Learning & Leadership in Asia: Navigating the workplace

Send us Fan MailWe all know sticking to your resolutions are challenging, but there's a sure-fire way to building habits that will help you become your best self in 2026! Come with me on this journey to uncover the strategies that will get you ready to achieve all that you're meant to. Ready to change your life? It starts with this journey.

Send us Fan MailThis episode of the Learning and Leadership in Asia podcast explores what it means to lead responsibly across diverse Asian cultures and economic systems. Hosted by Mohamed Aiham Ahmed Shahid, Syazmin Alia Arian Syahwira, and Aan Ian Taufiqul Hidayat, the conversation centers on insights from Witt and Stahl’s article on executive responsibility orientations.

Send us Fan MailIn this 2nd episode of Volume 3 of The Students' Insights Series, we dive into how leadership in Malaysia is shaped by culture, spirituality, and responsibility with Heidi, Kelly and Zhi Qing. Drawing from Jogulu & Ferkins’ study (2012) Leadership and culture in Asia: The case of Malaysia. We explore mindful leadership, gender dynamics, and the rise of transformational styles across Asia. Tune in to hear how values like humility, empathy, and adaptability are redefining what it means to lead with purpose in today’s diverse workplaces.

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Learning & Leadership in Asia. In this episode, we feature Er Kang, Samuel & Yudai from Monash University exploring how humble leadership fosters feedback-seeking in Asian workplaces. Drawing on Jia et al. (2025), the team highlights how affective trust—emotional closeness and mutual respect—makes feedback feel safe, not risky. And when HR systems align with these values, trust becomes cultural momentum. Let’s dive into how humility, trust, and structure shape authentic leadership.

Send us Fan MailWe're thrilled to be able to establish our 3rd volume of our partnership with Monash University - The Students Leadership Insights Series. This volume provides a deep dive into Leadership in Asia with an academic spin, where we tie research rigour with real life leadership insights. Our Monash Students provide deep analysis of how leadership theories show up in our Asian context across three insightful podcasts. I look forward to unveiling these with everyone in the coming weeks! 

Send us Fan MailIan wraps up this 4 part series that features Culture Amp's report on The Leadership Advantage, and puts into perspective 3 actions that all leaders can take in order to Drive greater engagement, business impact and ROI through creation of behaviours and habits that can make a difference in your Leadership journey.

Send us Fan MailIan speaks into the critical leadership habits that drives results, and provides actionable insights to help support Feedback, Goals & 1-on-1s to become performance and result drivers. These are epiphany moments and critical touchpoints on a weekly, monthly and quarterly approach to getting results that matter.

Send us Fan MailIn this second episode of a four part series on the Culture Amp 2025 report on "The Leadership Advantage", Ian explores the importance of how leaders can be performance multipliers, engage teams effectively for greater performance and drive accountability without burnout. Ian provides actionable strategies as well to help support leaders drive high performance teams & engagement!

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we explore a key insight from Culture Amp’s “The Leadership Advantage” report: the Leadership Sentiment Gap—a striking 40% difference in how executives and employees perceive the workplace. I break down what this gap means and why it matters. We'll then explore five practical ways leaders can build trust to close this gap and boost employee commitment. Tune in to learn how trust isn’t just a soft skill—it’s a strategic advantage.

Send us Fan MailJeremy Cheong, Founder & Managing Partner of Juel Search (APAC), speaks into corporate recruitment trends, the challenges that business and individuals may face that stem from the trends, how we should view our careers now, and he speaks also into most sought after skillsets to get you hired and future-proofing your career! I hope this episode brings you life-changing insights as we grow and navigate the workplace.

Send us Fan MailEffective leadership sets the tone, establishes norms, and creates a safe environment for expression. Tham Qing Yuan emphasizes some interesting insights:Asian leadership styles, rooted in Confucian philosophy, emphasize hierarchy and respect for authority. Combining this with a people-centric approach builds strong employer-employee relationships.Adapting leadership theories like Hersey and Blanchard's situational model and Fiedler’s contingency theory helps leaders meet diverse group needs, fostering employee development.Interpersonal qualities such as mindfulness and spirituality enhance cognitive functioning and stress management. Courage and ethicality drive innovation and foster a culture of experimentation and engagement.Active listening, as highlighted in Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People," is crucial. Appreciating others' strengths before offering critique encourages engagement and development.Integrating these elements creates a harmonious and productive organizational environment.

Send us Fan MailHadi Dadabhoy, a final semester student at Monash University Malaysia, majoring in Management and minoring in Finance, shares key leadership insights which include:Cultural Leadership: Emphasizing the balance between decisiveness and relational strength, inspired by Yin-Yang leadership principles.Individual Traits & Situational Factors: Highlighting the importance of intelligence, self-confidence, and adapting leadership styles to different situations.Communication: The cornerstone of successful leadership, focusing on active listening and storytelling.

Send us Fan MailAs we journey into this Episode with Kai Bin, he speaks into:Cultural Adaptation: He learned that effective leadership isn't about applying a universal formula but adapting to specific cultural contexts. Self-Discovery and Ethics: Through the MBTI assessment, Kai Bin discovered his strengths and weaknesses, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness in leadership.Power of Communication: Leadership is a language game. Kai Bin will explain how storytelling and active listening can inspire and mobilize others, drawing lessons from Lee Kuan Yew's powerful speeches.

Send us Fan MailJessenia speaks into the importance of how management & leadership are intertwined, the differences between Individualism vis-a-vis collectivism & provides a humanistic view of how leadership shows up in Asian and Western cultures.

Send us Fan MailJeanette speaks into the impact of Transformative Leadership, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory and how it relates to our Asian context and provides a view to Singapore's Founding Father, Lee Kwan Yew's Leadership style and how impactful it was to the growth of a nation! 

Send us Fan MailIn a lively, candid conversation with Evgeniy Khegay (Eugene); we hear about the 3-crucial steps to Defining Your Leadership Identity. He speaks to finding your strengths, 4 leadership qualities that matter and how an interesting interview took a twist for the better, in identifying his strengths and shaping the person that he has become.

Send us Fan MailIn our final episode of the Monash Student Insights Leadership Series for 2023, we have Alison, a strategic marketing student, that speaks of Followership, Servant Leadership and being courageous and ethical in our leadership journey. Hear her insights, and be prepared to take on interesting perspectives on leadership!

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we hear from Enzo Brooklyn, a Biz Mgmt Student from Monash. He speaks to us about his leadership insights from his experiences through his internships. How he was exposed to Transformational Leadership & it's elements, and how we can fully maximize our leadership capabilities through Emotional Intelligence, Communication, and other various elements that supports the fundamentals of leadership.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Felicia, a Monash University Student, speaks to us about Leadership in an Asian context - the idea of thriving through Simplicity, Modesty and understand Unity & Teamwork in our glocalized world. She speaks of Cultural Awareness, Empathy and how that drives Diversity & Inclusivity at the workplace.

Send us Fan MailIn this dynamic episode of our Students Insights Series, Wilson speaks to us about transformational leadership, and provides an inspiring story on collaboration. He also talks about Bravery & Courage in leadership which helps overcome many obstacles in achieving excellence. Hear from Wilson on this short-form podcast episode!

Send us Fan MailIn this episode we hear insights on Leadership from Lee Yein, who's a Marketing Major in Monash University. She speaks to the concept of collectivism and hierarchy in our Asian context and how that, too, supports organizational performance. She leans into a culture of open communications, shared goals, and emotional intelligence and how that will drive transformational leadership. Have a listen to what Lee Yein has to share!

Send us Fan MailWe hear from Masahiro Sato, a Japanese Marketing & Management student with Monash University. With his exposure in Japan and China, he provides his over 20 years of personal experience living in these two countries. He speaks of business sustainability, beyond environment, but also the organization.  Communication also comes up strong and so does followership. listen to Masahiro's wonderful insights as he takes us on a journey of discovery.

Send us Fan MailYung Syuen speaks to us about relationship vs task oriented leadership, and the impact of the different leadership styles. She covers how we can lead upwards effectively, and engagement. She speaks to a social impact leader and how that has resonated with her values. 

Send us Fan MailRachel speaks of moral leadership, understanding the impact of how leaders lead in our cultural context and how that has impacted the way she views her leadership journey, particularly coming from a different cultural context as opposed to the Asian context.

Send us Fan MailAre people born with leadership? Noel takes us through a breathtaking exploration of the Traits Theory in Leadership, and how that has evolved over his discovery of leadership as a concept. He speaks to being an introvert, and the courage to lead. He also shares some of the challenges of leadership and how we might be able to overcome them. He ends by sharing how a mentoring style of leadership in Grab helped him to learn and grow effectively during his internship.

Send us Fan MailWe hear from Jeel on her insights into a Leader's behaviour and hope it shapes culture. She speaks of reciprocity as an Asian leadership trait, and the criticality of mindfulness in leading. She also uncovers collaborative leadership through active listening and trust building and how we, as leaders, can adopt these skills to become more effective leaders.

Send us Fan MailWe speak to Fetricia on her insights on leadership, and what it means to be an Asian Leader. She shares three game changing insights, the power of adaptive leadership, the transformational impact of self awareness and the magic of effective communication. Listen exclusively on Learning & Leadership in Asia!

Send us Fan MailIn this podcast, Brandon So, a double degree major in Monash, speaks to us about his insights on leadership from followership to inclusivity, and how taking ownership of one's challenges can help us to fully embrace our ecosystem in finding solutions to overcome them! 

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of LLIA - Monash's Student Insights Leadership Series, we speak to Theint Nwey on her perspectives on Leadership. She brings us through key Asian Traits, speaks about servant leadership and her learnings from a social impact leader Mya Myint Zu Kyaw. Listen to it here on Learning & Leadership in Asia!

Send us Fan MailWe speak to Dhiirsyha, our Future Leader from Monash University, on the power of participative leadership and the magic of moving from burden & unworthiness to becoming great and worthy of all things ahead of you. She touches briefly on Fiedler's Contingency Theory and how she uncovered it throughout this module on "Leadership In Asia".

Send us Fan MailWe had the pleasure and honour to host Dr Esther Chong Yit Sean as we kickstart our Monash Student Leadership Insights Series! We got to know her diverse research interest, the concept behind the series, and what we can look forward to learning from our future Global leaders, on Leadership here in Asia.

Send us Fan MailWe talk about how, as leaders, we can take steps to ensure that Fear Mongering & Gossip are stemmed out from teams, and getting right to the root of the issue, through transparency, and openness at the workplace.

Send us Fan MailIan talks about mitigating unclear directions, one of the primary reasons that were uncovered based on a LinkedIn survey conducted by Learning & Leadership in Asia. He provides a list of 4 strategies that will be helpful for Leaders to create clarity, and maintain agility in a volatile world.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Ian talks about the findings of a poll which he published in LinkedIn that saw a varied number of responses on how Cultures turn toxic at the workplace. Massive thanks to our LinkedIn Community for your insights - this series serves as a collaborative effort in summarising the findings on identifying toxic culture, and mitigating them.

Send us Fan MailIn this podcast, I summarize into 4 crucial points that will help propel you through change no matter where you're at in the process. It's about knowing which part of the journey you're at in order to help you to make sense of the environment and get out of whatever negativity you might be facing, because all things are transient. To all your success!

Send us Fan MailIndra Nooyi is the Former Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo. Despite her position and role, she showed the importance of respect and humility, particularly as a leader with an Asian Heritage. This provides insights into how nature shapes our thought process and circumstances, but does not limit our possibilities through nurture.

Send us Fan MailIan talks about how you could take a 3-step process to build great leadership behaviours, with the ultimate goal of building a more magnetic personality and to attract and build up like-minded individuals to become great leaders themselves! 

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Ian talks about 4 different elements of influence to help to build support, facilitate consensus and to remove barriers when it comes to getting things done!

Send us Fan MailWhen you lead, it's not just about decision making, its about building relationships, building experiences through activating positive emotions in all activities. Ultimately, it's about having the right intentions, because we are responsible for the livelihoods of those we lead. 

Send us Fan Mail3 fundamentally essential ways to live your leadership journey - from communication, the emotions and the perspective you can take to become a more relational leader.

Send us Fan MailIan talks about the differences between Leadership & Management. He explains this as being 2 sides of the same coin, and works hand-in-hand to drive performance. However, also explains the criticality of being able to differentiate the two. Knowing this will help zoom in on what it is that needs to be developed in a leader's developmental journey.

Send us Fan MailIan speaks with Daryl from Design Thinker's Academy Singapore about his take on how leaders can utilize the Disciplines of Design Thinking to lead and navigate at the workplace. In this vulnerable and open conversation, he talks about why it's important to be a Stirrer, how the uniqueness of individuals can be harnessed as a strength and gives us 4 steps (4Ds) to activate Leadership by Design. We look forward to having you on this podcast! Be a part of the Community of Design Thinkers by reaching out to DesignThinkers Academy - Headquarters Amsterdam Design Thinking

Send us Fan MailIan talks about the importance of habits, about creating processes that build you up. He explains the cycle of habit creation as explained by James Clear in the book Atomic Habits and provides you with greater insights on how habit creation can change your life. Because in times of challenge, we fall to the level of our habits.

Send us Fan MailIan talks about how to mitigate the fear of change with a mindset of humility & teachability, and four actionable items you can take to Learn, Unlearn and Relearn in this constantly evolving landscape. 

Send us Fan MailIn this final episode we talk about key learnings from the Great Resignation, and how as Leaders we can mitigate this from happening with our teams in this no-holds-barred conversation. We look forward to having you!

Send us Fan MailIn part 2 of The Big Issue: The Great Resignation with Ying Ci, we speak about the concept of quitting and how a shift of paradigm can provide amazing insights and opportunities, especially during such times. 

Send us Fan MailIn this first sub-segment of the podcast, we talk about THE BIG ISSUE on THE GREAT RESIGNATION. In this first episode, we take a deep dive on why 49% of the workforce is considering or have left the Singapore Workforce. In a time of pandemic, many of us had mindspace to think about "what's next" or "does my work bring me purpose and meaning?" We talk to Ying Ci, a Learning Professional and Leader that's riding the big wave on her insights to THE GREAT RESIGNATION in this first episode. The second episode will discuss some key learnings from this Big Issue!

Send us Fan MailIf you joined Syukri for Part 1 of this episode, you are going to love Part 2 of 6 Ways to Lead without a Title. Have a listen, and we recommend writing these down and spending some time in quiet reflection to really evaluate where you're at when it comes to leading without a title - no matter which stage you're at in Leadership.

Send us Fan MailSyukri, in this insightful episode, talks about the first 3 ways in which you can lead without a title. He offers perspective on the idea of titles, and some quick and effective ways you can immediately use in your leadership journey.

Send us Fan MailIan speaks about how we as humans, are limitless. What makes us so unique, the possibilities of what we have, and what we can do to continue to be limitless.