I’m delighted to bring you today the first in a series of conversations from a remarkable day-long session put on by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs, or ACF, at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The session was held on Monday, February 3, and was called “Getting China Right.” On today’…

This week on Sinica, I chat with economic historian Andrew B. Liu of Villanova University about how to understand Trump's thinking on China and tariffs. Andy wrote about this in an excellent piece on N+1 called "Back to the 80s? Trump, Xi Jinping, and Tariffs." Check it out and then listen to the show! 3:59 – How the U.S.’s current trade anxieties …

Pouyan Salehi is the co-founder and CEO of Scratchpad—a company trying to take the busy work out of sales. He has founded three other companies, including PersistIQ (acquired by Wishpond) and Stackmob (acquired by PayPal). In addition to being a serial founder and entrepreneur he is also a husband and a Dad to three kids. We discussed: * Coming to …

Alex Lloyd Hunter is co-founder of The Dad Shift—a group of men, dads and co-parents campaigning for better paternity leave in the UK. He has been a founder, a non-profit leader, and an organizer for the Labour Party. In addition to being an advocate for better paternity leave policies he’s also a husband and the father of a young son. We discussed…

This week as we enter the Year of the Snake, Sinica co-founder Jeremy Goldkorn makes a re-appearance on the show. It's been a year since his last, and much has changed — and indeed, if Jeremy is right, we may be at an inflection point in American attitudes toward China. With the "TikTok Refugees" on Xiaohongshu or "RedNote" taking in a view of Chin…

Happy Chinese New Year! This week, while I'm decompressing from 10 days in the Alps, my friends at the Asia Society of Switzerland have graciously offered to let me share a podcast recorded just after the U.S. presidential election in November at their annual State of Asia event. "The State of China" features three terrific guests: Wang Qing (王卿), …

Paul Sullivan is the founder of Company of Dads—a community for Lead Dads which he created to provide more support for Dads who are also the primary caregivers at home. He is also the best-selling author of two books: Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t and The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of The Super Wealthy. He ha…

This week, I bring you the first in a series of podcasts in conjunction with the China Research Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The series, titled "Studying China in the Absence of Access: Rediscovering a Lost Art," ran from September to November 2021, and featured four eminent "Pekingologists," or speci…

Cory 'O’Daniel is the co-founder and CEO of Massdriver, a platform designed to simplify and streamline the management of cloud infrastructure and DevOps processes. Cory had been a software architect and engineer for 20 years leading up to the founding of MassDriver. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband and the father of tw…

I know I'd said last time there would be no show this week, but that was before this fascinating episode involving TikTok users signing up en masse to Xiaohongshu. Hilarity ensued, and my two guests — Ivy Yang, who runs Wavelet Strategy, an expert in cross-cultural communication, and David Fishman, Shanghai-based senior manager at Lantau Group who …

This week on Sinica, I'm joined by Lizzi Lee, fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute and by my lights one of the most astute, well-informed people writing on China in the English-speaking world today. She has fascinating perspectives on China's preparations for the Trump administration, on China's reluctance to roll out large-scale cash stimul…

Ben Lauzier is the co-founder and CEO of Nurra – an AI-powered health assistant that helps you navigate your healthcare and gives you a health advocate for your complex needs. Prior to that he was the VP of Product at Thumbtack and a long-time product leader at Lyft, where we first met. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband…

This week on Sinica, I speak with Nicole Hong and Michael Rothfeld, both investigative reporters at the New York Times, about a series of stories they've done, stretching between August and December 2024, on the Falun Gong-run performance troupe Shen Yun, and the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper The Epoch Times. Read the latest two articles in that …

Matt Martin is the co-founder and CEO of Clockwise – an amazing product that optimizes your team’s schedules to create more time in everyone’s day. Prior to that he was an engineer and a lawyer. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband and the father of three kids, including a set of identical twins! We discussed: * Changes in…

This week on Sinica, I welcome back Michael Cerny — formerly of the Carter Center and now a Ph.D. student at Harvard — and Rory Truex of Princeton University to discuss a new working paper they've co-authored. They undertook a large-scale survey of foreign policy professionals at U.S. think tanks to ascertain whether there is a "consensus" on China…

This week on Sinica I'm delighted to be joined by Amy King, Associate Professor in the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre at The Australian National University. She shares her ideas about how perceptions of insecurity can paradoxically motivate closer economic relations between two states, and she looks at not only the examples of China and Japan a…

Today I’m releasing the best of Startup Dad from 2024! Across over 50 hours of conversations, hundreds of topics, and approaching 100 Dads (and Moms) I’ve covered a lot. In this episode you’ll hear from dozens of executives and founders like Scott Belsky of Adobe, Immad Akhund from Mercury, Siqi Chen from Runway, Chris Miller from Hubspot, Lane Sha…

China's rapid surge in electric vehicle manufacturing, adoption, and export has variously encouraged, delighted, impressed, frightened, and even enraged people around the world. What did China get right in facilitating the explosive development in this industry? Was is just subsidies, or were there other important policies that helped jumpstart it?…

Chip Leighton is a comic and the creator and host of The Leighton Show, a social media platform with more than 1.5 million followers and 250 million views. His comedy focuses on funny relationship and parenting moments with teenagers and he’s recently published a book based on them called What Time Is Noon? For several decades he was a marketing le…

This week on Sinica, I chat with Jane Hayward, lecturer at King's College London, about her excellent YouTube channel, Jane Hayward China, and her efforts to bring up-to-date scholarship on modern and contemporary China to audiences through internet video, slaying various bugbears along the way. 3:28 Why Jane started her YouTube channel, her intend…

Ryan Bozarth is the co-founder and CEO of Dakota, a business bank powered by crypto. Prior to that he was the CEO of Coinbase Custody, a Product Manager at AirBnB and a GM at Square. In addition to all that he’s also a husband and the father of two kids. We discussed: * Using work as a way to teach your kids about important subjects * Demonstrating…

Welcome to a special episode of Startup Dad! It’s the holiday time again when the list of responsibilities, performances, potlucks and gifts goes through the roof for already busy parents. To help you navigate the chaos I’ve asked many of my past guests to share with me their favorite books from the past year – those they’d gift to another person a…

This week on Sinica, I chat with Michael Swaine, Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for the last couple of years, prior to which he spent nearly two decades as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he led extensive work on Chinese defense and foreign policy, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian interna…

Martin Glover is an IT professional by day and the founder of cooking Website Dad What Cooks by night. He turned a love of bread baking, barbecuing and being the primary cook in the family into a fantastic Website and recipe guide for Dads everywhere. He’s on a mission to help Dads learn cooking skills and be more involved in the kitchen starting w…

The British literary quarterly Granta has published a new issue dedicated to Chinese writers, featuring familiar mainstays of contemporary literature and some fresh new voices. This week on Sinica, I chatted with Thomas Meaney, editor of Granta, about what's happening in the literary scene in China today and how this fantastically interesting issue…

Bianca Schulze is the founder and editor of The Children's Book Review—a resource devoted to children's literature and literacy—and the host of The Growing Readers Podcast. Bianca is also the author of DON'T WAKE THE DRAGON which has been translated into 20 languages and is now a six-book series, as well as 101 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU GROW UP whic…

This week on Sinica in a show taped live at China Crossroads, Shanghai's premier event series, I'm joined by my good friend Cameron Johnson, who is on the governing board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, specializes professionally in supply chains in China, and teaches at NYU Shanghai. 4:20 – What makes up a supply chain ecosystem, …

Carlo Navarro is a former marketing leader turned fractional executive and the owner of the @StartupDad instagram handle (I’m jealous!). He’s been a mentor in the Chicago startup scene via 1871 and a marketing director and sales leader at companies like Blueleaf, Carrum Health, Pandora and more. He’s also a husband and the father of five (!) kids. …

This week, in a show taped in Beijing at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, I speak with Professor Da Wei about a new public opinion poll on China's perception of international security and review its important findings. We also discuss Chinese views on the Russo-Ukrainian War and the upcoming U.S. presidenti…

Nathan Jefferson is an entrepreneur, turned tech recruiter, turned entrepreneur (again). His latest company, Dadversity, is focused on helping Dads improve their personal, professional and parenting skills. It’s rooted in his own lived experience with two abusive stepfathers and a biological father who left him at a young age. He’s on a mission to …

Phil Carter is a consumer subscription growth expert and advisor. He has built a popular Reforge course on consumer subscriptions and advises companies on their growth strategy. Prior to that he led growth and product functions at Faire, Quizlet and Ibotta. Phil is also a husband and the father of two kids. Phil’s wife, Ashley, founded a non-profit…

This week on Sinica, in a show recorded in Beijing, I speak with Liu Yang and Jiang Jiang, the authors of two excellent newsletters — The Beijing Channel and Ginger River Review, respectively — and two of the guys behind the YouTube show "Got China." They're making a great effort to bridge Chinese journalism with Anglophone reporting on China with …

Rob Taylor is a growth and sales advisor and the founder of the Dads in Business community. Dads in Business is a supportive network of content, resources and community to help busy dads better manage themselves, their family and their business. Rob is also a husband and the father of four children. In our conversation today we discussed: * What to…