👋🏻 STIMIES,
Thank you to the ~60 people who attended last weekend's 6th STIMY Hangout!
It was far more than I expected, especially as I haven't hosted a hangout for the past 1+ year (since I left law).
Past STIMY Hangouts had attendees flying/driving up from Johor and Singapore but this time... we had a first-time attendee who flew in from Vietnam just to attend the STIMY Hangout! 🤯
Thank you for giving up your Saturday to hang out.
I hope everyone had a good time!
(More STIMY Hangouts will be organised in the near future; watch this space & join the Telegram group if you haven't already done so).
STIMY Hangout aside, things have been really busy on other fronts.
I've been setting up an intense round of in-person and virtual STIMY interviews over the next 1.5 months. We have 10 interviews scheduled (sometimes I question my sanity) and some of these upcoming guests include:
- Daniel Pink
- A scam artist - this is a juicy one that I've been chasing since 2020. He's so talented in recreating artwork by master painters like Rembrandt that he's had the FBI and mafia on his tail for decades 😂 and had his artworks sold in all the major auction houses in NYC & London
- The founder of Rotten Tomatoes
- A renowned published author/creator
- A teenage musical sensation with over 1.1 million IG followers
Phew.
It's going to be a busy August/September, especially as we're working on some brand collaborations too (will reveal more once we have ironed out more details).
And while we're looking forward to future guests, I also wanted to cast our eyes back to one of our earliest guests - Dr Julian Tan (Episode 3).
Who is Julian Tan?
Julian is a dear friend that I first got to know while at university. He studied engineering at the University of Oxford before pursuing his PhD at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he wrote a series of really viral Huffington Post articles including "A First Class Degree from Oxbridge - So What?" - you can see why this article really stirred the pot just from the title!
He then went on to work at BCG before becoming the Head of Digital Growth & Business Initiatives at Formula 1 and most recently, Group Director of Commercial Strategy Flutter. And now...
Julian has just quit his job!
To explore his passions. 😍
I couldn't be more thrilled for him & thought it'd be great to have him come on and share a little bit about his journey since our STIMY interview in 2020, why he made such a huge career move, his book (which just hit the Amazon Bestseller List) and so much more!
Special Personal Note:
If you haven't already listened to Julian's interview, please do. Julian's story is proof that you can achieve anything that you wish so long as you put your mind to it.
While in school, Julian was bullied for being overweight but his response was remarkable. At age 13, he wrote a note to himself:
Don't care what other people think. Just keep doing what's important to you and also surround yourself with people who can support you.
More than that, Julian was one of the earliest STIMY supporters and the reason I first got into LinkedIn. When his episode was released, Julian shared the following (which really touched me):
Beyond his generous words...
I must confess, I did have a moment where I wondered whether to release his episode or not. 😂
Not because it wasn't any good but because Julian has zero social media presence. His IG profile was private! So I thought hmm... there is no existing audience to tap into, so people might not care. Do I still want to release this?
Thankfully, that foolish moment didn't last and I learned a lot of valuable lessons from publishing his episode:
- Vanity metrics are just pure vanity. What you need to understand is whether that high follower count consists of surface-level followers or true fans. I had some guests whose episodes barely received any attention (despite a huge online presence) & others that spread far & wide (despite having NO online presence)
- LinkedIn is powerful - Julian's LinkedIn post gained a lot of traction and given that STIMY was just starting, the downloads no doubt came from this platform!
- Go to where your audience is - STIMY is a serious podcast. The likelihood of finding people who'd favour weekly hour-long podcasts on career/personal development-related topics is higher on a professional platform like LinkedIn
- Stories matter - It doesn't matter how unknown a person is. If the story is compelling, people will come
Alright, enough about me.
It's time to catch up with Julian!
1. 4 years ago, you were featured as the 3rd guest on STIMY! What's happened since?
Well, firstly, it’s been wonderful to see STIMY grow as much as it has since we last spoke. I always thought what you had set out to do with STIMY was inspiring and special and through this, I’m also glad to have found a friend in you.
As per the modus operandi of my life, nothing ever stays constant. I’ve done a lot of things from being a writer for the Huffington Post, an academic at Cambridge, a scientist, management consultant at BCG etc.
When we spoke almost 4 years ago, I was leading Formula 1’s digital transformation including the sport’s virtual racing and esports business.
Having been part of the management team that transformed F1 from a declining business into one of the world’s most exciting sports, I decided to take on a new challenge and I assumed a director role at Flutter Entertainment, a sports betting and gaming company, where I was responsible for their corporate and commercial strategy.
During my tenure at the company, Flutter has experienced tremendous growth and is now a FTSE20 company that just listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year. It’s been an exhilarating journey, especially because it was a completely new industry to me when I joined. As someone who is innately curious, this scratched my intellectual itch and I had the privilege of working with some amazing people at Flutter on genuinely interesting and challenging work in a dynamic industry.
After almost 3 years at Flutter, I made the decision this year to wrap up my chapter there in order to reset and recalibrate my career. And in this time also pursue personal goals I’ve always wanted to go after as I proactively and intentionally design my next chapter in my career.
2. You must've thought long and hard before you quit your job. What was your decision-making process like?
It was a difficult decision to make. I enjoyed my work at Flutter immensely, primarily because I had an amazing team and the challenging nature of the work made it inherently interesting.
However, I experienced some personal challenges last year that made me stop and think. For instance, I lost my beloved grandmother, with whom I was quite close to, and received the devastating news of my father’s cancer diagnosis. I think when big things like these occur in your life, it compels introspection and prompts you to really ask yourself whether you are spending your time and energy on the right things in your life.
The fact that we only have one life to live is both a harrowing and sobering thought, and it forced me to confront myself honestly. I decided I wanted to be more intentional with my time and energy, which led me to the decision to step away from my job in sports betting and igaming. It’s often hard to face yourself in the mirror and ask these difficult questions, especially when you are caught up in the fast-paced demands of the day-to-day job, but I’m glad I made this decision. It feels right.
3. What are some of the things that you've been up to since?
Firstly, a lot of introspection. I felt the need to go back to first principles and evaluate what truly matters to me in my work.
Aside from the important work of introspection and subsequent goal setting, I’ve also actively pursued the dreams I had previously parked because life and work commitments kept getting in the way. For example, it has always been a lifelong dream of mine to become a published book writer. I decided I would go after this dream and not leave it to something I would do “when the time is right”.
I’m thrilled to share that I have just published my first book, ‘From Nowhere to Somewhere’, which is an autobiography chronicling my journey of making it into the renowned universities of Oxford and Cambridge from a small suburban town in Malaysia. In the book, I share the lessons I learned growing up and provide real practical advice for anyone aspiring to earn a place at Oxbridge or any world class university.
In addition to my writing endeavours, I’ve also spent time training at Rafael Nadal’s tennis academy in Mallorca to sharpen my groundstrokes and improve my serve. I even had the opportunity to meet Rafa himself (twice!) during my time there.
Professionally, I’ve been carrying out advisory work for private equity funds on an independent basis and...
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