From Big Tech to Executive Coach | Parin Mehta’s Career Pivot Story

From Google & Airbnb to Executive Coaching | Parin Mehta on Career Reinvention, AI, and Leadership

In this episode of The Generalists, hosts Michael Smith Jr. and Razko Kotler sit down with Parin Mehta, former Google and Airbnb leader turned executive coach, to explore the transition from Big Tech to coaching, and what it takes to lead with curiosity, clarity, and consistency.

Parin discusses:

  • How to leverage corporate leadership experience in executive coaching
  • Building CoachParin: from newsletter community to AI-driven coaching bot
  • Cultivating curiosity, discipline, and wellness for sustainable leadership

👥 Hosts:

👤 Guest:

Parin Mehta – CoachParin: http://coachparin.com

🔗 Resources & Links:

🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe if you’re ready to lead with more clarity, courage, and curiosity. 👉👉👉Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

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#ExecutiveCoaching #CareerChange #BigTechExit #LeadershipDevelopment #ParinMehta #GoogleToCoach #AIInCoaching #MentalWellness #TheGeneralistsPodcast #CoachingJourney

Breaking Barriers in Cybersecurity | Melissa Tiong’s Vision for APAC Tech Leaders

Breaking Barriers in Cybersecurity | Melissa Tiong on Building Inclusive Tech Communities in APAC

In this episode of The Generalists, hosts Michael Smith Jr. and Razko Kotler sit down with Melissa Tiong, Strategic Account Director at NCC Group, to explore her vision for a more inclusive and resilient cybersecurity community across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

What You’ll Learn:

  • How to build and scale a supportive cybersecurity community
  • Key strategies for diversity, inclusion, and risk management
  • Practical advice for cybersecurity startups on marketing, visibility, and growth

Melissa shares her personal leadership journey, how she overcame barriers as a woman in a male-dominated field, and why community-building is central to the future of cybersecurity in APAC.

👥 Hosts:

👤 Guest:

🔗 Resources Mentioned:

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more expert insights on leadership, tech, and innovation in Asia-Pacific and beyond. 👉👉👉Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast

Watch Our Other Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Q4feosAG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Ms6OmjQuE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQmsxLyFDCA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=570M_BEvPRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMI-gZEXWkc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktqu–_H1JY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMlBpmMVi-E

From Microsoft to Startup: Why I Left After 17 Years to Build a Creator Platform

From Microsoft to Startup: Borko Kovacevic’s Leap into the Creator Economy

In this debut episode of The Generalists Podcast, we sit down with Borko Kovacevic, Co-Founder of Poddster, to uncover his bold transition from a 17-year career at Microsoft to launching a creator-focused podcast platform in Singapore. Hosted by Michael Smith Jr. and Razko Kotler, this episode dives deep into what it really takes to go from corporate stability to startup uncertainty.

🚀 What You’ll Learn:

  • How to apply corporate skills in a startup
  • The importance of community building for early-stage founders
  • How Borko navigated startup challenges and found purpose
  • Bootstrapping lessons, work-life balance, mental health tips & more

📲 Follow the Hosts:

👤 Guest:

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Don’t forget to Like, Comment, and Subscribe for more interviews with impactful generalists shaping the future of business, tech, and creativity.

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#StartupJourney #MicrosoftToStartup #CreatorEconomy #Poddster #Entrepreneurship #StartupPodcast #TheGeneralistsPodcast #BorkoKovacevic #CorporateToStartup #SingaporeStartups

Cars are now code…

Great read by Om :: https://crazystupidtech.com/archive/chinas-ev-boom-is-bad-for-ustech/

The future of cars is code, not chrome. Volvo’s ES90 is the latest example of computing’s conquest of the automotive industry. Industry insiders might shrug and say “so what.” But Volvo’s announcement serves as a stark reminder: While Tesla may appear to dominate the electric vehicle market, it’s facing intense competition. Chinese automakers aren’t just coming – they’ve already arrived.

I live in Singapore and all the Chinese cars have eclipsed any other brand at this point.

BYD is leading but you see so many different brands.

I think the innovation is amazing but USA and Europe need to be worried.

Back to blogging?

Social media doesn't do much for me these days. 

I logged out of FB ions ago. Don't use Instagram.

I play around on Threada & Bluesky but unlike Twitter – my reach never grows anymore.

LinkedIn is my main go to but I know who owns it.

For the Podcast we deploy to the usual places but the only thing that seems to work and grow for a new non-viral podcast is YouTube and Spotify. Slowly but steady but it's not for words.

I know I should own my own site somewhere – maybe it is this blog but I wish Matt hadn't gotten so weird about how he manages or let's say "owns" WordPress.

I do like this new super basic WORDLAND editor though cause the WordPress editor sucks and the simplicity of this editor is nice.

Let's see how this goes…

Enabling Generalists to be Specialists

Lots of talk about the era of genAI and what’s gonna happen to jobs and some types of work.

It will HAVE an impact but does anyone know to what extent? I don’t think we do at this stage.

However, I would like to talk about some of the amazing stuff yet to come that will enable folks to do more with less which will expand economies and employment in general.

As I have been editing, yes I have a lot to learn, some of podcast videos – I realize how much more AI can help but is not capable yet. The studio handed me video files and audio files that needed to be all synced up. I figured that part out using iMovie but its is simply one camera cut and the one stereo file of the audio.

Once I had that done, I started using and learning Descript. Which is a pretty amazing tool – just think of editing the video using the words in the doc that sync to the video. Super cool.

However – what I want is:

  • I get the files
  • I tell my super agent on my machine
  • This is raz and me speaking – I want you to use the single cameras when a speaker talks for more than 10 seconds and zoom in sometimes, and then when the whole table is talking just use the side view but zoom in enough to fill the screen with the table showing a little bit below. 
  • Use intro A with a swipe, insert the ad b in the middle at a nice break and close with end b with a longer swipe 
  • Publish to YouTube, Spotify and apple
  • Make 10 shorts using the cool caption trick in the main template and put them in the google drive

I’ll pay some serious money for that.

So would the podcast studio cause they would get content out to the customer faster.

One more example from someone else I know using tools to build a business or a portfolio of businesses:

  • I have idea for business Z
  • I need a website and the content is spelled out in this doc
  • I need an app – let’s follow the color pallete from the web doc
  • I need a user login, a subscription and a CRM for it
  • Blah blah blah – you get the point

I know someone might say – but there are tools for this or low code solutions or ….

That is not my point. 

My point is the AI and the tech around us will allow us to design, build and “publish” by speaking to our agent that has our data, our history, our artifacts and will continually evolve to meet our needs.

This is why I am calling this the enablement age – the era where the Generalists won’t need to hire Specialists to achieve their goals. You might say – well that is where someone is losing their job but I counter it with the fact that in my two examples above, we are not hiring specialists anyway. We are trying to do it ourselves.

This is will create another layer to the economy and drive more growth.