#10 Kevin Lee: Being critical isn’t about tearing things down, but finding wisdom and truth. (pt.1)

First off, allow us to share some exciting news: we have decided to invite English-speaking guests to join Casticle! To be specific, we will have native English speakers who are from international backgrounds and also very into podcasts on Casticle and interview them on their personal stories with podcasts, favorite podcast episodes and reasons behind their choices.

For Casticle, this is definitely a great step forward. It means we get ourselves ready to help you, our cherished listeners, enter a bigger world and embrace different yet fascinating lenses. To accept and then appreciate differences leads to progress and growth, right?

💁🏻‍♀️Introducing our guest: Kevin Lee

Kevin is the COO and Managing Partner for China Youthology. He is a strategic consultant at the executive level in the areas of brand strategy, marketing and product innovation for many global and well-known companies. China Youthology is a leading innovation consultancy that offers China cultural foresights and youth driven change to help purposeful businesses create value and meaning.

Kevin is a frequent speaker at international summits and a contributing writer at Forbes.com. He also writes genYchina, a blog that discusses the changing interplay between tech, media and culture in China.

Outside China Youthology, Kevin is working on Positive Psychology Education, Parents, Families and Networks-of-Families. With years spent researching these areas, Kevin designs and produces Thrive - an original podcast that identifies traits, faculties and skills of individuals needed to thrive in the modern world.

Kevin is a native Canadian and has spent the last 15 years in China.

💁🏻‍♂️About Kevin

1. Kevin writes a blog named genYchina where you may find lots of deep insights into various industries and facets of life. He prefers long-form writing but he manages to explain complex ideas in succinct and effective language. Though Kevin is way too busy to continue blogging, most of his thoughts and insights are still applicable and worth reading.

2. To Kevin, creating original content and selecting external content to take in are two important themes in life for the sake of personal development. In addition to what he has shared in the interview, you can also read two blogposts he wrote 10 years ago on reasons behind genYchina and content selection strategy to find out more.

3. The official website of China Youthology - the leading consultancy where Kevin serves as the COO; for more latest update and to participate in activities and research projects organized by China Youthology, please search and follow their WeChat Official Account as in “青年志Youthology”.

📣Recommendation One: Melinda Gates’ Pursue Passions with Vengeance from Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Podcast (Fall 2012)

1. iTunes link of Melinda Gates’ Pursue Passions with Vengeance from the ETL podcast; you can also watch Melinda’s entire speech here.

2. The official site of the Goalkeepers Initiative organized by the Gates Foundation; on the website, you may find and read annual Goalkeepers Reports to see how the Foundation progresses towards their global goals.

3. Netflix’s original series on Bill Gates as well as the Gates Foundation - Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates

4. A recent written interview by the New York Times with Melinda Gates; in this article, you will find Melinda’s easy-to-understand and amazing viewpoints on philanthropy, innovation, privileges and inequality, and her own book, the Moment of Lift, published earlier this year.

5. A November episode of Reid Hoffman’s podcast Master of Scale featuring Bill Gates: How to Accelerate History; in this episode, Bill revisits the tech history and shares how he identifies historical inflection points that have pushed the tech industry to the next level.

📣Recommendation Two: Steppe Stories from Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast

1. Link to purchase the episode of Steppe Stories from the Hardcore History Podcast; as mentioned in the interview, Dan monetizes his podcasts and this very episode that Kevin recommends is definitely worth the two dollars.

2. A 12-minute video reviewing briefly the history of the Scythians that have been explained and depicted by Dan in the recommended episode.

3. A commentary titled “America’s Best History Teacher Doesn’t Work At School” on HuffPost praising Dan’s endeavors to disrupt history education and his model of content creation.

4. Dan Carlin gave a talk in 2017 at Google on history storytelling and shared a lot of behind-the-scene stories; besides Dan’s speech, it’s a great fun leafing through how people commented on his talk.

Thank you very much for your time listening to Casticle and reading the show notes! If you have any feedback or question, please leave a comment on our website (casticle.fm), email us (casticlefm@gmail.com) or find us on major social networks.

(First released on Dec 12, 2019)