The Negotiation

This episode of The Negotiation is part two of our two-part conversation with Kevin Xu. A quick recap on Kevin - born in China, studied International Relations at Brown University then computer science and law at Stanford, working at the White House in the Obama administration, was very successful as an entrepreneur, and now invests both his time and money in the world of open source technology. He is also very much a cross-border expert with China, bilingually writing for his very successful blog Interconnected.blog and podcasting. Basically, I have life achievement envy. In this episode, we discuss how Chinese citizens view their own government, why Americans know less about how their government works compared to the Chinese, how Kevin developed an interest in geopolitics, the relationship between Obama and Xi Jinping, Kevin’s perspective on Huawei and their future, the potential implications of the US-China decoupling, and whether Chinese companies might delist from the US stock exchanges over the next few years. Enjoy.

Show Notes

Today on The Negotiation, we continue our conversation with Kevin Xu, founder and author at Interconnected, “a publication that analyzes businesses and trends from the lens of builders (entrepreneurs & engineers), operators (business managers), investors (capitalists), regulators (politicians and government officials), and how they are all connected.” He is also a contributor for and the co-creator of COSS Media, a knowledge media platform aimed at helping Commercial Open Source Software (COSS) founders build lasting companies. Finally, Kevin is an investor and EIR at the venture capital firm OSS Capital, L.P.
Unlike the U.S., the Chinese government can make decisions “that could impact your pocketbook tomorrow”. Entrepreneurs in China are, as a result, much more politically astute, as the only way to get ahead in business is to align your vision for your business with the government’s vision for the country for the next several years. Americans, on the other hand, have the freedom to influence outcomes in ways the Chinese cannot; but at the same time, this has paved the way for more ignorance regarding Americans’ knowledge about their own government, simply because they have less to worry about concerning the government's power to control their lives. This difference in worldviews and level of political knowledge between the citizens of these two countries serves as the theme underlying the rest of the topics which Kevin covers.
Listen in as Kevin explains his perspective on the countless developments currently taking place between the U.S. and China, from each country’s competitive edge in business to the long-term consequences of decoupling, and whether more Chinese companies will delist from the U.S. stock exchange. He then ties these issues together, explaining just how all of these unfolding events between these two superpowers are, in fact, interconnected.

What is The Negotiation?

Despite being the world’s most potent economic area, Asia can be one of the most challenging regions to navigate and manage well for foreign brands. However, plenty of positive stories exist and more are emerging every day as brands start to see success in engaging and deploying appropriate market growth strategies – with the help of specialists.

The Negotiation is an interview show that showcases those hard-to-find success stories and chats with the incredible leaders behind them, teasing out the nuances and digging into the details that can make market growth in APAC a winning proposition.