One Sneak Peek Into The Conversations Unpacking Asia's Narratives

“The Asian Century” is upon us. 

As businesses and investors scramble to understand the geopolitical and economic shifts transforming the region, 

Keith Yap, a former Enterprise Singapore scholar turned podcaster, is offering a unique perspective. 

Through insightful conversations with leading academics like Dean Danny Quah from the LKY School of Public Policy, Associate Professor Terence Ho, and Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahbubani, he aims to explore the critical themes that will define the coming decades. 

His podcast, already boasting 4800 YouTube subscribers within 5 months of launching, is a testament to the growing interest in understanding the Asian narrative.

Keith, a former Masters candidate at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and co-founder of the mental health non-profit Impart SG, believes in the power of early action: 

'The earlier you start, the more you can afford to take risks and the longer you have time to enjoy the fruits of your labour.'"

1. Why start The Front Row podcast

“I had the idea of doing something like this for a while. I really enjoy reading books on the Asian century, but couldn’t find any media outlets that catered to my interests. I want to interview deep thinkers who understand Asia. My target audience are millennials and Gen Z members who are intellectually curious. I primarily reach out to them through LinkedIn and Youtube. I haven’t figured out TikTok yet, but I hope to venture into short-form videos eventually when I have the bandwidth to do so. 

My goal is to help my audience understand the mega trends that happen in the Asian region, from an economic or business executive’s perspective, and inspire others to think about what will eventually define the century. I tend to interview contacts who I have deep intellectual curiostiy in. Then I will reach out to these people. Hopefully, we can make the global media landscape more Asian.

I see us developing into a media company eventually, and perhaps we can increase the frequency and diversity of the interviews that we offer. Hopefully I will be able to interview more people from the region. For example, we can release interviews twice a week instead of only once a week like we are doing now. And maybe in the near future we can host events with leading thinkers that we bring into the country.”

2. Preparing for interviews

“Each interview takes about a month, as I have to prepare in advance. If my interviewee has written a book, I will read it beforehand.  I recently interviewed Kishore Mahbubani, and for that particular interview, I read six of his books, including his most recent memoirs - Living The Asian Century. 

The interviewees are given a sense of the flow of the conversation and do receive a few guiding questions beforehand but I try not to script the interview excessively. 

I use Poddster as a studio. Some of the more important guests, I would allow them to sit in a more serious setting for the interview, in another studio.” 

3. Advice for youths

“I would like to advise youths to take a ‘barbell approach’ to achieving goals, an idea proposed by author and mathematician Nassim Taleb. Allocate your time heavily towards both extremely low-risk and extremely high-risk professional activities

90 percent of your bet should be on safer instruments, for instance, a university degree. On the side, perhaps you can pursue something with higher risk, such as starting a company in the area of your passion. 

The earlier you start, the longer you have time to enjoy the fruits of your labour.”

Connect with Keith here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-yap/

Follow our telegram channel: https://t.me/onesneakpeekinto

And that is all for today’s One Sneak Peek Into.

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.