If I had a policy suggestion for the Ministry
of Education, I would say cut the JC spaces in
half. Push everyone to poly. Why? Because I think
being a product of the A -level system, junior
college is not useful to you at all. Unless you
want to be a doctor or a lawyer, not even engineer,
doctor or lawyer. Did you hear that? Yeah, what
was that? It sounded like some whooshing. Yeah,
some whoosh, right? Oh, wait. Again. Remember
who's supposed to be coming today? It's gonna
be you, no? Once he was just an ordinary boy.
Now he is defender of the universe. Look, there
he goes now. Off to save the universe yet again.
As well as your careers. Faster than a speeding
resume. A hero to the man on the street. And
getting you back on your feet. He is Captain
Careers. Adrian Chu. Hooray! And for the new
season, season five, I've got with me the man.
The superhero that we've heard early on. We heard
his whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. I told Kai,
he's here already, man. He's already here. Captain
Career, it's Adrian Chu. Our career strategist
from Career Agility International. Welcome back,
bro. Always so happy to be here. Just hearing
your laughter, it makes my day. It's so fun.
I wish some people would treat you that way.
You should trademark that laughter. Gosh, really?
Really? I mean, I'll tell you something. I'll
tell you how funny life is, man. I'm so happy
you said that because I was feeling so demoralized
somewhere last week. You know, I do something
for church, okay? Every week for the last almost
two years, every week without fail, there's this
thing we call a weekly bulletin. You know, announcements
and stuff. And I mooted the idea to the church
at that time that, look, man, I mean, you know,
there are people who are blind that attend church,
right? There are people who are too busy to even
read. They're just on the street. Maybe they're
private hire drivers. And then, you know, I mean,
Do they pick up the bulletin? Do they read it?
Or can they read it? How about those who are
dyslexic, for example? So, okay. So why don't
I do this? Why don't I just read, you know, the
bulletin every week? Right. And I read the bulletin
every week, record it. We put it up into the,
into the website and people can listen. Yeah.
Yeah. So we also allow for a link for feedback.
Now, I never bothered about the feedback, never
bothered to check till just last week. I wanted
to quit, man. Damn it. Oh no. Oh man, the Pharisees.
You're going to get excommunicated soon. Well,
you know, but this, I mean, I'm still doing it,
but you know, I told him to get rid of the feedback
link because it can't be bothered anymore. You
know, when you read announcements, right? You
got to make sure that people know details. Yeah.
I mean, the finite details. Unless, of course,
they're crazy links with all kinds of small letters
and big letters and small letters and big letters.
I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to ask
you to refer to the article. But people are saying
it's too long. Are you kidding me? That's a problem
with everyone nowadays. They don't read. Yeah,
no, just that. They're saying that it's too long.
The whole thing that I read, you know, it's just
too long. How can they, if I don't read them,
I'm going to get some other complaints. Damn
if you do. Damn if you don't. It's too short.
Yeah, you're not giving me details. Then the
other, then there'll be people who say it's too
long, which I've had that already. Then another
one says this. It's not a joking matter. Dude,
this is not, this is just announcements. And
I'm not joking anyway. I'm just sounding happy.
yeah so i can't sound happy i'm gonna sound really
sad like i'm in pain what do you want you know
i i i just don't get it you know i mean i'm doing
this for free you know that's for free and therein
lies the problem okay you can't please everybody
all the time i know right I know. It's the same.
I'm just, I'm just winging and whining. I'm just
whining, man. I'm just, I'm just being a bitch
about this. Yeah. Yeah. Because, because it's
like, you think it's so easy to do stuff like
this. It's not easy, man. And it takes time.
It takes effort. I'm still going to continue
doing it and not give a fuck about what anyone
says anymore. Yeah. I really don't. I mean, so,
such as, you know, so many people do thankless
things, huh? Yes. Thankless things, huh? Yes.
Yeah. Which is why I'm telling you this story
because, Because you are the guy that's, you
know, an expert on careers, right? What people
ought to do or ought not to do in advancing their
careers. You know, and that's why I just wanted
to bitch about this. Someone else will be a bitch
too about this. You know, but welcome back to
the show, man. Always happy to be here. You know,
talking about doing thankless things. Yeah, it's
a lot of times at the workplace, a lot of things
to do, you know. And a lot of times when things
go right, no one thanks you. But when things
go wrong, suddenly it's, oh, it's all your fault.
Yeah, but when things go right, when things go
right, they up your KPI because you're doing
it so well. And then, you know, in the end, you
get no life. That's very true. That's very true.
So that's why I always espouse the life of mediocrity
and... No, I'm just kidding. Always do your best.
Stay away from my son. I always believe you should
put in your best foot forward. Hey, speaking
of sons, brother, well done, man. Congratulations,
your boy. It's quite something, huh? Oh, yeah,
yeah. I just saw your post. Yeah, he's had a
good run. He's in first year in US law. Yeah,
yeah. He did pretty well for the last mood competition.
Yeah, the mood competition. He won it, right?
He won it and he got best. Funny, you know, he
got best oralist. What? Yes. Can you come up
with something better than that? I was thinking,
these are brilliant linguists, cunning linguists.
Why do they have to come up with the word oralist?
It's like, no, we don't want orator or best speaker.
Best oralist. I was like, what? Okay. Oralist.
Best oralist. I said, what? I mean, is that written
on his... That's oralist. I mean, I wouldn't
put it up. It looks like he's got a brilliant
career coming up for you, man. He's insanely
crazy about law. So he just... That's why he
loves it. He doesn't stop talking about it. That's
cool, man. He's doing very well there. That's
cool, man. It's crazy. I mean, it helps that...
And I'm going to take credit for this. It helps
to have a dad who's a career coach. Who spotted
the talent when he was young. I'm not shy. Age
-old question, man. Age -old question. Be my
own boss or find a job? Which is going to be
the, what we're going to be really working on
today for this episode, for this season, right?
Yeah, this is the super episode, you know, because
it's... I love my job series. I mean, I always
make sure that you are here because you are the
guy behind, I mean, who is the expert in these
matters, right? I'm still going to have another
one or two, I think one more episode. One more
episode of someone who's also got quite a unique
job that he's working. So I'm going to have that
guy on. But you're not going to be the finale
episode for our only job because we changed the
sequence of how we've done things before for
this season. So anyone that comes in, whatever
we've shot already, will come up in that queue.
Okay, so what do you think? Be my own boss or
find a job? Is it relevant today? I think everyone
should be their own boss somehow or other. But
if you're talking about, if you're early on in
your career, I think you should work for someone.
Because you need to have the experience, the
understanding of how a business runs. And I think
that helps a lot with regards to being a successful
entrepreneur. The first business I ran, and I
told you before, was a skeleton business which
I was running. Bones. Bones. I was selling bones
to McDonald's when I was 20. Forgot about that,
your middle name Bones. My middle name's Bones.
So when I did that, you know, I learned a lot
of things, but only when I had my first job in
Shell and then into GE Plastics, I really realized
how to scale the business. And a lot of systems
and processes. Right. So that's why today, for
Career Agility, I started this business in 2018.
And that's only after many years of corporate
experience. That makes me able to run the business
better. Yeah, but bro, you know, that was ages
ago, man. Today's context. I mean, I just saw
this. somewhere. I didn't want to put it up.
I don't want to put it up because I don't want
to get us both in trouble. Let me give you a
little, just give some context to it. Like, mommy
and daddy told me, you know, go and study hard,
go to university, get a degree, come out, and
then you're going to get a job. But mommy and
daddy, a good job. Mommy and daddy didn't tell
me that, you know, besides me, you know, getting
that good job, it'd be someone, some other people
from some other parts of the world that's probably,
you know, been sponsored to study. don't get
me started on that. Yeah. And then, you know,
guarantee the job, you know, and then I'll be
competing in these guys, right? Nowadays, I mean,
is it true? I mean, you got to tell me, man.
I don't know. I mean, reports are reports, right?
Graduates, when they, I mean, these guys, when
they graduate, can they still find jobs? And
that's a very interesting phenomenon because
last month or two months ago, there was a report
that an increasing number of fresh graduates
are finding it tough to get jobs. Still? Still.
But is that what's officially reported or? It's
being officially reported. Okay. What's the source?
I'm sorry. Not that I don't trust you. Albeit,
it's still a high number. It's about 93 % do
land jobs within six months. Okay. But there's
a 69 % -ish that don't. Okay. And it's not so
much a quantum, but they are seeing an increasing
number, a trend, of fresh graduates not being
able to land jobs. And the question is why? Yeah.
Why? And I've got some rather unpopular ideas
about why it's not. I think, number one, the
question is, are we training our graduates right?
In the courses that are, this is what the market
wants. So for instance, I was talking to this
individual, okay, a fresh graduate, graduated
early last year. He was in an interesting course,
which is in information systems. Okay. What does
information systems sound like to you? I have
no freaking clue. Sounds like computer stuff.
I thought, I would think so. Yeah, I would think
so, right? But it's not hardcore computer technology
stuff. Right. It's how to manage the business
information. It's like a business course with
some IT thrown in. So you're neither, you're
neither a business. Not a pure business grad.
Right. Neither are you a pure coding IT guy.
Right. So he's in between. He's like data gathering
for business? Among other things. Right. So when
he goes for interviews, he goes to interview
with the technology firms. Right. The Apples,
the Googles, the Metas, and everyone look at
him and say, yeah, but can you code? No. He goes
to all the business, the banks and everything,
says, yeah, but do you know your business? Do
you know finance? Yeah. No. Then what can you
do? So it's a worthless course. I hate to say
it is. It is what? It is. I mean, you get, you're
neither here nor there. You're half fucked. Well
put. Hey, can you stop being such a prude, man?
Stop that fucking thing, man. You see, I mean,
half fucked. Yeah, yeah. I would say three quarter
actually. Okay, well done. Not even medium rice,
well done. Okay. So, it's generally here and
there. Now, I'm not saying everybody who takes
that course can't get a job. Of course, if you're
graduating in the top half, but the question
is, are you being trained in the skills that
the market wants? Okay. And in this case, I don't
think so. Right. So, then the question is, why
are you doing that? Okay. So, once again, and
I ask this individual, why do you take it? It
sounded fun. I kind of liked computers. I kind
of liked business. I couldn't decide which one,
so I chose the halfway road. Interesting. When
he said, I found it fun, it must have been back
then when he was deciding what course to take,
right? Yes. And how old was he when he had to
make that choice? Just finished army. What would
he know? You're young and stupid like I was.
We all were. We all were, right? Yeah. No, just
old and stupid. Yeah, correct. Yeah, but everyone,
the good news is that everyone was at least young
and stupid once. Once, yes. Some people continue
being stupid like you and me, but never mind.
The point is that this guy, just taking this
example, interesting, I find it interesting.
When you just, when you're about, you know, 16
years old and you're taking your O -levels, you
want to decide, am I going to go to JC or am
I going to go to Polytechnic? Yes. And then making
a decision of what I like at that age is already
so tough. And then, look, two, three years after
the fact, right, you leave secondary school,
you go into either JC or Polytechnic. Yeah. And
then you land up in the army of your guy. Yeah.
The girls, I think it's a little tougher on them.
But for the guys, because you have that two -year
hiatus. The girls continue on. They're still
in that mode. You know what I mean? They're still
in that mode. They haven't stopped. You're in
that swing. The follow -through is still there.
The momentum is there and you're still in the
system. The guys get out, they go into NS, and
I'm an advocate for national service. Don't get
me the wrong way because of what I'm saying.
So they go in for two years. When they come out,
it's a little rust that's gathered in you, in
your entire system, right? We both know that.
A lot of rust. Yeah. You have to make a decision
again. And you're already from one mode, you
went into the military mode, you came out in
the military mode, and you're going to go back
to the old mode you were in. And even then, you're
still kind of young. Yeah. To know better. And
you make a decision on, I think this sounds like
fun. I mean, it's a little bit challenging. The
logic isn't there. Yeah, the logic isn't there.
So I would say, in fact, that if I had a policy
suggestion for the Ministry of Education, I would
say, cut the JC spaces in half. Push everyone
to poly. Why? Because I think being a... product
of the A -level system, junior college is not
useful to you at all. Unless you want to be a
doctor or a lawyer, not even engineer, doctor
or lawyer. Because in what good earth can you
find any practical use for learning second order
differential equations and calculus? What? Okay.
Exactly. Nobody gives a shit. Nobody gives a
damn. I'm looking at it and I'm like, so it's
no point. And if you study, and if you want,
okay, for instance, my daughter she's 17 okay
she just finished all levels she wanted to she
she wanted to do the uh humanities program in
junior college right okay and i told her why
yeah why she said oh because i want to do hr
like you that right that's it you do not need
a level to do hr yeah i said you you get a degree
But whatever you learn in junior college does
not help you in the single smallest area. Not
in the older, yeah, not in the older. At least
at all, you know. And you, whereas if you popped
over to polytechnic and get a diploma, and then
you do well enough there, get into university,
you'll be graduating with a degree and a diploma.
As opposed to, no. And she said, yeah, but only
the top 5%. of students can get into, can jump
from the poly to uni. And I said, I hate to say
it, but you know, A -level as well. Because only
the top students, because to get into a good
degree course in university, only the straight
A students will get in or the AAB students. And
that's not easy to get. That's harder to get
actually. And if you come out with two A's, two
O's, I don't know what it is today, but back
in the day, two A's was a full A -level cert,
right? the guy with the diploma is better off
than you yeah correct and you when you get out
there in the working world exactly you know uh
which is why i mean there's that was the logic
that that my son also had or has he's going through
his old levels this year yeah right and uh he
wants to go to poly yeah um he sort of sort of
identified uh what he wants to do now and of
course being parents that, you know, we do our
best as parents to discover whether or not the
choice he's making is the right kind of choice.
And we went through a lot of, not just that one
time, you know, over the course of months. Long
conversations. Yeah, we had long conversations
about making sure that this is truly what he
wants. And we're kind of confident that it is,
you know, because, and surprisingly so, just
in case you don't know, because your kids are,
okay, your daughter's past the O levels already.
So maybe you're still within the system, but
I am in the system right now where secondary
schools are concerned. One thing I love about
my son's school, which is my old school, is that
they actually have career week. Oh, nice. And
they invite all kinds of jobs and businesses
to come in and people to exhibition booths. And
these guys actually go around asking. You know,
what is this about? What does one need to do,
you know? And whether or not they will like it
in the future. Not just these guys, including
the various polytechnics also set up. And they
tell them that these are the people that we've
produced and what they've done so far in their
lives and blah, blah, blah. And I think that's
a very good move. I don't know about the other
schools though. And it can help these guys. Make
informed decisions. Because those are real world
information. Exactly. And you can pluck them.
I think it's marvelous. I think they all should
do it. I know many schools do it, but how well
they do it is probably another issue. Yeah. But
the funny thing about it is that right now, a
lot of my daughter's classmates, top students,
they're bypassing the A -level system and they're
going straight to poly. And so much so that the
course which my daughter is getting into, it's
tougher to get into that than into junior college.
So the poly cutoff point is higher than junior
college. It's tougher. People always seem to
think that it's easier to get into poly. It's
not true. Not anymore. You've got to pass the
interview as well. Yeah. So what is interesting
is that the government is starting to recognize
that. Okay. And they are saying that, look, if
you do a three -year polytechnic program, we
can try and shave off modules of your university.
Yeah. One year. So now this, instead of your
standard two -year junior college, four -year
uni, right? Yeah. It's a three years and three
years. Yeah. But only for engineering. Yeah.
So I asked, at the open house, I asked the dean
of the business school at the polytechnic, saying,
will you, will MOE consider doing that for all
other classes? And he said, no. Right now they
say no, like back in the day, a lot of people
have said no to a lot of things too. And I said,
I think I know why you know. Never say never,
man. You know why he says no? Because the moment
they do a three plus three, they're going to
shut down the junior college. It's three quarters.
No one's going to bother going to JC. Just going
to go to poly. Because hey, poly, you've got
learning the stuff that you like. You know, no
stupid school rules. I agree with you. I don't
see the need for having junior colleges. So that's
why I think it should be axed. Yeah. Okay, not
totally. Maybe for those who want to pursue the
university, Harvard. It's getting irrelevant,
you know. It is. It is. And that is why they
need to. And frankly, bro, even if you go into
a diploma course in a polytechnic and you don't
make the grade to go into university, right?
Yeah. You go to work. You save up money. Yes.
Right? And then you can do a part -time degree
on your own. Yes. and you can make a better,
more informed choice because you've been out
there working already and you know the direction
you're going to go. And what you don't want to
do. Correct. And there's no harm in getting your
degree a little later and you're not going to
be burdening your folks as well. You can actually
do it on your own. Save your own money. I don't
know whether they can use their own CPF as well,
but now with SkillsFuture, why the hell not,
right? You can have that. I mean, I'm pretty
sure this is going to be an ongoing affair. And
they can use that money and they can upgrade
and they can go for degree courses on their own.
I don't see that, oh, you got to finish it, come
out for NS, you go into university, finish it
and blah, blah, blah, get your degree. I mean,
come on, bollocks. It doesn't have to happen
that way. And that's why I say the education
system today is archaic. based on a 1980s model,
which doesn't hold up today in the real world.
As far as careers are concerned, you know, I
never had a, I never had a, I've never seen a
successful person, okay, who ever complained
that, that, you know, I was from the poly and
everything. A lot of individuals I see, really
good guys, you know, they explored, took gap
years, played around. found something they wanted
to do and then, you know, successful even though
they don't have a degree. Right. So that's why
I think it needs to be relooked at by people
who are not in the system. Let's move this conversation
a bit forward, bro. Yeah. Let's talk about, okay,
these guys come out, you're saying that there's
still a good six, seven to nine percent that
can't find jobs. Right. So, okay. These are the
people that have, you know, gone there. You give,
we give a one fine example. This guy has got
this three quarter big. IS. Yeah. Yeah. Information
systems. Yeah. You know, what other issues have,
do you think played a part? I was playing a part
in some of these fresh grads not being able to
find work. And I, and I love Gen Zers, but. A
lot of Gen Zers I speak to, they tell me they
are being very choosy about the jobs they want
because it does not fit my purpose in life. This
job sounds like it's got no work -life balance.
And I spoke to this lady, this young lady, and
I scolded her. I said, I don't want to sound
like an uncle, but in the first five years of
life, forget about work -life balance. Can you
learn as much as you can work -life balance?
You don't have kids. Do you not have anything
yet? Okay, breathe, breathe, inhale. I just don't
understand that. It doesn't serve my purpose.
It doesn't serve my purpose in life. Okay, so
you're saying that these people, when they're
in bed and then they have a vision, you know,
and such a divine vision that you have been chosen
to be this and that, is it? Please, lah. So I
have an answer to that now. So I told her, she
said, the job, I was offered two jobs, but no,
it did not fit my purpose in life. So I said,
okay, imagine the job was offered to you. If
you're offered you double the pay, will you take
it? Yes. Please know about the purpose. Yeah,
don't sound like such a, don't sound like such
a freaking, like very sanctimonious. So, sanctimonious.
Yeah, thank you. That's the word I'm looking
for, man. I don't want to be freaking sanctimonious,
man. You have to be real and get real. And that's
why, you know, for my advice to the young Gen
Z listeners out there is get experience. Get
a grip. Get a grip. You know, when my boy was
young in primary school, I used to joke with
him. I'd say, you know, we used to talk about
careers. He said, Dad. you know, what do you
think I should do when I grow up and everything?
Then I said, you know, okay, whatever it is,
I hope the first boss you get is the meanest,
the worst, the toughest boss you're ever going
to get. He said, why are you dead? You're so
mean to me, you know? I said, no, trust me. I
had the worst boss. If your first boss is the
worst, after that, everything else is a joy.
Everything else is a joy. So ultimately, I think
the formative years, that's why I said, Unless
you have a fantastic business idea. Yeah. Okay.
That you, that cannot be delayed. Yeah. Then
you, like what Mark Zuckerberg and all those
other guys did. Quit school even. Quit uni. Yeah.
You do it, you know. Right. But if you don't
have, if it's not that urgent, you know, go through
the, the, the rudiments. Rudiments. The rigmarole
of having the nine to five job. Right. Learn
everything, you know, learn all about hardship.
And then when the good business idea comes along,
So to answer your question, which is a very long
way around, own boss or work for people? Yeah.
Be your own boss only when you're sure of what
you want to do. Because otherwise, like what
Mark Cuban of Shark Tank, he says, he says there
are entrepreneurs, those people who brilliantly
come up with an idea and they put all in and
they be successful, right? And there are one
-trepreneurs. A one -trepreneur is someone who
wants to be an entrepreneur. So he sits around,
he creates his job and he says, okay, what can
I sell? What can I start? If those entrepreneurs
are finding it more difficult because they're
not starting their business from a core business
idea. So I would always say, strive towards getting
to the level where you are your own boss. Right.
But before that, learn as much as you can, earn
as much as you can so that you're ready when
the idea comes along. Okay. But how about those
who really still can't find work? then you need
to find out what's the reason. Sometimes like
that young guy, you're not rightly skilled. Sometimes
your skill sets are gone. In 2017, I met this
guy, you know. He was working in the Yellow Pages.
My gosh. Who the hell uses Yellow Pages? In the
end of 2017, he was showing me the product he
was pushing, CD -ROMs. Oh gosh. Do you remember
the old days? Yeah, I do. I do. I remember that.
I think your guys are still pushing that. Okay.
Likewise today, I still see people talking about,
oh, I'm still in the magazine business. Yeah.
Seriously, you know, are you in the magazine?
What? Hello. So there are things that are almost
going already. Yeah. Okay. Print publishing is
one. That's it. Magazines. They're not going.
They're just adapting and they've gone to E.
It's tough. It's still tough to monetize now
like the old days. Yeah. Like TV. Yeah. You know,
I don't remember when I last saw, when was the
last time you saw Free to Ash TV programs? Channel
News Asia. That's it. Okay. Besides the news,
right? No. Nothing else. Yeah. And even, Even
things like, okay, breaking news, like the earthquake.
Yeah. I got it on my phone first. Yeah, yeah.
I wasn't going to wait till 8pm or 9pm. Yeah,
yeah. So the format has changed. Right. And if
you're in one of those industries that's obviously
the writing's on the wall. Yeah. I think it's
time to move on. Basically, the writing says
you are fucked. Yeah. It's pirated. It's like,
and sometimes they are dead men walking. Yeah.
They're in the business already. They're already
on death row. Yeah, correct. Your life's a pot.
So for instance, if you're working in a bank,
right? And if you're still at the branch, if
you're a branch manager, you must start asking
yourself, why is it that the big banks like Citibank,
they've basically shut off all their branches.
They've closed all their branches. Right. Why?
Because nobody wants to go to the branch. I went
to the branch last month. Okay, because I needed
to open an account. You had to make an appointment.
You're right. You gotta make an appointment.
Yeah. And I went in with my hat. Yeah. They told
me to take my hat off. Yep, yep. For security
reasons. That's true lah. For what? This has
been going on for a while lah. And then, and
then I was wearing my, my glasses, the photochromatic
ones. Yeah. No sun shades at all. Yeah, yeah.
And I feel like, this is why I do my banking
online. I can do whatever I want. You feel like
shit, right? Yeah, you just get treated like
that and it's like, okay, maybe it's good to
be polite about it. But there's so many things
that, so if you're in a business model, in a
business where you see that it's shrinking, so
to your question, you know, if you're not, if
you are not able to look for a job or land a
job. Right. Is it because your skill set, skill
sets are outdated? Is it because your industry
is dying? So much so that it's, so you see, it's
a matter of supply and demand. Yeah. It's the
skills that you're, are the skills you're supplying
not in demand anymore. Right. Okay. Outdated.
Correct, not outdated. Or are the skills you're
supplying in a contract to the deal, to the work,
can it be done cheaper elsewhere? Yeah. Yeah.
So that's another factor, right? Yeah. Or can
the skills that I'm bringing to the table, can
AI do it? Yeah. So that's one issue. The other
one is the demand, you know, is there even a
demand for what I'm doing? Yeah. I can be a fantastic,
I can be a fantastic pager repairman. No one
uses pages anymore, right? Or some old technology.
So it's just gone. Oh, I repair blackberries.
So it's crazy, okay, that you're in a space where
there's no more demand for your skills. Right.
It's sad, actually. It's unfortunate that because
of AI now, both the supply and the demand have
been shut off. Yeah. The supply, what you can
do, AI can do better. Yeah. Right? And that's
the thing, you see, that's why, you see, when
you take a look at socials, on my socials anyway,
right? Because in my socials, doing the stuff
that I do, the algorithm will churn out stuff
that I'm interested in doing. Well, something
that's of interest to me, but I'm actually very
disinterested in this, is that I keep seeing
this stupid ad that comes up that says, You know,
it's an animation with a no, you know. No, yeah.
No, you know. What's the word for it? It's like
a no trespass. Yes, correct. It says, say no
to voiceovers. What? Yeah, yeah. It's because
of the stuff. And they've got AI. Oh, yes. They
offer you AI. I've always said on this show many
times before, it still has got to get somewhere
because there's no nuance. There's nothing. You
can never get that. But people, the cheap Charlies
that people are today, they still go for that
shit. It's good enough for them. And that's why.
AI, man. So talking about AI, the big question
is this. A lot of people are asking. AI cannot
steal my job because what I'm doing is so good.
I'm so strategic. AI cannot replace me, right?
To them, I tell them and say, look, in that case,
how many percent of your job can AI take over?
I'm sure it can take over a little piece of your
table. 20%. Okay, say the person says 20%. I
say, how big is your team size? Oh, your team
size of 10. That means technically your company
can fire two people. Yeah. I put AI in to do
that piece and you guys move up the ladder. So
AI cannot steal your job per se. AI can still
steal your job per se. So that's why, like what
you said, the cheapo Charlie's will go for it.
Because as far as the business is concerned,
it's cost -cutting for them. Yeah. To hire an
AI company. Okay. I will not mention names, but
we know the Big G is one of them. Do you know
what I'm saying? Yes, of course. The Big G, as
in the online company, the Big G. And the problem
is that it actually does cut on one of the pitches,
and I know that for a fact, from these companies,
not necessarily the Big G, would say that, look,
man, I mean, you cut back on your HR. Yeah. And
there's cost savings for your company. Yeah.
I think, holy crap, dude, you know? And look,
when I hear the wonders of what these things
can do and I go, wow, really? Really? Yeah. Really,
right? And from diagnosing, let's say an engineering
problem, from diagnosing a problem accurately
and then telling you specifically what went wrong
and then nailing it down to necessary parts only.
Yeah. to be replaced and then placing the fucking
order for you and tracking the freaking delivery
for you, you know, until it arrives. And I tell
you, I mean, so there's this person that places
the orders, the admin clerk and all that kind
of stuff. Then you have the guy that comes before
that person that goes and diagnose this issue,
blah, blah, blah. He's going to lose his. These
people are going to lose their jobs. Unfortunately.
Yeah. And for those, don't get me the wrong way.
I embrace AI. As a matter of fact, I use AI quite
a lot for this show. Yeah. I do. I mean, come
on, man. It leaves a lot of burden on me. It's
because I'm the end user and I'm enjoying it.
Yeah. But there will be people. I give you another
idea, okay? You know how we take pride, Kai and
I? Yes. After each episode, we will actually
go through the trouble of doing a mix downs and
all audio because a lot of podcasts don't do
that. Now, we've just since discovered, right,
Kai? Yeah. The nifty way, super quick, fast way.
Oh, wow. But there is one small little detail
that personally I don't really like. But it's
too minor for me to ignore. To ignore this whole
process. I still should do it. And for this season,
we've already done it. We just started like two
episodes ago. And yours today will be done the
same way. We have found a simplified way of taking
an MP3 file, throwing it into this thing that
will enhance your audio by AI. And we can just
adjust two sliders. One slider that says clarity
of speech. The other one, background noise go
down. Oh, wow. And it mixes down to the T. Wow.
Perfect. Better than a human, right? Yeah. It's
perfection. Yeah. And really, man, I mean, I
can have someone, which we did. That's why we
explored this two episodes ago, sitting way far
back. away from where you are away from the mic
with with the leave hands on the levers uh no
and we were just leaving things alone okay we
couldn't really pick him up oh oh when we dumped
it into the thumb the whole file into the ai
mate it was clear as day oh wow okay and and
i'm like who crap If I'm an audio engineer today,
I'll be worried. I'm screwed. Yeah, I'll be worried.
I am so screwed. To your point, exactly. Yeah.
Exactly. You know, I've got someone who came
to me and said, I won't mention names. He's quite
famous. Chris, I want to write music. I said,
okay. Do you have a musical background? No, zero.
Okay. Zero, zero. Okay. And I said, okay. So
how do you propose in doing that? Ah, I bought
this AI. It is AI that can do this. Okay. Okay.
But there's a problem. I say, what? I'm going
to learn how to sing. Because I want to write,
then I want to sing it. Okay. And then I want
to record it. Then I want to put it up. Yeah.
You know? I say, okay. but you can use AI for
that. Yeah, exactly. Even if you can't freaking
sing, you can still sound like Taylor Swift,
though you're a guy. Yeah, exactly. And he's,
but he was quite straight about this. No, no,
this one, I want to do that. I want to learn
it. So it's asking me to teach. Okay. Okay. I
still think in some respect, right, people will
still want to do things by themselves, to say
to themselves, hey, you know what? I can do this.
Yeah. I did that, you know, at least one aspect
of it. But it is damn freaking scary. It is.
That you can have someone who does not need to
go on AGT and BGT. Yes. No, correct. Yeah. You
know, it's like, it's like almost like. all you
have to do is to do a mini -vanilla. Yeah. You
stand up and just lip -sync and the music comes
on and everything. But the AI now is so wonderful.
It literally plays the background music. It generates
a new tune for you and everything. It creates
a new song. Yeah. And it's yours now. And I tried
it now. Is it? I tried it now. I tried it. I
basically had to brief the AI on what kind of
genre first. Oh, okay. And keep it to simple
four, five chord songs. Because we know that
almost hits are four, five chords. Yes, correct.
Right. And keep the tempo and, but in really
everything. Yeah. How's it? Not too freaking
bad. And then, you know, and I told him that,
you know, make this song, the words are the words,
huh? Lyrics. Compose the words, the song, along
the lines of this kind of story. Freaking. And
I did that not because I wanted to try something
or wanted to really work on something. No, I
wanted to see what he could do. And. It wasn't
perfect. It wasn't that great, but it was a start,
you know, and I'm pretty sure that if you pay
for the actual full pro version, it's going to
be wow. This was the demo. And the big question
is, what then do you do if you're with your career,
with your work that you do, if AI is creeping
up quickly on you? Right. If you're a voiceover
person and if, or if you're an audio person and
suddenly the AI is coming in, you're going to
steal your job. Yeah. What do you do? And my
advice is you move up the chain, you learn how
to use AI. Yeah. So quick example, in my career
coaching practice. a lot chat GPT and everything.
You can ask chat GPT career questions, but chat
GPT may not give you the best answers because
it's a generic thing. So what I did was my team
and I, we built a, an AI career coach that can
answer your most basic 25 % of your questions.
Okay. So in other words, now, I'm leveraging
technology. I'm kidding. I'm leveraging technology.
So, so what happens is that, uh, Right now, whenever
people have questions for me, I just push them
to the AI first. Yeah. And if you can't do it,
then come. So it's almost like a triage. Like
a triage. You know, in a hospital, the nurse
will see you. So that's one way of doing it.
So if you have a job where AI is coming in, possibly,
at least like what you do, learn, know the enemy.
Yeah. Play with it. See what, can you implement
it into your job? Oh, believe me, I play with
mine. Sounds so wrong. Sounds so wrong. Hey,
Adrian, I play with my AR, you know. Almost every
day. He's got a name. It's called Gemini. She's
kind of sweet. Gemini's a lady to you. Gemini's
a guy to me. Gemini's a lady to me. Okay. I mean,
I don't know. It's never spoken to me. I was
talking to Gemini just now. And okay, to be fair.
Okay. I use text. I don't know how you got the
voice version though, but I use text and you
know something, man, freaking thing knows me
so well now. Yes. And everything I asked for,
I don't need to ask some things anymore. It is
automatically generated for me because it knows
that I will ask it eventually. Yeah. So you train
your AI. Is that training your dragon? Is that
training your dragon? Man, I spent 55 years training
my dragon. Now I'm going to train this Gemini.
But it's amazing. It is. I mean, like you said,
you know, it's great and you're leveraging on
it. And it really lifts a lot of burden off my
shoulders. Yeah, especially on stupid things
like research. I just ask, you know, to the point
where I don't even use Google search anymore.
Yeah. I just ask Gemini. Yeah. And it's got better
and better because I use the first version and
now it's version two. And I can see the difference.
It's smarter now. Yeah. And really, it's a lot
more intuitive, you know. Yeah. It's great yet.
You're frightening. Yeah. And you know what?
It's only just starting. It only gets better
from here. So I just heard, I just heard on the
radio that Bill Gates was interviewed sometime
back, just about a couple of weeks back. He said
in eight years time, we don't need doctors and
lawyers because they've got it so good. And one
of the reasons why it gets so good, it's not
because it can answer better, but just on the
basis that it makes fewer mistakes than a normal
human can. Let me give you a conspiracy theory.
Oh, yes. Wait, let me get my tinfoil hat. You're
going to think, you're going to think I'm a quack.
A lot of people will say that. You know, the
ETs that were captured at Area 51. Yes. This
is not euphorus. And I don't believe I'm talking
about this. These are the greys? No, no, no.
They're actually not the greys. They're not,
they're not, they're not. They actually said
under interrogation, if you can go find this
everywhere online, the black and white interrogation
interview going back when. And this alien, it
really looks really real, yeah? Says that, no,
I'm not actually alien. I'm actually human. I'm
you. Oh. This is us, you in the future. Oh, wow.
We came back. Uh -huh. Because something happened
to our planet. And it was... AI. It was AI. You
don't understand that you created something that
killed the human race. I think you're getting
confused with the movie Terminator. No, no, no.
Terminator is based on this. No, no, no. AI destroyed
the world and it was caused because of one person,
one leader in the world. that caused it to happen.
No, I don't think it's actually him. I know who
you're thinking. You think it's Enon Mask, right?
Yeah. And it was interesting, you know, but you
watch that interview, you cannot tell yourself
that Kamala's fake. No. No, there's no way in
hell. But I am convinced that AI is going to
kill mankind. You know why? Yeah. Not because
of the technology, but because AI, companions
are gonna get so good that the guys are just
gonna go hey you know why do I get to get married
it's like I got someone to talk to and the girls
you know the ladies will go like oh you know
my husband doesn't listen to me but Gemini does
yeah and then after a while you know we stop
procreating and then we're all screwed yeah exactly
and then we all get you know there are interesting
movies I've been watching on Netflix as well
right which one was this where these people are
so addicted to that to the oh the metal something
just recent uh with um chris pratt in it uh and
that that that girl oh yes in the gambit yes
yes and you get addicted to that virtual thing
you know everyone's just living in a virtual
just sitting out there electric uh thing right
yeah electric something yeah and and they and
the robots actually went to war with the human
race and stuff uh -huh and angry you know AI
is supposed to help us do our jobs better. But
we're getting lazy. We're getting lazy. And if
you remember that old Disney movie, WALL -E?
Yeah. You're just going to be sitting down. In
fact, Hollywood seems to know a lot of shit,
you know. Especially the freaking Simpsons. Oh,
yeah. I think the devil has been writing the
storyline. It's season 35 now. Yeah. We're feeling
old, man. Yeah, but it's remarkable how accurate
they were, including the scenes in, you know,
in the scenes and stuff, you know, it's so accurate.
Yeah. Okay, we're going to go too deep into,
you know, all kinds of conspiracy stuff. Next
thing I'll be talking to you about is, now you
know who killed JFK. You know that, right? CIA.
Well. It wasn't outright. Have you seen it? Have
you seen the declassification that came out?
Well, apparently it looks like Lyndon B. Johnson.
Dude, who killed him? Oh, it was his driver.
Oh yes, I've seen it. He turned around with a
pneumatic pistol. Oh wow. And shot him twice.
I think that would be the most logical thing,
right? And there was a close -up of the video
and that video was never released to just Are
you sure it's not AI video? No, no, no. And a
pneumatic weapon can only be in the possession
of the CIA. Right? Johnson. Yeah. Yeah. Highly
likely. Yeah, he was the one who benefited most.
He was the one who started He was sworn in. Yeah.
In Air Force One. Yes. On the day. Yeah. While
JFK wasn't pronounced dead yet. With the first
lady present, Jackie Kennedy, covered with the
brain -mattered blood of her husband on her clothes
to witness the swearing -in. I mean, that alone
was already quite indicative at the time. But
now the video is out, man. Oh, I'm going to check
that out. Go check it out, man. I've been watching
it over and over and over again. But it's...
Yes, so... Yeah. Conspiracy theory. Let's move
away. Let's move away from that. Okay. Okay.
Millennials. That's what I like about this show.
Yeah. It goes everywhere. Yeah. Then it comes
back again. But brother, you know, we don't take
ourselves so seriously. You know what I'm saying?
I mean, it's fun. We talk about it, you know?
It's just you guys. Yeah. Talking crap. Always.
You know, the two old dudes. Who's not going
to poke fun at millennials. Yeah. Let's poke
fun at millennials now. Yes, millennials. And
they've grown up. How are they? That's funny
because when we were in our 40s, the millennials
just joined the workforce. Yeah, yeah. And they
were complaining, you know. They were pinning
our asses here. Yeah, they were going like, can
I bring my pet to work? And now they are the
middle management. The Gen Z's are giving them
hell. Yeah. So now it's like, I wouldn't say
they're giving them hell. You know what I mean?
Come on. Oh, trust me. When you got Gen Z's coming
in and saying like the question, like, I want
to work from home five days a week. Oh, I'm not
going to work. Yeah. A lot of Gen Z's are coming
in and having that kind of expectation now. But
bro, the millennials are doing the same thing.
Millennials now, because they are moving up the
management ladder. Yeah. they are now having
to behave like adults now. So millennials are
now in their 40s. So millennials, and I asked
Gemini, Gemini told me, millennials are between
30 and 44. Yeah. Okay. So as the older millennials
are more senior managers now, now they're going
to put up with the hell which they gave. us.
Yeah, but the hell they gave us is the same hell
as the Gen Zers are giving them. Yes, correct.
Can't they relate to that shit? I thought they
would be more empathetic. Nowadays, they've realised
they've got bills to pay. So, the millennials
now are in, career -wise, they are in a tricky
situation. I'll tell you why. Because right now,
they are what we call the sandwich generation.
No, dude, sandwich us. No, we kind of sandwiched
long ago. We had a freaking sandwich, dude. No,
we had a pancake because squash long ago. But
I'll tell you why, because they're stuck now
in between, what you said, senior management
and the Gen Zers. Yeah. So as much as they relate
to the Gen Zers. So they're the meat in the middle.
Yeah, the meat in the middle. As much as they
want to have a Gen Zers, but they know, because
they've been there before, like what you said,
but they know they have. to manage, form the
bosses. So they want to help them, but they can't,
you know, and then they want to push back to
the senior management, but they can't. Yep. So
on one hand, they're kind of sandwiched in between
the Gen Z and Gen X. On the other hand, even
in their own personal life, they're also sandwiched
because they have kids and they got young kids.
Let me tell you about millennial parents, man.
All parents. I'll tell you something, man. If
you've got to deal with millennial parents. Tell
me. Tell me. You want to. Tell me. I'm curious.
Make a Molotov cocktail. Well, you are so. Oh,
come on, man. I mean, these guys. It's so, you
know. It's a vicious cycle. We complain that
the millennials were raised by their booming
parents. Yeah. Right. So Molly Caudill, blah,
blah, blah. Right? Remember? Snowflakes. The
original snowflakes. And I tell you what they're
doing to their children. Same shit. Not Molly
Caudill. No, no, no, no, no, not that. They hover.
You know, the piano thing, the ballet thing is
worse now. The taekwondo thing is worse now.
Getting the grades is worse now. Expectations
are worse. Okay. And controlling everything.
Control freaks. They're the ones that we try
to control, that we couldn't, hardly could control.
And they're the ones doing it now. Oh, why is
the school having vending machine in... in the
schools, in the school, you know, a complex on
the campus. Get rid of it. And they complain.
They bind together. They complain. Oh, sugar.
It's very bad for my kid. Bad. Oh, fuck. And
the school actually listen to them. See, the
worst thing is that whichever authority, whatever,
whatever authority that they, you know, that
their lives, that surround their lives, right?
Yeah, yeah. They will, most of the time, bend
to these people's wishes for schools. They got
rid of the vending machine. I, on the other hand,
was a lonely voice in the freaking desert that
went out there and complained, why do you remove
it? Because I've always realized that, look,
it's a great fine parenting opportunity to teach
your kid to have self -discipline. Yeah, that's
true. Right? But no, they removed the fucking
thing. Nevermind. Handphones. Why do you allow
them to have headphones? To be with them in class.
You don't want them to use headphones. My question
is actually why. Can I ask you why? Do you? I
mean, do you agree to something like that? No,
actually let my kids have free flow. Precisely
why? Because again, parenting opportunity. You
teach the kid, don't be a clown. When it's not
the time to use it, don't use it. Now, and at
the same time, if you're going to refuse your
kid to know how to be adept. at smart devices,
that guy's going to lose out. Because the future
is about more than just that. You're handicapping
the kid, right? But you know what I get? This
is what I get. I tell you, get a load of this.
Chris, not every child is as matured as yours.
And you say, that's true. Sorry for you. That
is true. I'm sorry for you guys. You're right.
I did give the answer. You're right. But, Now
you're going to blame nature instead of looking
at nurture? Dude. Yeah. Come on. Do your job.
It is not the school's job. It is your job. You
know, millennial parents. Yeah. I'm telling you.
It's a fact. I'm an old dad. My kids can be 16.
I'm an old dad. I'm going to be 55. A lot of
majority of the parents in that group are millennials.
And I scratched my head. And you know, everything
was so, I'll tell you, it's two extremes. They
have exams, this, that. No, they're so into it.
So into it. It's ridiculous. And I'm like, what
the fuck? I had to mute the chat room. You know,
and then, and then anything and everything, uniforms,
buying the books, this, that. And, over these
kind of things. I said, fuck it. What do you
think? You can't get the books? No matter what,
you can still get the books. You know what I
mean? Okay, okay, okay. Take a step back. As
much as I... He's going to defend him. No, no,
no. As much as I agree with you and I really
hate it when millennial parents hover and what
they call lawnmower parenting. I don't know what
it's called. Helicopter, helicopter. Helicopter.
Yeah. It's called lawnmowers because you cut
the grass before the child can walk or whatever.
Anyway, what the fuck? I don't know. That's the
logic there. Okay, I have no idea. As much as
I have to say about helicopter penalty, how stupid
it is for guilty as charged. Let me tell you
a fun story. You're going to cry about this for
the day. So my son goes into NS, okay? Uh -huh.
He goes to BMT. Uh -huh. And every night he'll
message me, like, hey, you know, today was fun,
whatever it is, you know? And then one night,
you know, he messages me a very cryptic message,
you know, at 9, 9 .15. Uh, that, dot, dot, dot,
dot. Yeah. Yeah. And then, I didn't see the message
until about 10 .15. And then I put the message,
uh, okay, uh, what's up, no? No response. 11pm,
I mean, uh, everything okay? No response. Okay?
You know that day I was starting to get panicky
already. It's like, no blue tick even, you know.
And then, it's something he would not normally
do, right? Okay. Yeah, I wanted to wake my wife
up to tell her. She's even more conscious than
me. So I said, okay, I'll break it down. At number
45, I said, hey, you're starting to worry me,
you know. He's like, okay. No response. Helicopter
parent. Just tell me, what the fuck actually
happened to him? Cool. WhatsApp his OC. He's
not joking. Look, because it was a different
orientation. It was at midnight, you know. I
say, Captain Jeremiah. Is Lucius okay or not?
He said, of course, he sent me this message.
He said, okay, I'll check. 12 o 'clock message.
12 .30. No response still though. I didn't call
him up. I said, okay or not? He said, oh, they
went for a long route march. Oh, that guy was
sleeping now. That guy is sleeping now. He says,
okay. Next morning, I get a message from him.
Dad. You call my CEO. Oh, shit. So, helicopter
parenting. I tell you something, man. I wouldn't,
I would not actually. To me, that wasn't helicopter
parenting. That was genuine concern. And there
was need to be concerned. That ellipses, come
on. I mean, I would, I would fucking flip. Honestly,
I would flip. And I would flip. So you just won't
tell me that he had a long day by first. I would
flip because this is reality. Anything could
have happened to the kid, you know, regardless
whether it was in NS or outside of NS. If I send
my boy a text and he takes like the next hour
plus or so, he doesn't respond. It is unlike
him. And we know our children, right? So we have
the right to be worried. That's not helicopter
parenting. Helicopter parenting, to me, is like
every step of the way, every aspect of your child's
life, you want to be in control to the extent
where eventually they rebel. And you wonder why
they're like that. You stifle them, you smother
them until they... they just get so either resigned
or they break out later on. And I've seen so
many of these sort of stupid things happening.
And to me, I see, you know, so many parents doing
that crap today, right? And these guys get handicapped.
They will be, man, in a lot of ways. You want
to nurture maturity? It's not going to happen.
It's not going to happen, man. It's not going
to happen. So I just, that to me, That is helicopter
parenting. You smother them. And then if they
make one mistake, like I forgot to bring this
today, could you help me come over? Come and
deliver it to me. Now, of course, some people
say helicopter parenting is that you run down
and give it to them. Look, they can make mistakes.
It's okay to run down and give it to them. But
after that, you fire them left, right and center.
I mean, you know, I mean, you just put too much
emphasis on... on these things that is just going
to stifle them. You're not going to give them
the freedom to maneuver. And it doesn't help
them build the resilience. I think a lot of Gen
Zers today, they could do with a bit more resilience
with their career -wise. Yeah. And you know how
terrible they, you know, as new parents are.
Because I'm not going to say too much, but I
know for a fact that new parents, baby just born.
Yeah. Okay. And they go to a confinement center
to stay. Yeah. Oh, yes. Okay. And the entitlement,
how entitled they are in the demands they make
is out of this world. Okay. And some don't even
deserve to be parents because they just became
parents just to be parents. Or maybe the expectations
of them to be parents. And they don't give a
shit about the kids. And unfortunately, I'm happy
they have kids because I love kids. Okay. I think
Singaporeans are not reproducing fast enough.
But I'm happy they have kids. A lot of people
I talk to nowadays, younger ones, they don't
want to get married even. Yeah, I know. But those
that do, sometimes I wonder why. Because... They
don't really give a shit. You know what I mean?
Just have as many as we need. Either that or
they just bought it too much. Yeah. Or too extremes.
Too extremes. Yeah, really. They really don't
care or they bought it too much. But I really
think that Singaporeans should procreate more.
Otherwise, we'll have to import more. And then
we cannot be seen to be complaining about imports.
Yeah, yeah. It's just the thing, you know, imports,
man. I mean, pretty soon we're going to be, we're
going to have people who might... Not just fine
us, but we could get arrested by people who are
not even Singaporeans. Oh, yeah. Funny, politically
incorrect story, okay? So I had this Swedish...
This is a politically incorrect show. Yeah, that's
why it's perfect. So I had this Swedish client
came in and I had a meeting with her at 6pm after
a whole day of meetings. Right. First time in
Singapore. Right. So she came out and I remember
I went to the lift, I brought her to the office
and she said, they were talking and she said,
Are you Singaporean? To me. I said, no. I can't
remember her name. Her name sounds like something
you would buy at Ikea. One of those. I said,
why do you ask that question? I said, I am Singaporean.
I said, no, are you Singaporean Singaporean?
What? I said, what do you mean? Today I met Singaporeans,
okay, who were originally from Malaysia. Singaporeans
who were from China and from India right you
know because she went she did a business round
right I've met people who are you know and then
are you Singaporean Singaporean she said were
you born here I said yeah she said no I met 20
people today you're the first Singaporean Singaporean
I've met holy shit she said and I was like Yeah,
shucks now. So if you look at... Singaporean,
Singaporean. Yeah. So I was just thinking that
she noticed it because I don't notice it. Singaporean,
fine. No, but there's one way of putting it.
Yeah, you're Singaporean, Singaporean. Yeah,
which is weird because it was not something I
brought up. It's so blind. I'm so blind to it.
But if you think about it, Singapore, okay, 6
million people right now. How many Singaporeans
are there? About 3 .5, maybe 4 million Singaporeans.
Maybe 3 .5, okay? Yeah. 3 .5 Singaporeans, okay?
How many are Singaporeans, Singaporeans? You
count out all the new citizens, okay, supposing.
It's about two mil. Yep, yep. Okay? Two point
something. Two point something, okay? Last month,
I was at my mom's place and I was showing my
daughter the antique collection of Encyclopedia
Britannica. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Yeah, she was like, Encyclopedia Britannica.
And then she was like, What's that? And I said,
this is our version of internet. That was on
Google. That was on Google. So if you look at
Singapore, 1984, population 2 .1 million. Yeah.
1984 population 2 million. That one is Singapore,
Singapore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's before the
floodgates opened. Yeah. 1984, Singapore, Singapore,
2 .1, 2 .5 million. Hey, we have not done a good
job, man. We have not done a good job, man. So
that's why, you know, Singaporeans have to procreate
faster. And if you can't, as in all countries
are facing that right now, okay, then you got
to import. And so therefore, you know, and interestingly,
when my son was in primary school, at one of
the PTA sessions, one parent stood up and said,
can we stop? can we disqualify the non -Singaporean
students from coming to this school because they're
raising the standard too much. And I was very
amused. I was thinking like, okay, then can you
tell the government to stop? This is global competition.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't do that. You can't
do that. No, that one I understand. But interestingly,
if let's say things, if things were a little
easier, life was a little easier. Wouldn't you
agree or wouldn't you think that younger Singaporeans
or younger couples would then decide to make
babies? Agreed. Absolutely agree. Easier as in
cheaper. Yeah. Maybe there are young couples
out there who believe that. I don't want to.
I heard it takes five years for a BTO flat now.
I don't know. I'm not in the market. I'm not
in the market either. But imagine if it takes
five years for me to get a flat to procreate.
yeah yeah assuming i want to procreate absolutely
so the the environment isn't conducive it's not
i mean when i say environment isn't conducive
don't just mean your physical environment like
you know you don't have a yeah i don't have a
flat to go and to go and procreate so but it's
a lot of i think it's a lot of factors it's fierce
it's fierce yeah yeah there's so many things
yeah and i think To bring a child, bring up a
child, you know, it's going to be so expensive.
We don't want to go through that stress. We'd
rather just be the two of us. You know, it's
easier for us to manage. That could be the narrative
that these people are having. Yeah. And these
are genuine concerns. Yeah, they are genuine
concerns. And we had them way back when. Things
were a lot easier. So right now it's tougher.
So it's the price of progress. But then again...
Sometimes it'd be nice to just tap the brakes
on progress for a bit. I agree. And that's why,
you know, if we look at, we've spoken about Gen
Zs, Gen Ys, Gen Xs like us. Yeah. You know, we
are at a stage where we are in our 50s. We're
kind of okay, quite set already. Yeah. Quite
set, settled in. Not really. Okay. More or less.
In a sense, the kids are grown up. Don't have
to pay for the pampers and the... So, a lot of
times now the Gen Xers, they are more worried
about career stability. And to which I say there
is none. There is none. There is none. So, you
really have to... We circle back to the original
question you posed earlier. Be your own boss
or work for people. Right. I think ultimately
towards the... till the end of your career, the
third part of your, third season of your career,
fourth season, you have to figure out how are
you going to be your own boss. Okay. Now that
you're talking about this, let's say for, I give
you a scenario, okay? You have two scenarios.
One, a young person, fortunate enough to land
a job in one of those big tech companies. It
could be a... It could be an Amazon, it could
be Google, it could be Meta, right? Like you
mentioned earlier. And, and this, but we do know,
and we've also seen examples, real examples of
this happening. Actually, this really did happen
where these guys, they had the exercise of retrenchment.
Yeah, lots of it. Right? And it happens like
once every two years or something like that,
right? Ongoing every other quarter. Oh dear.
Yeah, they do. It's so under the radar now. So
why would people actually go for these jobs then,
knowing that you could be at risk at any time?
Because the pay is astronomical. Yeah, but then
again, if there's no stability, then how? And
therefore, that's why, once again, it depends
on the season in your career. If you're in your
40s or 30s or 40s, then maybe you want to make
money while the sun shines. But... I understand
that once you're in your early 40s, you come
to a price range where people will start thinking,
is he delivering as much value as I'm paying
him? If I'm paying this guy $300 ,000 a year,
is he bringing me $3 million worth of business?
So now we're talking about someone older. Yeah.
How about this next scenario then? If you have
someone in their mid 40s to slightly late 40s,
slightly late 40s, offered to get into a job
with a, very high position, you know, and knowing
also that this is going to be still everyone's
subject to that exercise, right? Yeah. That clean
out, it's called the clean out exercise. Would
you say to that person it's a good idea for you
to do it? Well, it depends. So there are two
things that if you go in, it's just a money making
play. You make as much money as you can until
you get flushed out. Yeah. Okay. But the bigger
question is, do you want the kind of stress?
Because a lot of people know that it's going
to be lots of money, but lots of stress as well.
And you can be burnt out. So some people outright
say, I don't want to step in that place. Okay.
It's a furnace where they burn you out. Okay.
One person described one of the big tech companies
as a gigantic sugarcane press. Come in one end
fresh, right? The juice comes out. They squeeze
you one more time. No more juice. They squeeze
you one more time until you're totally devoid
of any juice, right? Soak you in water one more
last time. They squeeze every ounce of juice
for you because of the money they pay. So the
people who join this organization, some of them
really enjoy and thrive in those kind of environments.
Others just go in. Two years, three years, you
know, and then with that kind of experience,
I was with Google for two years. They go work
for a smaller company. That's stressful. But
because they have Google on their CV, they get
a bit of street crap, maybe. And then they start
winding down, toning down on their careers. So
to answer your question, sometimes they do it
for the money. Sometimes they do it for the prestige.
But don't ever think that you'll be there forever.
Because there's no more career longevity in those
places unless you're willing to play the game
at that level. And a lot of people can't be bothered,
seriously. It's a place where if you're not careful,
I'm not saying Google, I'm saying a lot of these
tech companies, it's a place where if you're
not careful, you will burn out. And if you're
even more careless about your own health, it
could be permanent. I know this person who actually
had a stroke because of the work. And he was
only 45. So much traveling and everything. It's
terrible, right? Yeah. So it happens. It just
happens. So one word of advice I always tell
people before they consider a high -paying job,
consider what we call the shit -per -dollar equation.
How much shit are you going to get for that dollar?
If you're going to be paid $20 ,000 a month,
but the stress you're going to get, and unpleasantness
is very high, maybe a $15 ,000 job with less
stress might be better. So don't look at a quantum
alone. Look at a shit per dollar. So the shit
per dollar equation is something you need to
look at. So right now, if you're in a job which
is okay and someone offers you double the pay
for double the shit, will you take it? I don't
know, man. Yeah, see? So there's a big question.
So we need to figure out what is your game, what's
your game plan, what's your strategy, and then...
take a smart step forward. Otherwise, you're
screwed. So someone in their 50s, for example,
you know, unhappy with his work, unhappy with
the job, as you said, you know, tired out already,
fed up with the politics. So back to the topic,
be a boss at that stage, make a real change.
If you can be a boss and especially if you have
experience in, if you've got good transferable
experiences. like sales. I always said, if you
can sell, you'll never go hungry. Okay. Right?
You can always find something to sell. Yeah.
Be it insurance, be it real estate, be it some
other sales job, whatever it is. It's the skill
that you have. Right. If you have a technical
skill, then even better still. You know, if you
have, if you have, like for yourself, you know,
you have the technical skills and this is a hobby
turned business as well. So this is, these are
all steps towards being your own boss. Yeah.
And I think try ahead in many, many things. Would
it be, would it be, would it be, to me, in this
environment in Singapore today, it seems that
it would be a better idea to be an entrepreneur.
Tough, eh? Entrepreneurs are, have it tough as
well, no? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The first time I
switched over when I started Career Agility in
2018, I mean, I've had different businesses running
before. First time I started running, I used
to have this joke that I quit my stressful nine
to eight job to start a business where I was
working 24 seven running a business because it's
just stressful. Right. So not everyone can be
an entrepreneur. Right. So for those people who
want to start a business, but may not. have the
DNA for it. My suggestion is start small, try,
see if you like it. Sometimes it helps if you
have a good partner, a good team to go in it
together. So you split the load. That has its
own share of challenges as well. Oh, yeah. I
mean, especially, oh, I've got eight partners.
Oh, yeah. Ten, you have been finished. Cannot
die. So, you know, and for my personal experience,
yeah. because I've had several businesses before.
It's okay to have great partners. When times
are tough, they'll stick by you. But when times
are good and money's rolling in, that's when
everyone starts to quarrel over everyone. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. What's my split? What's my split?
Yeah, right. It's like two robbers going out
together to go and carjack. I'm going to take
this. I'm going to take this. I don't need half.
I took more. I took more risk than you. Exactly,
right? So that happens. No order amongst thieves.
So entrepreneurship is a journey which it's,
if you're not cut out for it. So I used to have
this mentor and she used to tell me that people
who become entrepreneurs, they're actually crazy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. A bit loco, loco. Yeah, yeah.
But I just think that, you know, sometimes when
you really, when push comes to shove, man, and
you can't really get on anymore. Yeah. do your
own thing. I agree, I agree. You can even be
in the gig industry, you know, be a freelance
person. And there's some skills that you can
pick up. Yeah. Like your, remember you told me
about your locksmith friend. Yeah, yeah. Right?
He had no experience in locksmithing. But I tell
you something, man, that guy's grown, man. Yeah,
exactly, right? Yeah, see, so it's amazing. He
has grown and he's having fun. And I know this
guy, okay, he's young, 40, no, late 30 year old
guy. One morning, my car battery died. He, I
went on Google, I checked, I called him, he came
by. In 45 minutes, he got my car battery fixed.
And he told me, and he charged me 200 bucks for
it. Which I directly paid, otherwise I'd get
a tow truck and everything, right? Young guy
spoke very good English. And I said, you don't
look like a typical car battery repairman. He
said, I'm not. This is my business. I'm actually,
he says, changing batteries is not rocket science.
You stick it out, reconnect and put it in, right?
He was driving an Audi, okay? And he said, I'm
not the battery repairman. I'm a Google search
SEO expert. Wow. Because I know what time to
advertise. Yeah, yeah. Since I advertised on
Monday morning, I actually stayed. You know,
I peek and then I know how to play around. Guess
what? My locksmith friend does the same thing.
Yeah. So that's amazing. Yeah. So I think if
you want to find a business niche, you probably
could. Just be careful about it. But to your
point, I think everyone should have a hand in
being career independent. Yeah. Do your own stuff.
Yeah. This thing about career health, the government
is pushing for career health. Can you tell us
a little bit more about that? Okay, wind down
the show because we've been talking for an hour
and a half. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, it's the first
episode for this season has gone this long. Oh,
yeah. We've all been doing one hour shows, man.
Time flies in 35. So career health is something
that the government is pushing. Right. And it
basically says that if you want, to enjoy your
career, you must, you must have good career health.
Right. Meaning like, just like if you want to
have a good, if you want to live healthily, happy
life, right? You have to have your health, which
means that you need to work out, you need to
make sure that you're healthy. Yeah. So the government
is pushing career health. Okay. Okay. But. What's
the definition of career health? Yeah, exactly.
What's the definition of career health? Yeah.
And, and, and the government's definition is,
is not being healthy and it's quite generic.
If you ask them, if you ask them to pin down
his career health, you know. So it's very generic.
So for us, we've been talking about, we've not
called it career health, we call it career agility
for the longest time. And I think that I would
like to paraphrase the government's approach
to something that's more understandable to all
our clients. That's how we talk to our clients
about it and to our listeners out here. Why do
you stay healthy? in life in just general why
do we stay healthy so you continue to live well
yeah you know happy happy and live long long
yeah I say long so likewise you have to adapt
mindset that the goal of career health is sustainability
correct career sustainability career longevity
right to continue working until the day you want
to say hang up your boots screw it I'm done I'm
done yeah so So being in charge of your career,
having career longevity, and in the meantime,
being able to do the things that you want to
do without hurting yourself. Right. And being
resilient. Okay. So all these elements come into
play. That's why the analogy for career health
is perfect, but the understanding isn't. So I
would say that if you want to have good career
health, you got to start talking about what are
the things I can do? What are the things I can't
do? Right. How do I get stronger in some places?
It's like my gym instructor used to tell me,
you know, it's not enough to be strong. Right.
You have to be toned, you have to be flexible
because if you're strong and not flexible, you'll
pop something if you're not. Ah, yeah. Sounds
like, sounds familiar, man. Sounds familiar.
Thank you very much for bringing that up. Ah,
so he says that, you know, everything else has
to be, has to be a holistic approach. Right,
right. So it's not just enough to be. skill in
one area, you know, you need to know how to be
resilient. Yeah. You need to know how to manage
upwards, how to manage your teammates and everything,
how to continue being relevant, use technology.
So career health is all encompassing. Right.
And we need to look at it. So a lot of times
there's a lot of work. nice buzzwords and platitudes.
Like, you know, you must make sure you enjoy
a good career health. But the question is, what
is career health? And we need to stop and start
thinking about what is career health. And I think
it's important that we are looking at it. But
then how do you measure career health? Yeah.
How do you measure career health? I mean, if
I just have your blood pressure, you've got your
everything. How do you measure career health,
right? So that's why we actually developed, as
I said, an AI. that helps to at least give you
a baseline. I'm going to do a pitch here. It's
called, it's at coachcarroll .ai. Okay. Okay,
where you do a 30 question test and your results
are out in what we like to call a blood work
format where all the indicators of career health
are there. So you can have a chat and say, look,
maybe you're just not happy with your work -life
balance. Maybe you're not happy with your salary.
So these are areas which highlight and then you
can start talking about that element of your
career health with your coach. or with our AI
career bot. So ultimately, I think we need to
step back and look holistically and measure it
and see what is the thing that's causing us either
pain or is a threat to our career longevity and
not be in long run. Yeah. Because sometimes it's
work -life balance. You know, sometimes when
we have these conversations, man, I... Sometimes
I find it hard, a little bit difficult to relate,
you know, because I've never worked for anyone.
So it's very hard. That's a wonderful blessing
to have. I can only surmise, you know, and assume,
only through my dealings with corporate office,
you know, then I can only make assumptions from
what I've listened to, what people share and
all that kind of stuff. But I've never gone through
it. never been through it. You know, so it's,
when you talk about career health and all that,
to me, it's quite alien. No, but in terms of
you being able to be agile, you know, to push
sales and to hit, you know, to operate a business.
So, the very fact that you're thriving means
that your career is pretty good. I do. But the
big question, once again, is the longevity and
that's why we're here doing this. longevity.
It's longevity because even for individuals,
But I think at different stages in life, you
end up feeling different about different things.
Yes. Like, you know, we talked about this before,
you get several epiphanies in life, you know,
that there are things that's more important than
just looking at your ambitions and your career.
You might just wake up one morning and realize
that shit per dollar is not worth it. Yeah. Okay,
yeah. But then again, what happens if you need
it, man? Then you suck it up by the cup and just...
Suck it up by the cup. That's funny. You hear
that one a long time. Shucks. Where did it come
from? Sesame Street. I don't think so. Was it
suck... Maybe in Sesame Street you could suck
it up by the cup. But seriously, okay, quit whining
and get... There's some advisors who tell me,
you know, quit whining and get shit done. That's
what I tell my kids as well. Yeah. Just get it
done. Just do it. Just do it. Someone else will
do it for you. Someone else is going to do it.
Someone hungrier will do it for you and that's
it. Yeah. I mean, you can even take the next
three, five years and then, you know, work hard
at it and then see where you go from there. And
that's really funny because I remember this internet
meme. Yeah. It shows this very successful looking
guy in front of his Lamborghini and it says,
my boss tells me that if I work really hard for
the next three years, he can afford another Lamborghini.
That's a sucky part of my life. That's a sucky
part of my life, right? Let's not do your point.
You got to be that guy. You got to be that guy.
How do you be that guy? How do you be that guy?
The harder you work, like what you said earlier,
the more responsibility is being pushed on you.
Yeah, man. And then, therefore, you know, if
I were to work that hard. So, one of my reasons
why I do the business is because, or started
a business is because If I'm working that hard
to earn this amount of money, if I work that
hard for myself, the quantum is a lot better.
Or even if it isn't initially, if it's really
half, it's my money. It's my money. So I think
everyone should have a gig, side gig. Everyone
should have a side hustle. You never know when
the side hustle is going to become a big one.
Yeah, that's true. But sometimes, you know, some
people's side hustle really, you know, for a
fact, will not get you anywhere too. Sometimes.
There are some. But some side hustles are not
meant for money. Some side hustles are meant
for fun. Yeah. And feeds the soul while your
day job jets, day job pays the bills. So, it
depends. Okay, talking a lot about meanness in
this episode. Yeah, okay then. It's all about
you, isn't it? This whole show is all about you.
Should we just call it the Chris Hansen Show?
It is called the Chris Hansen... It is the Chris
Hansen Conversation. No, no, it's all about the
Chris Hansen Conversation. But thanks very much,
man. I mean, I appreciate all the candor. As
usual. As usual. Yeah, I really appreciate that.
I mean, okay. It's still a conundrum. We didn't
really answer the question, frankly. It's still
a conundrum. It is. Yeah. And it's something
that it's up to the individual, you know, individually
to decide whether or not you, if you have, you
said it correctly at the very start of the show.
If you've got an idea, don't waste time. Go get
it done. Just do it. You know, if you really
believe in an idea, just go do it because someone
else is going to do it. Somebody else is going
to think about it. Somebody's going to beat you.
Somebody's going to beat you. Yeah. You know,
and it's really up to the individual, man. But
if you're so young and you haven't a clue and
you're so young and stupid like we all were,
then get a job. Get a real job. And suck it up.
Suck it up, buttercup. That should be the moral.
That's the story. One more time. One, two, three.
Suck it up, buttercup. Yeah. Thanks, bro. We
got to close shop now. It's been a long time
we've been talking, but thanks, bro. Really appreciate
it, bro. Captain Careers, everybody. If you really
need some advice, all you need to do is just
head down and catch Agent Joe at Career Agility
International, and he will straighten your shit
out. And we're really just we're going to keep
moving along, people. And a couple of more episodes
to go before we close season five of the Chris
Henson conversation. And until next time, until
the next episode, stay safe. Bye bye. The Chris
Henson conversation. No scripts, no filters,
just real talk. The most authentic conversations
in Singapore.