#79- Professor Selina Ho : ASEAN'S Playbook For An Evolving Global Order
Professor Selina Ho is Vice Dean (Research and Development), Dean’s Chair, and Associate Professor in International Affairs at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on Chinese politics and foreign policy, with a particular interest in how China wields power and influence through infrastructure and water disputes in Southeast Asia and South
#78- Prof. Michael O' Hanlon : 250 Years of America's Defense Policy
Michael O'Hanlon is one of America's foremost defence policy scholars. He holds the Philip H. Knight Chair in Defence and Strategy and serves as Director of Research in the Foreign Policy programme at the Brookings Institution, where he specialises in US defence strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy.O'Hanlon completed all his degrees at Princeton Un
#77- George Yeo : How To Survive In A New Age of Chaos
George Yeo is a former Singaporean Cabinet Minister whose distinguished career in public service spanned twenty-three years. Between 1988 and 2011, he held several senior portfolios in the Singapore Government, most notably serving as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2011, as well as the Minister for Trade and Industry and the Minister for Information and the Arts.After retiring from
#76- Professor Wang Gungwu : "This Is How You Learn From History"
Wang Gungwu is an internationally renowned historian famed for his scholarship on the history of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, as well as the history and civilisation of China and Southeast Asia. In his illustrious academic career, Wang has held eminent appointments in various universities and organisations around the world. He was a history professor at the University of Malaya (1963–68
#75: Ho Kwon Ping - The Coming Civilizational Reset: US, China & Singapore's Future
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Ho Kwon Ping.Ho Kwon Ping is one of Singapore's most iconic entrepreneurs. He currently serves as the Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, the international spa and resort group he established in 1994. Under his leadership, Banyan Tree grew from a single resort in Phuket into a global luxury brand operating in over 3
#74- Mehran Gul : Why The Future of Technology is Global
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Mehran Gul. Mehran Gul is an author and researcher exploring the shifting geography of technological innovation and the rise of breakthrough companies beyond traditional Western hubs.He is the author of The New Geography of Innovation, published by Simon & Schuster (U.S.) and William Collins (U.K.), which charts the emergen
#73- Why Singapore Wasn't Kicked Out From Malaysia - Susan Sim
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Susan Sim. This is the second of a two-part series covering Singapore's merger and separation from Malaysia. Susan Sim is the editor of The Albatross Files- Inside Separation, a landmark publication that brings to light previously classified documents detailing Singapore's merger with and separation from Malaysia in the
#72 - The True Story Of Singapore's Separation From Malaysia
Thank you for checking out my interview with Janadas Devan, Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and Deputy Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore.Mr Devan coordinated The Albatross File: Inside Separation, the authoritative 488-page volume documenting Singapore's path to independence, co-published by Straits Times Press and the National Archives of
#71- Why We Are Entering an Era of Global Disorder- Shaun Rein
Thank you for checking out my interview with Shaun Rein.Shaun Rein is the Founder and Managing Director of China Market Research Group (CMR), the world’s leading strategic market intelligence firm focused on China. He works closely with boards, billionaires, heads of state, CEOs, and senior executives of Fortune 500 and leading Chinese companies, as well as private equity firms, SMEs, and hedge fu
#70- Tommy Koh on The Art of Diplomacy, Negotiations and Balancing Great Powers
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Professor Tommy Koh. Prof Koh is Singapore's Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a position he has held since 1990, and Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore. He is a veteran diplomat and negotiator recognised globally for his contributions to international law and diplomacy.Koh's
#69- How Singapore Beat the Odds—and What We Must Do to Keep Winning - Lim Siong Guan
Lim Siong Guan is a Professor in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, instructing on leadership and change management. Siong Guan was the Head of the Singapore Civil Service from September 1999 to March 2005. He has been the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (1981-1994), the Prime Minister’s Office (1994-1998), the Ministry of Education (1997-1999) and the Ministry of Finance (19
#68- Making Sense of Industrial Policies in the 21st Century
Dr Jostein Hauge is a political economist and an Assistant Professor in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, based at the Centre of Development Studies and the Department of Politics and International Studies. He is also the Director of the MPhil in Development Studies and a Fellow of Magdalene College. His research lies at the intersection of international political economy and dev
#67- Understanding The Secret Formula To Surviving Disruptive Times - Scott D. Anthony
Scott D. Anthony serves as Clinical Professor of Strategy at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, where he teaches courses including "Leading Disruptive Change," "Horizon Scanning," and "AI and Consultative Decision-Making." He is also Senior Advisor and Managing Partner Emeritus at Innosight, the growth strategy consultancy co-founded by Harvard Business School P
#66: How China's Technology Leapfrogged The West - Louis Vincent Gave
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Louis Vincent GaveAfter receiving his bachelor's degree from Duke University and studying Mandarin at Nanjing University, Louis joined the French Army where he served as a second lieutenant in a mountain infantry battalion. After a couple of years, Louis left the army and joined Paribas where he worked as a financial analys
#65- Mato Njavro: This Is How Europe Can Refresh Itself In This New World Order
Dr. Mato Njavro is the Dean of Zagreb School of Economics and Management. Mato is also Professor at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, the Luxembourg School of Business and a lecturer at the University of St.Gallen and at the Singapore Management University, where he teaches a course on Chinese Economy.From 2016 to 2020, Mato was based in Singapore where he was a Senior Research Fellow
#64- Arthur Kroeber: How China Became The World's Undisputed Industrial Superpower
Arthur Kroeber has spent more than three decades trying to make sense of Asia’s most important economies — and helping the rest of the world understand them too. In 2002, he co-founded Dragonomics in Beijing, a research firm born out of his deep intellectual curiosity about China’s economic transformation. He went on to edit its flagship publication, China Economic Quarterly, for 15 years.When Dra
#63- Parag Khanna: Why The Future Is Asian
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Parag Khanna. Parag Khanna is Founder & CEO of AlphaGeo, the leading AI-powered geospatial analytics platform. He is the internationally bestselling author of seven books including MOVE: Where People Are Going for a Better Future (2021), preceded by The Future is Asian: Commerce, Conflict & Culture in the 21st Century (
#62- How Southeast Asia Can Thrive In Our New Multipolar World- Gita Wirjawan
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Gita Wirjawan. This podcast was recorded in front of a live audience at SCAPE Singapore. I would like to thank National Youth Council, the Singapore Global Network, *SCAPE and the Endgame team for helping us put this event together. Gita Wirjawan is an Indonesian entrepreneur, investment banker, and philanthropist. He is the Fo
#61-George Yeo : The West Must Adapt To Asia's Rise
Today's episode is a short keynote episode brought to you by George Yeo. George Yeo is a Singaporean statesman, former Brigadier-General, and distinguished scholar. He served in Singapore's Cabinet for 23 years (1988–2011), holding key ministerial positions including Foreign Affairs, Trade & Industry, Health, and Information & the Arts. I consider him to be one of Singapore's g
#60- Expert AI Investor, Hian Goh: How AI Will Reshape Our Economies
Hian is a founding partner of Openspace Capital, a leading multi-strategy asset management firm focused on Southeast Asia. Most notably, he was an early investor in some of Southeast Asia's most notable tech startups such as Gojek, Love Bonito and Lucence. Hian himself has extensive entrepreneurial experience. He founded and built Asian Food Channel, a 24-hour pay TV channel that was sold to U
#59 - NUS Vice Dean MBA , Jochen Wirtz: The Secret Economic Revolution That Made Singapore Rich
Professor Jochen Wirtz serves as Vice Dean of MBA Programmes and Professor of Marketing at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School. He holds several prestigious international appointments, including as an international fellow of the Service Research Center at Karlstad University in Sweden, an Academic Scholar at the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures at Cornell University, an
#58- Gita Wirjawan : How Southeast Asia Can Unlock Its Full Economic Potential
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Gita Wirjawan. Here's what the podcast sponsor, Revolut is offering: 💰Get S$50 cashback when you sign up to Revolut Business at https://www.revolut.com/rb/tfr/ before 30 Nov 2025 and top up your account. T&Cs and end date apply.Gita Wirjawan is an Indonesian entrepreneur, investment banker, and philanthropist. He is the
#57: Inside Singapore's Leading Venture Capital Firm - Chua Kee Lock, CEO of Vertex Holdings
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Kee Lock. Here's what the podcast sponsor, Revolut is offering: 💰Get S$50 cashback when you sign up to Revolut Business at https://www.revolut.com/rb/tfr/ before 30 Nov 2025 and top up your account. T&Cs and end date apply.This is the 57th episode Of The Front Row PodcastChua Kee Lock is the Group President and Chief Execut
#56- Patrick Mcgee : Apple's Dilemma In The Age of US-China Rivalry
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Patrick Mcgee. Here's what the podcast sponsor, Revolut is offering: 💰Get S$50 cashback when you sign up to Revolut Business at https://www.revolut.com/rb/tfr/ before 30 Nov 2025 and top up your account. T&Cs and end date apply.(This is also the first sponsorship I have taken since the inception of the podcast. Your sup
#55: Kyle Chan - Will China Make The US Irrelevant?
Thank you for checking out The Front Row Podcast and my interview with Kyle Chan.Here's what the podcast sponsor, Revolut is offering: 💰Get S$50 cashback when you sign up to Revolut Business at https://www.revolut.com/rb/tfr/ before 30 Nov 2025 and top up your account. T&Cs and end date apply.(This is also the first sponsorship I have taken since the inception of the podcast. Your support
#54- Kishore Mahbubani : New Hard Truths for 21st Century Geopolitics
💰 Get S$50 cashback when you sign up to Revolut Business at https://www.revolut.com/rb/tfr/ before 30 Nov 2025 and top up your account. T&Cs and end date apply.This is a recording of a conversation I had with Prof Kishore Mahbubani at an event I co-organized with Bloomberg Singapore and Thinksuite. I hope you will enjoy the conversation as much as we did. Thank you Bloomberg and Thinksuite for
#53- Marc Levinson : Is The Age of Globalization Over?
Marc Levinson is an American economist, historian, and author celebrated for his accessible writing on economic forces and globalization.He’s authored seven acclaimed books, notably:The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, a groundbreaking history of containerization that reshaped global trade. It was shortlisted for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs
#52- Tansen Sen : India and China in a Multipolar World: Can their Golden Age Return?
Professor Tansen Sen is a renowned historian of India–China relations and Asian interconnections. He is Professor of History at NYU Shanghai and Director of the Center for Global Asia. His research spans Sino-Indian interactions, Buddhism across Asia, and maritime networks that shaped the region’s history.He is the author of Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations,
#51- Cheong Yip Seng : Why Singapore Still Needs The Straits Times
Cheong Yip Seng is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Straits Times, Singapore’s flagship English daily, where he led the newsroom for over two decades. Joining the paper as a young journalist, he rose through the ranks to shape its editorial direction during some of Singapore’s most pivotal years. Under his leadership, The Straits Times navigated the complexities of reporting in a young nation, ba
#50 - Stephen Witt : How NVIDIA Became The King of AI
Stephen Witt is a Los Angeles–based investigative journalist and author whose work appears regularly in The New Yorker.His latest book, The Thinking Machine (April 2025), chronicles the extraordinary rise of Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang—from immigrant dishwasher to leader of the world’s most valuable company. Stanford’s former computer science chair Bill Dally remarked: “Without Jensen we’d be
#49- Professor Ooi Kee Beng : The Intellectual Legacy of Dr Goh Keng Swee, Singapore's Economic Architect
🎙️ Guest: Ooi Kee Beng | Political Historian & Executive Director, Penang InstituteOoi Kee Beng is a political historian, writer, and the executive director of Penang Institute. He has spent years studying the process of nation-building in Asia and is the author of In Lieu of Ideology: Dr Goh Keng Swee's Intellectual Biography.In this episode, we explore the ideas of Singapore’s founding econo
#48- David Fishman: How China Is Achieving The Holy Grail Of Clean Energy
🎙️ Guest: David Fishman | Principal, The Lantau GroupDavid Fishman is a Principal at The Lantau Group, a boutique strategy and economic consultancy focused on the Asia Pacific energy sector.He specializes in regulatory and economic intelligence for the Chinese power sector—including solar, wind, coal, nuclear, hydro, grid transmission, and power markets. His project portfolio spans renewable tarif
#47- Chan Heng Chee : How Singapore Adapts In A Changing World
🎙️ Ambassador Chan Heng Chee is a prominent Singaporean academic, diplomat, and political scientist, known for her distinguished career in both academia and public service.She served as Singapore's Ambassador to the United States (1996–2012) and earlier as Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1989–1991), concurrently holding the roles of High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to
#46- Jamus Lim : Can Singapore's Economy Reinvent Itself?
Jamus Lim is an Associate Professor of Economics at ESSEC Business School and a Member of Parliament in Singapore. With a PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and experience at the World Bank and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority , his work spans international economics, political economy, and development. In this episode, we discuss how Singapore and other NIEs succeeded and what the p
#45- Professor Elizabeth Ingleson : How America and China Transformed Global Trade
Professor Elizabeth Ingleson is a historian of capitalism, US foreign relations, and US–China relations — a timely and critical intersection she explores in her acclaimed first book, Made in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade, published by Harvard University Press in 2024.In the book, she unpacks a pivotal shift in the 1970s: when the old dream of American companies
#44- Joseph Liow : Why Southeast Asia Needs America
Professor Joseph Chinyong Liow is one of Singapore’s leading scholars on international affairs, known for his incisive analysis of Southeast Asian politics. He is serving as the Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he now holds the prestigious Tan Kah Kee Chair in Comparative and International Politics. He was the former Dean
#43- Cedric Chin: The Secrets Of Asian Business Empires
Cedric Chin is the CEO & Founder of Commoncog. Commoncog is a publication dedicated to accelerating business expertise.Commoncog asks two questions: a) what is business expertise? b) what do we know about accelerating it?In this conversation, Cedric and I dive into how Asian tycoons are made and the essential skills business operators must master in Southeast Asia. TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Trailer &am
#42- Karthik Nachiappan- The Rise of India As A Great Power
Karthik Nachiappan is a Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore. His work focuses on India’s foreign and economic policy, particularly in trade, technology, and global governance. He is the author of Does India Negotiate? (Oxford University Press)In this episode, we talk about the policy interests of India, the role it seeks to play on a glo
#41: Professor Euston Quah- How Practical Economics Made Singapore
Professor Euston Quah is a prominent Singaporean economist and the Albert Winsemius Chair Professor of Economics at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he also serves as Head of the Economics Division. Known for his work in cost-benefit analysis, environmental economics, and policy economics, he has advised various government agencies and chaired national committees in Singapore. His res
#40 - Grace Shao: Why China Is Winning In The New Age of AI
Grace Shao is a Financial/tech journalist turned analyst based in Hong Kong. On her Substack, she writes about AI and its relationship with energy, big tech, and society. She can be found at: https://substack.com/@gshaoTIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Trailer & Intro01:30 Understanding the Chinese Internet Ecosystem 06:06 The Evolution of Chinese Entrepreneurs 08:21 China's Smartphone Revolution 10:45 Th
#39- Inderjit Singh : Can Singapore Keep Our Economic Miracle Alive?
Inderjit Singh is a former Member of Parliament in Singapore who served under the People's Action Party (PAP) from 1996 to 2015, representing the Ang Mo Kio GRC. A seasoned entrepreneur and technologist, he is known for his candid views on innovation, entrepreneurship, and policymaking. Inderjit played a key role in shaping Singapore’s start-up ecosystem and has remained an influential voice o
#38- Manoj Pradhan: The Great Demographic Reversal
Manoj Pradhan founded the independent macroeconomic research firm Talking Heads Macroeconomics, based in London. The firm specialises in analysing global and emerging market macroeconomic trends and their implications for financial markets. He was previously managing director at Morgan Stanley, where he led the global economics team.In this episode, we talk about why ageing societies will create a
#37- Zhou Bo : Should The World Fear China?
Zhou Bo is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University.In his prior life, he was a Senior Colonel in the People's Liberation Army of China. In this episode, we discuss the role China seeks to play on the international stage amidst its intensifying rivalry with the USA. 00:00 Intro01:20 - China's Multifaceted Identity04:47 Perceptions of China: Fear
#36-Bilahari Kausikan : Hard Truths For The Coming Multipolar World
Bilahari Kausikan is a Singaporean academic and retired diplomat.He was the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the former ambassador to the UN and Russia. Before his retirement, Bilahari was the Chairman of the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore.In this episode, he unpacks the dilemmas and challenges that Singapore and Southeast Asia face in an ag
#35- John Carbrey : Why Hustle Culture Is Broken
John Carbrey is a Canadian entrepreneur and venture investor. In 2005, he founded Intrafinity, which built powerful web content management tools used by universities, hospitals, and Fortune 500 companies across North America. In 2008, he launched SharpSchool, a spinoff focused on communication and web platforms for K–12 school districts. It quickly scaled to serve nearly 10% of U.S. schools, deliv
#34- Steven Okun: Trump's Endgame For Asia
Steven Okun, is the Founder and CEO of APAC Advisors. He is a recognized expert on U.S. foreign policy, global trade, sustainability, and corporate public affairs across the Asia-Pacific region. With over 25 years of experience spanning government and private sectors, he excels at turning complex policy changes into actionable business strategies. Based in Singapore since 2003, Steven has consiste
#33- Vaughn Tan : Why Uncertainty Creates Innovation
Dr. Vaughn Tan is a strategy consultant, advisor, and researcher. He currently leads Southeast Asia executive education for University College London, where he was part of the founding strategy faculty in the School of Management. He is the author of The Uncertainty Mindset (Columbia Univ. Press, 2020), a book about using uncertainty as a strategic tool for designing high-performing innovation org
#32-Allen Lau, Co-Founder of Wattpad: Lessons From Building A $600M Startup And Funding The Future of Innovation
Allen Lau is a self-described 'recovering' CEO, and 3x entrepreneur, an engineer by training, a rocket scientist at heart, and a venture capitalist by profession. He was the CEO and co-founder of Wattpad, the world's largest social storytelling company with 100 million monthly users. A few years ago, the AI-powered company was acquired by Naver for over US$660 million.Allen is now co-founder and o
#31-Magnus Grimeland (CEO and Founder of Antler): The Secrets To Building A Great Team in Southeast Asia
Magnus Grimeland is the founder and CEO of Antler. Before Antler, Magnus co-founded Zalora, taking the company from zero to Asia’s leading fashion e-commerce platform, and then helped scale Global Fashion Group across 26 markets. His former colleagues have gone on to found leading Southeast Asian startups such as Gojek and Stashaway. He is a Harvard graduate, a former McKinsey partner, and served
#30- Taimur Baig : The Case For Economic Optimism In An Uncertain World
Taimur Baig, PhD, heads global economics as well as macro strategy for interest rate, credit, and currency at DBS Group Research. He also advises the bank on risk management and investment strategy.Dr. Baig has published extensively for both specialists and a general audience, on areas including monetary policy, digital currency, financial technology, climate change, demographics, frontier markets
#29- Wang Gungwu: Decoding China's Rise In The New World Order
Wang Gungwu is an internationally renowned historian famed for his scholarship on the history of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, as well as the history and civilisation of China and Southeast Asia. In his illustrious academic career, Wang has held eminent appointments in various universities and organisations around the world. He was a history professor at the University of Malaya (1963–68
#28- Ong Ye Kung: Governing Singapore in A Turbulent Time
Ong Ye Kung is the Minister for Health. He was elected Member of Parliament for Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in September 2015, and was re-elected in July 2020 in Sembawang GRC.He had held the positions of Minister for Transport, Minister for Education, Second Minister for Defence and board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is also the Chairman of the Chinese D
#27- Dr. Noeleen Heyzer (Former UN Under-Secretary General) - Championing Women's Rights In The UN
In today's episode, I speak with Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, a distinguished diplomat and international civil servant who served as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Dr. Heyzer also led the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), transforming it into a powerful advocate for women's rights and empowerment globally. This episode was produced in conjunction with the upcoming Interna
#26- The One Book From Lee Kuan Yew You Must Read (Solo Episode)
In my first ever solo audio episode, I thought to share with a book that I have read and re-read every year. I re-read Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going during a recent holiday and thought I should share with you my thoughts on this book (and why you have to read this!) Let me know your thoughts!
#25- Robert Wu, CEO of Big One Lab : How China Became A Technology Superpower
Robert Wu is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and thinker.He started working for BigOne Lab, China’s leading data & information service provider, first as an employee/partner, and later, with a buyout, became its CEO.You can find his China-focused Substack here at https://www.baiguan.news/?r=8th0vTIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Trailer and Intro01:32 DeepSeek's Watershed Moment for China's AI02:21 C
#24- Professor John van Wyhe : How Charles Darwin Changed The World
Professor John van Wyhe is a historian of science at the National University of Singapore and the founder and Director of Darwin Online– probably the most comprehensive scholarly website on any historical person.His research has resolved long-standing mysteries and myths such as Darwin’s so-called delay, when Darwin received Wallace’s evolution essay, whether Darwin was the naturalist on the Beagl
#23- Professor Daniel Bell: Confucianism In The New Age of Chinese Politics
Professor Daniel A. Bell is Professor, Chair of Political Theory with the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong. He served as Dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University (Qingdao) from 2017 to 2022.He specialises in Comparative Political Theories, focusing on Confucianism and Legalism. His books include The Dean of Shandong (2023), Just Hierarch
#22- Jack Sim : How Clean Toilets Can Save The World
Jack Sim is The Founder of the World Toilet Organization.
Renowned as "Mr. Toilet," Jack Sim shattered the global stigma surrounding toilets and sanitation by propelling the issue into the international spotlight. After achieving financial independence, he retired from business to dedicate his life to social work.
In 1998, he established the Restroom Association of Singapore and 2001 founded t
#21- Nir Eyal: Reinvent Your Life By Being Indistractable
Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.
Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies since 2003 and was dubbed by The M.I.T. Technology Review as, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.”
#20- Professor Chua Beng Huat: Is The Singapore Housing Miracle Over?
Professor Chua Beng Huat is a Singaporean Sociologist and is an Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore.
He is also currently a Visiting Fellow at the Singapore Management University.
He is the author of two books:
1) Public Subsidy, Private Accumulation: The Political Economy of Singapore's Public Housing (https://amzn.to/3Wf6uhz)
2) Liberalism Disavowed: Communitarianis
#19- Tan Chade-Meng: Unlocking The Full Power of Meditation
Chade-Meng Tan (Meng) is an award-winning engineer, international bestselling author, movie producer and philanthropist.
He is Co-founder of Buddhism.net, and Co-chair of One Billion Acts of Peace, which has been nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and seven other Nobel Laureates for the Nobel Peace Prize.
He co-founded the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI, pronounced “silly
#18- Professor Brian Wong: Hong Kong's Role in The New China
Dr. Brian Wong is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. His research examines the ethics and dynamics of authoritarian regimes and their foreign policies, historical and colonial injustices, and the intersection of geopolitics, political and moral philosophy, and technology.
In this episode, we discuss Hong Kong's evolution in the past twenty years, its strategic fu
#17- Ian Ball : The Power of Public Accounting
Ian Ball is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Accounting and
Commercial Law at Victoria University of Wellington, and until 2021 was Chair
of the Audit Committee for the financial statements of the New Zealand
Government.
He was Chief Executive Officer of the International Federation of
Accountants (IFAC) (2002-2013). Earlier, as Chairman of the IFAC Public Sector
Committee (now the Internati
#16- Professor Danny Quah: Navigating Great Power Rivalry
Professor Danny Quah is Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics and Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School Of Public Policy.
His research interests lie in income inequality, economic growth, and international economic relations.
His work takes an economic approach to world order - focusing on global power shift and the rise of the east, and alternative models of global power relations.
In this episode,
#15- Professor Keyu Jin : The New China Playbook: Myths, Realities, and the Road Ahead
Professor Keyu Jin is an Associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics.
She specialises in international macroeconomics and the Chinese economy. Her research focuses on global trade imbalances, asset prices and China's economic growth model.
She is the author of the best-selling book, The New China Playbook.
In this episode, we examine the country's rise as an industrial p
#14- Shaun Rein : The Truth About China's Economy
Shaun Rein is the Founder and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group (CMR), the world's leading strategic market intelligence firm focused on China.
He works with Boards, billionaires, Heads of States, CEOs and senior executives of Fortune 500 & leading Chinese companies, private equity firms, SMEs and long/ hedge funds to develop their China growth, political and investment str
