🍵 What a lovely bunch this week! I'm glad to have the opportunity to co-host the Closed Door Japan lifestyle theme event.
Bankers, payment folks, F&B friends, family office people, MNC leaders — all in one room, all curious about Japan, all leaving a little more relaxed than when they walked in. 😊
We talked business, sure. But honestly the best part was the reminder to slow down — to build a life with rhythm, not just a career with momentum. Even the Yuzu from Kochi Prefecture summed it up: simple, unhurried, made with care. 🍊
Thank you for showing up, sharing openly, and bringing such good energy.
Should we make this a regular Japan lifestyle catch-up? I think yes. 🙌
Live Well. Build Well. Give Well.
See you at the next one! 🌿
DM me if you like to learn how your organisation can live well, build well and give well!
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I have been using AI tools to improve my work efficiency. Found a tool that's been quietly saving me hours every day: Agnes AI, used through the Agnes Code agent (running their Agnes 2.5 Flash model).
My work is relationships and partnerships across Asia — lots of research, call prep, and follow-ups. I dropped in messy notes from work call and asked it, in plain English, to pull out commitments, flag open items, and draft a follow-up. It worked through the steps on its own — no need to break it into ten prompts.
Free to download for Mac and Windows.
If your job involves research, follow-ups, or turning messy notes into something useful — worth a try.
Download Agnes Code and bring Agnes AI into your desktop workflow:
https://lnkd.in/duMUe5W9
Explore Agnes AI:
https://agnes-ai.com/
Join the Agnes AI global developer community:
https://lnkd.in/d9F38Y57
@agnesai_sapiens
#AgnesAI #AgnesCode #BuildWithAgnes #AIforDevs #DeveloperAPI #AgenticAI #MultimodalAI
Recently invited to co-host a couple groups of senior executives, I sat in a room where nobody was trying to sell anything.
Just honest conversations between senior leaders about what GTM, sales, AI, and business growth actually look like today.
One thing stood out:
Technology scales.
AI accelerates.
But trust still closes deals.
The best sales strategy isn't a better pitch. It's listening better, showing up consistently, and creating value long before there's a transaction.
In a world racing to automate conversations, the winners will be those who make conversations more human.
AI can open doors.
People build partnerships.
Live Well. Build Well. Give Well.
What's one conversation that changed how you think about business?
#Sales #GTM #AI #Leadership #BusinessDevelopment #Trust #HumanCenteredAI #Singapore
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If all things constant, the time spent on earth will be the most with your siblings.
From your formation phase to various milestones and much more.
They say the people you grow up with end up mattering more than almost anyone else in your life. I believe that, because of you.
Thanks for always being there — quietly, steadily, without needing to be asked.
Here's to another year.
Far or near, always wishing the best for you.
"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity."
Proverbs 17:17
(Dear You), a #Teochew movie taught me something about my own roots I didn't fully get until I saw it on screen: the Teochew never-say-die spirit. In the movie, the approach to always help someone who's an overseas Teochew in need, “ 潮州人阿，自己人阿！” for those who knows, knows.
Our elders left home with nothing, failed more times than they succeeded, and kept going anyway — not for themselves, but so the next person, the next family member, had it a little easier. No safety net. No guarantee it would work. They tried again anyway.
During Youth Day, I rekindled my Youth and watched my first Teochew movie yesterday. With my Mum.
Sitting next to my Mum, hearing that grit spoken out loud in her own dialect — I understood why she never gives up on people, even when there's no immediate payoff. It was never a personality trait. It was inheritance.
If your parents or grandparents speak Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese — bring them. The lesson isn't just in the film. It's in them.
Live Well. Build Well. Give Well.
Credit where it's due — this film almost didn't exist in the language it needed to be told in:
🎬 Director Lan Hongchun, for insisting on Teochew over the easier Mandarin sell
🇸🇬 IMDA, for taking a more flexible approach to dialect films
🎞️ GV & Shaw, for opening more screenings so families like mine could watch it as intended
#Culture #Wellbeing #LiveWellBuildWellGiveWell #Teochew #DearYou #Singapore #Roots
PS: I went to remember my Ah Ma, brought back some and much more as a Teochew.
