The Business Wellness Podcast

Today's featured guest is my friend Robert Kienzle. 

"#virtual #hybrid #remote" - Such common terms today were much further down our list of daily vocabulary just a couple years ago. 

As we all continue to bear the brunt of the pandemic, be it wave 4 or wave 5, the reality is that our mode of communication has changed forever. There is now another layer of connectivity that must be adopted in both our personal and professional life. While there are early adopters and digital natives who effortlessly swing in and out of the in real life (#IRL) and digital economy, many of us are still working to get up to speed, fight off screen exhaustion, and communicate effectively, two dimensionally with only our upper torso.  

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Robert has over 15 years of business training and coaching experience on all 7 continents. Robert is the Senior Consultant at Knowmium (Hong Kong) and an Associate Professor at Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business (Seoul). He works with Fortune 100 companies throughout Asia and beyond on topics including presentation, negotiation, personal branding, intercultural communication, influence, writing, and virtual communication. Robert authored the book Hybrid Live Guide and was a World Championship of Public Speaking semi-finalist in 2014 and 2015. He holds a number of certifications including Master Trainer (Association for Talent Development), Team Management Profile and Linking Leader Profile (Team Management Systems), and Hogan Assessment Certification.

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Resources

Why Hello there!

Apologies for the small hiatus - I recently relocated from Hong Kong back to my hometown Toronto. This was a big milestone of a decision and I needed to allow myself and family to acclimate back. I've been saving some amazing people for new podcast episodes. 

For my very first guest since my Canadian return - I have an American of Greek decent who lives in Costa Rica! 

Introducing: Dannie Kravetz, an Entrepreneur/business owner/Medicine woman. Dannie owns and operates La Ruka, a hostel on the Caribbean Coast of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. 

A little more about this unique human: 

a- I am a versatile and flexible human. I can be ready for anything.

b- My goal/purpose in life is to walk this Earth in the name of harmony and Love and share this vibration to all I encounter. 

c- I believe everyone and everything is connected and there is no such thing as coincidence 😉 

Contact Dannie

Email: danniek2777@gmail.com  

Instagram: Larukahostel or danniek7911

In this episode, we are fortunate to host Mark Szeto, an ex-Investment banker turned Founder and CEO of開心醫館, a Chinese Medicine Telehealth Platform. Mark has worked in the most grueling and challenging of professional environments. He has taken those career defining moments to work in the next evolution of his already illustrious career: Telehealth and Traditional Chinese Medicine. 

We aren't talking about 2 new avenues, we used to believe that Telehealth was the new innovative revolution of health and medical and that Traditional Chinese Medicine was a long dedicated path to ancient practices. But, here Mark is doing this TOGETHER. This really is the future of what healthcare is becoming and he is at the fore-front, a pioneer of the industry and making leaps and bounds. 

I wanted to have him on as my guest to learn more about his origin story and also what he sees in this industry. 

Mark has also dedicated his career as a senior executive of an entertainment production company and has a need for speed with his motorcycle hobby. It was a pleasure speaking with him and I look forward to seeing his continued development of this exciting new industry.

In this very special 10th episode, I have built up the confidence to bring on my wife and partner in crime and better half, Patty Ng. This is a multi-part episode given all the content that Patty and I can unpack together and share!  

For now, this first part delves into the extremely important topic of ESG. What is ESG? How does it play a role within the business world? How can business leaders learn to adopt more sustainable practices leveraging ESG as a framework?

Patty is a Sustainability Consultant for the strategic branding and communications agency Sedgwick Richardson. She helps large corporations with their ESG best practices, guiding them through global benchmarks and ultimately helping them to be more than sustainable. I am proud of the fact that my partner is so passionate about the space and an incredibly diligent force towards helping companies reduce their carbon emissions to save our planet.

From entering the workforce to mental health and what matters most right now in life, I had the privilege to explore the minds of two bright and opinionated future business leaders of Generation Z.  

Let's ask ourselves: 

• How connected do you feel to the youngest generation of the workforce today, Gen Z? 
• How distant do you feel to this generation? 
• How much of a lack of understanding do you have about this group who grew up with technology integrated into their entire life? 
• Do you know what motivates them or what makes them tick? 

In this episode, Tiffany Lo & Jennifer Qu, Ivey Business School (my alma mater!) undergraduate business, finance and accounting majors both have no shortage of confidence in what they like and dislike, yet somehow still feel apprehensive about what the future holds...yet, don't we all?

We talk about many relevant topics that are spoken about in the workplace today. I hope this will give you a perspective about pertinent topics that you can consider building into your corporate policies and guidelines for building a conscious and caring business.

Thanks for your continued support! I'm already onto my 6th episode and couldn't be happier to have my friend of over 8 years, Melissa Leung, as my guest of this episode about embracing change.

Mel is a recruiter turned change management consultant for the global real estate group CBRE. She works within the Workplace strategy team as a newly promoted senior manager and provides change management services for clients within the finance and banking industry.

We talk about her journey transitioning from recruitment and talent acquisition to workplace strategy and corporate change management. We also dive into deeper topics about mental wellbeing and some tips for her younger self. Mel was a pleasure to speak to and regularly hosts town halls and workshops for her clients about change.

Reach out to her here:

Welcome to the 5th episode of Better Business. I am very fortunate to have Norris Wong, an HR consultant chat with me today. 

This discussion focuses on some very critical topics pertaining to the role of human resources within the corporate environment. We learn about what it takes to be a strong HR leader in today's corporate world, the mediation balancing act between managing HR at the core company headquarters versus managing HR from on the ground in regional offices globally. 

We also talk about the right mindset that employees and HR professionals must take to ensure that HR is more than just a cost center, rather a multiplier and enabler in the organization. 

Norris is a human resources expert through and through. She has worked with some of world’s largest conglomerates and multi-national global corporations, from AIA to State Street, to A.S. Watson Group Prudential, Castrol and BP. Extremely passionate and knowledgeable - we also dive into her personal inspirations and the books she is currently reading for new insights.

Norris’ focus and expertise rests within Compensation & Benefits. She is currently the managing consultant for Inspire You Consulting, a corporate rewards and human resources strategy consulting firm in Hong Kong.

Norris' voice is naturally very calming in nature, so my bonus episode features her narrating a Guided Tuza Meditation!!! Go check it out if you wish to relax.