I know it is deeply crass to quote oneself but when watching back the interview I did with Takatoshi Shibayama recently I must confess to feeling a flush of pride at responding to one of his statements, around 34:24, with the phrase, “I fundamentally disagree with you on every conceivable level”. Let’s be honest, you don’t get that level of candidness on the average panel discussion do you?
Takatoshi (Taka) is the co-founder & CEO of Blockshine Singapore, an organisation that provides enterprise solutions and advisory to implement blockchain technology for business. A couple of months ago he invited me to be the inaugural guest on his Future Design podcast, billed as “discourses with visionaries".
I don't know about visionary but our discourse ranged from fake news to mindfulness with a fair chunk dedicated to my personal passion; content and storytelling. Now, I appreciate not everyone has the time to sit around and watch or listen to me gab for an hour so I went ahead and picked out a few highlights you can jump straight to via the links below.
I really hope you find it both enjoyable and useful, it was wonderful to have the opportunity to go into such depth on something I am so passionate about.
Content & Storytelling
On why marketers need to ditch their dashboards and talk to their customers: https://youtu.be/X8D5jptIn7Y?t=892
On how to make fascinating content out of boring subjects:
On content marketing; what it is, why it exists, how it works and who does it:
On how Lego made a US$60m movie without spending a penny:
On why a tyre company, Michelin, makes the world’s most respected restaurant guide:
On Mailchimp’s content marketing strategy to reach entrepreneurs:
On the difference between political and brand advertising:
On asking consumers to have a “relationship” with your brand:
On how to tell a story about toilet paper:
On the persistent myth of declining attention spans:
On how programmatic amplifies mediocrity:
On how TED Talks may be in danger of undermining their brand:
On mass appeal vs. niche content:
On why cosmetics brands need to stop with the makeup tips:
On why no cosmetics brand could ever have invented James Charles, the male make-up influencer wth 15.9m IG followers & 16.3m YouTube subs:
On creating content with a purpose beyond selling stuff:
On having a good founder story and when to transition it into a company story:
On why fake news is so appealing:
And if you can stand my voice any longer...
Best of The Rest
On how we might combat fake news:
On how the Internet turns every nuanced debate into a binary question:
On how location-based communities have been replaced with opinion-based ones:
On how much you should care about current affairs at home and abroad:
On how having kids can unexpectedly expand your horizons:
On how to get outside your bubble and find other points-of-view:
On practicing mindfulness & self-awareness:
On doing business in Japan:
And Finally...