“A bank today is simply a tech company with a banking license,” the Managing Director of PALO IT in Hong Kong, Jing Lei, sums up the pervasiveness of technology across industries. You simply cannot escape the tech influence, which can be good and bad. Good, in that it has made work efficient, and bad, it hasn’t had the most optimal consequences for the planet.
When natural disasters strike, they can leave a path of destruction in their wake. Whether it’s hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or wildfires, these events have the power to upend lives in a matter of moments, leaving behind a trail of destruction that may take months, if not years, to overcome.
A few months ago I came across Paper Shoot—a company that produces environmentally friendly digital cameras, specifically catering to the aesthetic of vintage reel photography, all while minimizing the fuss and waste the hobby can generate.
A buzzword floating around the internet nowadays is “nepo baby” (short for nepotism baby). The term refers to the children of individuals who have succeeded in a specific industry. These children are set up for success right from the get-go, thanks to their parents’ fame and connections.
I create without giving a damn if anybody likes what I do. I put my life into it,” asserts the man behind the whimsical eponymous watch brand, Maximilian Büsser & Friends (MB&F), Maximilian Büsser
“We were here first,” asserts the Founder and CEO of an AI-powered content generator Lately AI, Kate Bradley Chernis. Lately is a social media management AI tool that was founded in 2014.
While some CEOs have caused corporate upheavals and others, such as Elon Musk, have taken unorthodox approaches, a few have successfully navigated challenges and led their companies to great accomplishments. These captains of industry employed various strategies and styles, but they all shared a deep knowledge of their businesses and a clear vision for the future.
Philanthropy has always been a vital component of business, with many successful business leaders leveraging their wealth and influence to give back to society. Their charitable endeavors have inspired others to follow in their footsteps.
In times of economic uncertainty, layoffs are often an unfortunate necessity, causing great emotional distress for both the employer and employees. However, there are some instances where corporate leaders have demonstrated genuine compassion towards their employees by taking bold steps, such as accepting pay cuts or even forgoing their salaries altogether.
An essential part of succeeding as an entrepreneur is consistently learning from your mistakes. Be it a rejected pitch or a project that was eventually shut down, taking stock of your mistakes and figuring out how things can be different moving forward is crucial to succeeding in the startup space. Suffice it to say almost everyone who has succeeded in entrepreneurship has done so through trial and error.
Despite progress in gender equality, women over 50 still face a unique set of barriers and challenges in society. Whether it’s in the workplace or social settings, these women are often overlooked and underestimated. In Asia Pacific, however, there are a number of inspiring role models who have broken barriers and achieved incredible success.
On January 19, 2023, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation in a surprise move, citing that she just “no longer had enough in the tank” to carry on. This news followed a slew of gender-related headlines—expectedly. Media houses seemed to enjoy their “I told you so” moment, with the BBC posting an archaic and sexist headline: “Jacinda Ardern resigns: Can women really have it all?”
After a massive round of firings and failed changes to Twitter’s core functioning, Elon Musk has announced that he will step down from his position as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). His only condition for doing so? Finding someone foolish enough to take over. Since he started working as the company’s CEO, it has lost 60% of its share value and is clearly on a downward spiral.
On November 20, 2022, just two years after serving as Disney’s chief executive officer (CEO), Bob Chapek was fired from his position and the former CEO, Bob Iger, was re-hired to take his place. The company saw a 6.3% hike in stock prices soon after the announcement, which makes it pretty clear that investors were happy with Disney’s choice to re-hire Iger.
It is well-known that tech is a male-dominated industry, and PropTech (property tech) is not exempt. According to an article by Forbes, only 10% of startup founders in the PropTech space are women. Multiple factors could be attributed to this, including an unconscious bias against women during the hiring process and a lack of investment in women-founded companies, to name a few.
The recent FTX scandal has all the trappings of a Netflix drama series where the business tycoon—once lauded for his power moves—is brought down by greed, selfishness and the judiciary system (The Wolf of Wall Street, much?). The CEO of crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has come into the spotlight for bringing about the downfall of FTX and his other company Alameda Research. In November 2022, he filed for bankruptcy for both companies after a devastating collapse in the public eye.