Ep 145: Are You a Masochistic Book Lover? | Kenny Chan (ex-diplomat & ex-Senior Director at Kinokuniya Book Stores (Asia Pacific))

So This Is My Why

“Are you a masochist?”

“Do you love books that much?”

If you want to be a bookseller, than those are the questions you need to ask yourself - according to Kenny Chan, the former Senior Director at Kinokuniya Book Stores (Asia Pacific) - he spent ~20 years of his career there prior to his retirement!

But prior to bookseller, Kenny was a foreign diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore, where he was posted to London as their Trade and Culture Attache.

He then switched to bookselling, first at Popular Holdings Limited, then MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, and back again at Popular when they launched their IPO!

And finally interviewed for a position at Kinokuniya.

The President & Chairman of Kinokuniya flew from Japan to Singapore to conduct the interview and asked Kenny just one question:

“Do you love books?”

As it turns out, Kenny gave me the exact answer he was looking for!

And even after retirement, Kenny remains deep in the bookselling world.

If you haven’t already guessed it, Kenny is the latest guest on STIMY!

And we dive deep into all things books & the art of evangelising.

❓Why does Kenny not judge people by their educational level?

❓Why did he initially become a foreign diplomat?

❓What was it like opening bookstores throughout Asia Pacific, Dubai and New York?

❓What was it like working at his dream company?

❓What is the secret to buying books & why is bookselling a spiritual experience?

❓How can aspiring authors can get Kenny’s attention?

Are you intrigued yet?

The YouTube version is out now too. 😎

Highlights:

• 1:01 The Punisher
• 1:50 Don’t judge people by their level of education
• 2:59 Do your best in everything that you touch
• 3:58 My education was a roller-coaster
• 5:31 Didn't want to be a bookseller!
• 7:56 Getting into foreign affairs
• 9:51 Hunted down a book for Lee Kuan Yew & the power of connections
• 11:35 Lee Kuan Yew was a hard task master
• 14:54 Life isn't fair
• 18:32 How to get rid of inventory/books for bookstores
• 20:21 Leaving Popular for MPH
• 21:00 Introducing comics & Sanrio (Hello Popular) to Singapore
• 22:12 How Kenny knew it was time to bring Hello Kitty in
• 24:07 Memorable stories
• 26:43 What was it like working in his dream company?
• 27:46 Becoming store manager of the MPH Stamford Bookstore
• 28:22 You need to be a dictator
• 32:22 A great success
• 36:23 The IPO
• 37:11 The secret behind buying books & working at Popular
• 41:29 Moving to Kinokuniya
• 43:03 Meeting
• 43:30 The 1 question asked by the President & Chairman of Kinokuniya from Japan
• 44:44 Working with someone who doesn’t understand English
• 46:09 The spiritual aspect of book selling
• 47:01 Opening a store in Dubai
• 48:16 Love of books
• 49:13 The Kinovirus & training to become a great bookseller
• 50:45 The Speech
• 52:05 Biggest achievements while at Kinokuniya
• 54:44 Kinokuniya isn’t a bookstore. It’s a lifestyle choice
• 56:15 The importance of building a brand
• 58:51 The Twin Lemons Act
• 59:50 Getting Kenny’s attention
• 1:00:25 Ask a bookseller, what questions should you ask yourself?

🙊 Like STIMY? Buy us a ☕️?: https://beacons.ai/sothisismywhy

🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/1uCeI8LOI5Y

📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/145

💌 Weekly STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

✍🏻 Leave a review on STIMY: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442