What Are Your Three Things?

This episode of Three Things is very different. It is dedicated to one topic: the incredibly brave and resolute people of Ukraine. My guest is Chris O’Shea, a permanent resident of Ukraine, a close friend, international management consultant and author. Chris’ wife Liana and her mother are among the hundreds of thousands of citizens currently shielding in underground shelters across the region. In Kyiv City, thousands spend nights in the Kyiv underground in heartrending scenes reminiscent of London during the Blitz. Sadly, by all accounts, it appears that civilian population centres are being wilfully targeted by Russia's military forces as part of a terror campaign designed to crush the will of the population. We try to understand what is happening on the ground today and what may happen in the days and weeks ahead. As Chris explains, the situation is dire and, in addition to the Russian invasion, citizens are still dealing with Covid. Shops have been closed for days and people have little food or water and minimal internet connectivity. Artillery, rockets and small arms fire are a constant throughout his, and virtually every, neighbourhood. Chris will share personal insights that his family are sharing with him daily since the onset of hostilities and explain what life is like today, how Ukrainians view their futures and what the global community can do to help. Despite having an overwhelming strategic advantage, Chris is confident that Russian armed forces will ultimately be defeated and that Ukraine will endure and prevail. Please listen to this episode to get an informed, tragic but insightful perspective on the situation in Ukraine. If you want to donate, please go here https://bit.ly/3huCycv. Thanks. Слава Україні, слава героям! Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the Heroes! Team Three Things.

Is your future important to you? Do you want to build your best career? What are the skills most in demand today? What can executives do to stand out in a competitive market? What can employers do to attract the highest quality talent? In this Three Things, Anna Whitlam tells you. Leading executive search professional Anna is CEO of AWPeople and APAC Teneo Talent Advisory. Anna and her team work across the globe to provide executive search and strategy advisory services. www.awpeople.com. A serial entrepreneur, Anna has founded several successful advisory firms, most recently seeing AWPeople acquired by global CEO advisory firm, Teneo. An alumna of Harvard Business School and INSEAD, Anna is a respected industry thought leader and often cited as one of Australia’s top female entrepreneurs. Anna’s mission is singular: help professionals realise their career aspirations. We cover a lot of ground and Anna shares industry-insider intelligence for anyone thinking about their next career move. If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the Podcast! Team Three Things

Quentin is an author, a British parliamentary sketch writer and theatre critic who has written for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, numerous magazines and now writes for the Times and Sunday Times. You can find him on Twitter @thequentinletts and www.quentinletts.co.uk. He is also a regular guest on numerous shows including the BBC’s Any Questions where his answers usually achieve the loudest laughs – and a fair few boos! Impish and fiercely independent, Quentin uses the English language as a cartoon. How does he describe the current Government investigation into 10 Downing Street’s alleged Christmas parties in the 2020 lockdown? “Part pantomime, part Pink Panther”. Inspector Clouseau is on the case! A prolific author, Quentin’s work includes Fifty People who Buggered Up Britain, Patronising Bastards and, most recently, Stop Bloody Bossing Me About. To quote the author, “reasonable people have had enough of being bossed about. And when reasonable people stop respecting the law, society has a problem.” His past may also illuminate his present: he has worked as a barman, dustman, door-to-door salesman, warehouseman and Father Christmas. From dustbins to politics: it’s not such a long journey, maybe. Quentin’s mission is to harass, tickle and tease the politicians and poohbahs allegedly “in charge” and he does so with a happy irreverence. Enjoy the podcast! (Quick technical note: the audio quality is a bit off for the first few minutes, but it quickly improves!) If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Team Three Things

This is a different Three Things! Instead of one person sharing Three Things, we have three people sharing One Thing they have learned in their time on the planet. Our amazing new guest is Dr Laurena Law who is an Integrative GP. A conventional doctor by training, Laurena integrates the best of both evidence-based approaches in functional medicine and traditional Western medical practices. We also welcome back Dr Vanessa Wong, Three Things’ favourite psychiatrist who will share more of her insights into mental health and living well. In addition to their individual work, they both run a wellbeing practice in Hong Kong. www.anantawellbeing.com. I also have a minor role in the podcast and share what I think is the vital Secret to Life. The three of us cover a huge arc from our working days, family relationships, fragility, personal growth and 2022. We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot, specifically getting into why do we have to be “patient” when visiting a medical professional? We also get into the best things we can cook (spoiler alert: spaghetti alla vongole, beef wellington and brownies) and discuss the connections between organised space and a happy brain. “Marie Kondo your life” is a takeaway from this show. My promise to you? Listeners will have a laugh and gain real value from smart people. Well, two smart people and me. If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the Podcast! Team Three Things.

Think of this Three Things as your personal consultation with psychiatrist Dr Vanessa Wong. The last two years have seen unprecedented levels of stress and mental health challenges for virtually everyone. Some countries and places have done better than others, but overall workplace, home, family and personal stress levels have seen record highs. What can we do? How can we manage through these unprecedented times? To find some answers I asked Specialist in Psychiatry Dr Vanessa Wong. Trained at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, Vanessa went on to practice psychiatry at the Hospital Authority for ten years before setting up her own practice in 2014 (www.drvanessawong.com). Her philosophy lies in balancing psychiatry as a science that treats mental disorders and promoting a healthy lifestyle. She emphasises nutrition, exercise, sleep and mindfulness as key factors to improve mental well-being. Vanessa looks for the root causes of issues and not just treating the symptoms. We talk about mental health during Covid, how couples can communicate better, rock climbing and why funny stuff is vital. If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the Podcast! Team Three Things

Kiki Wong knows how to tell when you are lying. She is a forensics specialist who has built her career researching and understanding body language, micro facial expressions and lie detection.

Previously working at New Scotland Yard in London, specialising in homicide fingerprint analysis, today she and her husband run The Silent Company (www.thesilentcompany.net). The team helps clients with lie detection using verbal and non-verbal skills in micro-facial expressions, body language, voice tonality and verbal response. Her clients include some of the best-known businesses and brands in Hong Kong and worldwide. 

We chat about how to know when someone is lying to you, what body language “tells” people should look out for and why our social media behaviour speaks volumes about who we are. We also discuss the signs that suggest your partner may be having an affair, how best to ask for a pay rise and can you tell if someone is in love with you! 

It is a fascinating conversation and listeners will be able to put the lessons learned to work immediately. 

 If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the Podcast! 

 Team Three Things

Andy Coulson is the definition of resilience and proof of the theory that, in life, one should always keep going. A former 10 Downing Street Director of Communications, working with then Prime Minister David Cameron, he was also a lead strategist in the Conservative Party’s successful 2010 UK General Election campaign. Prior to politics, Andy was Editor of the News of the World and had a 20-year career in senior media editorial roles. Andy now runs Coulson Partners, a fast-growing corporate strategy and communications firm based in Central London (www.coulsonpartners.com). Amidst his current success, he has also experienced past personal challenges that very few could even begin to imagine. In June 2014 Andy was found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails and served just under five months in prison. In this Three Things podcast, Andy discusses the advice he now gives CEOs in 2021, what trends he sees ahead for the media, what he learnt when in prison and how he found the strength to keep going. We have a fascinating conversation about his arc from editing one of the world’s best-selling newspapers, to moving to one of most powerful offices on the planet, through his darkest days and now bringing what he learned to advise clients: helping them achieve the right reputation to drive their businesses and lives forward. Andy also puts his experience to work on his own podcast www.crisiswhatcrisis.com where he interviews the survivors of all manner of crises. If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the Podcast! Team Three Things

Welcome to our amazing new Three Things Podcast with wonderful special guest Saffie Ng, top Hong Kong yoga instructor, model, nutrition coach and fitness trainer. www.instagram.com/saffiesaffie/.

“Step right into your fear” is her philosophy and she lives her life around two questions: how to find happiness and what is her purpose? Describing her life as a roller-coaster of ups and downs, Saffie grew up as the youngest child in a traditional family bringing out a lifelong competitive streak. Developing an early love for extreme sports such as ice-climbing and rock-climbing, she had a catastrophic motorbike accident in a remote part of Indonesia in 2013. Defining her recovery as the longest, darkest time in her life, she felt trapped in her “mental cave” with suicidal thoughts, losing herself in the process.

In our talk, Saffie shares how she prevailed after her severe injuries, after initially not being able to even look at her reflection and removing all the mirrors in her house. She will talk about how she rebuilt and recharged her life, both physically and mentally, and tell us how she found a new happiness today by turning everything around in her life. She will explain why our yesterdays should not shape our tomorrows, how far we can go in life and why fresh starts and new beginnings are always within our reach. Thanks for listening! If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected].

Kevin is a career Hong Kong lawyer who started practicing in 1992, moving permanently from London to Hong Kong in 1997. Having worked for some of the largest international and local law firms, Kevin started his own firm (www.bowers.law) in April 2020 which will soon have 13 lawyers on its books and has already represented close to 200 corporate and individual clients, including some of the world's largest multi-national insurance, media, property and airline companies. Described by his friends as Hong Kong’s most entrepreneurial lawyer (example: he has abandoned traditional law firm hourly rates for fixed project fees), Kevin’s clients, colleagues and friends say he is “driven”, “loyal” and “resilient”. He is also creative, funny and has many tales to tell about his past cases which span from money laundering and fraud to kidnapping! Over the years, Kevin has faced his own legal challenges, being found innocent of all charges in a 2019 criminal case. Under pressure that few can only imagine, Kevin made a positive out of this experience and says that it makes him an even better lawyer being able to speak from his own experience on the other side! Irreverent, quick-witted and to-the-point, clients rely on Kevin to help them navigate highly complex and contentious legal cases. Enjoy the podcast! If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening. Team Three Things

Three Things is a podcast series where business, sporting and entertainment leaders share their life highs and lows and essence their experience into three things they wished their younger self had known. Compelling, funny and moving, listeners are taken on very personal interviewee journeys and leave with real life advice that they can put into practice as they wish. The Three Things host is Charles Lankester, a communications and marketing adviser who represents some of the world’s best known brands and individuals. Based in Hong Kong, over Series 1, Charles will interview people who have seen success and challenge, have been in the public eye for good and bad reasons and share the lessons they learned along the way. If you would like more information about Three Things, the team or our guests, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening! Team Three Things.