For the first interview of Red Dot Voices, I spoke to Calvin Soh.

Calvin’s background is in advertising and he’s previously been a creative leader at some of the best agencies in the world: Fallon, Publicis and R/GA.

While Calvin no longer works in the industry, as I found out, his creative journey is really just getting started.

As part of his mission to prepare his family for an exponential future, he set up One Kind House, an urban farm and cooking experience designed to recreate the kampong community spirit in 21st Century Singapore.

Our wide-ranging discussion also touched on the education systems of Singapore and Finland, the importance of building up a life skills CV, whether or not you can teach creativity and hustle, and why the ad industry is changing so much.

https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=13169183

Show Notes

• Brief on leaving advertising (1:40)
• Influence of Mummy Soh (3:34)
• Preparing his children for an exponential future (5:18)
• Finnish and Singaporean education systems (7:54)
• Living in Finland (12:15)
• Importance of life skills CV (15:48)
• Can you teach creativity and hustle? (19:54)
• Technology and boredom (22:37)
• Scaling creativity in education (23:55)
• Pros and cons of universal basic income (26:48)
• What skills from advertising does Calvin use now (31:14)
• Why advertising industry is changing (33:33)
• Current projects (38:35)
• Opportunity of voice technology (40:38)
• Changed ways of working in advertising (44:07)
• Quick fire questions on Singapore (46:44)
• Which creative person would you like to shine a spotlight on? (51:08)
• Who would you like to say thank you to and why? (52:57)

Links

• One Kind House Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/experiences/42827
• GIY Stick Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/849992274/giy-stick-let-nature-self-water-your-pots
• Dylan Soh TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LynjcGDOwgM&t=12s
• Finnish-ing School | The Straits Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISCnrqfiZzk
• Calvin & Dylan interviewing a Finnish teacher: https://www.facebook.com/371985439500989/videos/1565038246862363/
• NASA study on creativity: https://www.inc.com/rohini-venkatraman/4-ways-to-get-back-creativity-you-had-as-a-kid.html
• Andrew Yang 2020 Campaign: https://www.yang2020.com/

Getting In Touch

Join the Red Dot Voices group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedDotVoices/

Disclaimer

Unless otherwise stated, I do not receive any payment or gifts in kind for endorsement. I also promise never to try and sell you Fit Tea.