The Front Row Podcast

Kenneth Chan was McDonald’s Chief Executive Officer for China and Division President for the Greater China region between 2009 to 2015. He led an organization of 150,00 employees and oversaw the fastest period of expansion at that time (opening over 1,000 restaurants in the span of 5 years). More recently from 2016 to 2021, Kenneth served as an equity and operating partner (as part of the Lionhorn Group – McDonald’s licensee) for McDonald’s Singapore and Malaysia, and the Managing Director of McDonald’s Singapore. In this episode, we talk about: - How he turned around McDonald's Business in China - How McDonald's Pushes for Innovation - The Lessons He Learnt as a Corporate CEO

Kishore Mahbubani is a Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore (NUS). Mr Mahbubani has been privileged to enjoy two distinct careers, in diplomacy (1971 to 2004) and in academia (2004 to 2019). He is a prolific writer who has spoken in many corners of the world. In diplomacy, he was with the Singapore Foreign Service for 33 years (1971 to 2004). He had postings in Cambodia, Malaysia, Washington DC and New York, where he twice was Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN and served as President of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. He was Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998. Mr Mahbubani joined academia in 2004, when he was appointed the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School), NUS. He was Dean from 2004 to 2017, and a Professor in the Practice of Public Policy from 2006 to 2019. We discuss: - The most important lessons he learned from our founding generation of political leaders - Why ASEAN is a peace miracle - Why wars could be avoided - What's Singapore's role in the Asian Century could be TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Teaser 01:55- Decolonizing The Mind 06:10 - Kishore's Learnings from Lee Kuan Yew and 1st Gen Leaders 12:01- Harsh Truths of Geopolitics 18:13 - The Deterioration of Western Leadership 23:51 - ASEAN's Miracle of Peace 30:09 - Managing Myanmar within ASEAN 35:51 Advice for Future Generations

Dag Detter is the Managing Partner & Founder of Detter & Co. Dag specialises in public commercial assets and works as an advisor to local and national governments, investors and international financial institutions to help unlock public wealth. As the former President of Stattum, the Swedish government holding company, he was responsible for the comprehensive restructuring of the national government portfolio. In this episode we discuss how governments can make better use of their public wealth to improve citizen welfare. Chapters: 00:00- Introduction to Deg Detter 00:37- Separating State and Business 02:48- What is Public Wealth 05:18- The Case for Accrual Accounting 07:51 - Why Governments Are Averse To Risk 14:44- Why Pursuing Sovereign Wealth Fund Structures Can Be a Dead End 15:35- The Role of Professional Management17:52Social Value vs. Financial Value 21:03- Getting Value Out of Public Wealth 27:19- Conditions for Success 29:40- Government's Role in Market Failures 32:47- Sweden's Unique Approach to Market Reform 36:56- Success Stories from Dag's Experience 38:53- Difference Between SWF & NWF 41:43- Lessons from Sweden for Policymakers 43:37- Possible Takeaways for Singapore 47:38- New Zealand's Resilience Through Accrual Accounting 49:04-Closing Questions

Tan Siok Sun is the biographer of Dr. Goh Keng Swee, Singapore's founding Defence and Finance Minister. The biography she authored is entitled "Goh Keng Swee: A Portrait" Dr. Goh was a founding member of Singapore’s ruling political party, The People's Action Party, and was known as the architect of Singapore's economic miracle. Siok Sun is also the daughter-in-law of Dr Goh Keng Swee. In this podcast, we discuss the man behind Singapore's growth miracle, his approach towards politics and his relationship with Lee Kuan Yew. Timestamps: 00:24 - Introduction 00:50 - Why Dr Goh Was Averse to Publicity 04:50 - The Process of Writing A Biography 08:02 - Insights Into Dr Goh's Thinking 13:07 - Dr Goh's Approach Towards Politics & Policy 17:33 - Dr Goh's Intellect 20:04 - Dr Goh and PAP in the Early Days 25:07 - How Dr Goh Tested For Critical Thinking 31:07 - Genesis of the SAF 40:21 - Singapore's Early Industrialization 46:53 - Dr Goh and LKY's Dynamics 52:53 - The Origins of GIC 59:22 - Dr Goh's Commandments

Jeremy is a Co-Founder of Tin Men Capital, a Venture Capital firm that invests primarily in B2B technology startups focused on the Southeast Asia market. In this episode we discuss: - Why He Left Trafigura To Start His Own Fund - First Principles Thinking in Venture Investing within Southeast Asia - What VCs Looks For In Founders - The Future of Startups & Venture Investing in Southeast Asia

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. In this interview, we discuss: - Why He Moved From The US to Singapore - How Innovation Can Happen in R&D - How AI Can Help Cure Cancer - How To Pursue Longevity and Adhere to Healthy Habits - How To Build Health Literacy TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Teaser & Introduction 01:29- The Benefits of Singapore's Health Ecosystem 05:25 -Team Building and Interdisciplinary Approaches 08:31- Dynamic Personalization in Medicine 14:08 - The Role of Big Data vs. Small Data 17:26- Agility in Clinical Trials and Regulatory Interactions 20:07 - Dean's Personal Health Experiments and Fasting 22:50- Behavioral Changes and Health Optimization 25:53 - Gamification in Health and Fitness 31:17 - Why Fasting 39:51- Recommendations for Beginners 49:51- Building Digital Literacy for Health Today Feel free to mingle in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithyap65/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-yap/ Website: www.ykeith.com Email: keith@frontrow65.co

Irene Ng is the authorised biographer of S. Rajaratnam. She was formerly an award-winning senior political correspondent and a Member of Parliament in Singapore. In this episode, we discuss: - Why Lee Kuan Yew Needed S. Rajaratnam - What made Rajaratnam unique - His legacy and contribution to Singapore's Foreign Policy

Woon Tai Ho is a producer, art collector and writer. He is the founding Managing Director of Channel NewsAsia. In this episode, we discuss: - The founding story of ChannelNewsAsia - The Changing Media Environment today - Why Lee Kuan Yew was a brilliant orator TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Teaser & Intro 0:59- Singapore's Early Media Landscape & Tai Ho's Break into Media 11:43 - The Humble Origins of CNA 19:03- CNA in the Next Decade 22:35- The Difference between CNA and Western Media 27:36- Lee Kuan Yew and Mastering Media 37:50- Lim Tze Peng and Soul of Ink 42:58- Embracing the Concept of Breakthroughs 46:44- Reinventing Yourself 47:00- Closing Questions Feel free to reach out here! Instagram:   keithyap65   Linkedin:   keith-yap   Website: www.ykeith.com Email: keith@frontrow65.co

Andrew Bailey is Professor and a founding faculty member at Singapore's Yale-NUS College and is an incoming Professor of Philosophy at the new Bitcoin Research Institute at the University of Wyoming. His research mostly is primarily focused on money, people, and God. He is a co-author of the book, Resistance Money, A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin. We spoke about: - Why He moved to Singapore to teach - How he helps his students navigate their careers - The questions one ought to ask about money - Why Bitcoin is resistance money - How Academia can unwittingly create misinformation TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Teaser 00:32- The Value of Studying Philosophy 09:45- Money as a Medium of Revelation 18:36- Advice for Navigating Careers 24:25- Cultural Differences between the US and Singapore in Conversations About Money 30:51- Karl Marx's Perspective on Money and how Money Impacts Relationships 36:46- Bitcoin: A Digital Native Money 40:25- Bitcoin's Benefits for the Financially Disenfranchised 42:46- Engaging with Policymakers to Protect Bitcoin 55:28- How Academia Can Facilitate Misinformation 01:01:30- Closing Questions

Terence Ho is an Associate Professor in Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, with extensive experience in Singapore's public service. He has held senior positions in various government ministries and statutory boards, including Division Director at the Ministry of Manpower and Director at the Ministry of Finance. We spoke about: - Why Tharman Shanmugaratnam was a great policy leader. - How Singapore got (and stayed) rich - Why Singapore refreshes its governance instead of launching revolutions - How the Singaporean government spends money