Karen Loon - Don’t be scared to look in the mirror

10 Lessons Learned

Karen Loon shares her lessons about how "Our future is shaped by our past", that "Imposter syndrome is normal", why you should not "be scared to look in the mirror" and more. Hosted by Jeffery Wang

About Karen Loon

Karen Loon is passionate about ensuring that both women and those from culturally diverse backgrounds are given the right opportunities to thrive within their organisations.

Combining her business and governance experience as Non-Executive Director (NED); her 29 years working with the world’s leading financial institutions as a senior relationship and assurance partner at PwC; her knowledge gained from leading change initiatives in diversity; and her academic research in system psychodynamics, Karen delivers research-based and yet practical advice to the organisations she works with.

Karen is a recognised thought leader and speaker on workplace diversity and inclusion. She was formerly PwC’s Singapore and Asia-Pacific Diversity Leader and a member of its Global Diversity Leadership Team and Global Financial Services Diversity Steering Committee. Under her leadership, PwC won the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore’s 2017 Embracing Diversity and Inclusion Award. She was also awarded a certificate at the 2017 Singapore Committee for UN Women HeForShe Awards to recognise her work to promote gender equality in Singapore.

Karen regularly shares her views on enhancing diversity with leading organisations and professional and industry bodies in Australia and Singapore. She is also a commentator on governance and culture matters.

Karen is a NED on several for-profit, professional, and educational organisation boards. She has an Executive Master in Change from INSEAD, a Master of Business Administration from Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney. In addition, Karen has several post-graduate qualifications in accounting, finance, corporate governance, and culture.

Karen’s current book Fostering Culturally Diverse Leadership in Organisations-Lessons from Those Who Smashed the Bamboo Ceiling, examines how successful culturally diverse leaders at work resolve the contradictions and tensions of their identities within organisations.

Episode Notes

Lesson 1: Life is full of patterns that we continuously repeat 03:05
Lesson 2: Your family will always be your biggest cheers squad 06:32
Lesson 3: Our future is shaped by our past 10:47
Lesson 4: If you’re not networking, you’re not working 13:55
Lesson 5: Imposter syndrome is normal 17:52
Lesson 6: Don’t be scared to look in the mirror 20:59
Lesson 7: Embrace negative capability 23:49
Lesson 8: Invest in ‘me’ time 25:52
Lesson 9: Stay hungry, stay foolish 26:55
Lesson 10: The best way to bond is over food 29:17