The retension Podcast

retension.org
  • 0.0 (0)
  • CAREERS

Experience is one of the world’s most undervalued assets. Hosted by Daniel Lee, the retension Podcast captures raw, human conversations with seasoned professionals like co-founder Xiaowei Liu, who prove that meaning doesn’t end at retirement. It evolves. These are stories of change, mentorship, and purpose across generations, reminding us that the future of work is built on lives well-lived. We are building a community to preserve expertise across generations, a space for veterans and emerging talent to learn from one another and build something lasting together.

Episodes

  1. 11/10/2025

    Xiaowei Liu: “Give Up What You Know” - Career Reinvention in Interesting Times

    In our pilot of the retension podcast, co-founder Xiaowei shares how a detour from journalism in 1989 became a decades-long leadership journey across China’s opening up and today’s age of AI. She talks about being the bridge at high-stakes negotiation tables, why will beats skill when hiring, and the hard lesson that scale comes from clarity, not doing more yourself. We unpack “no news is good strategy” (quiet prevention that avoids costly crises) and a favorite case study from her time in China: a road-safety initiative woven into sales campaigns that delivered double-digit growth across three cities while strengthening brand preference. The throughline is simple: do, then tell. For leaders, Xiaowei offers a playbook on delegation, scorecards over spin, and what good consultants really do—empathize with constraints, ensure continuity, and close the gap between pitch and delivery. For career starters, she lays out the 70-20-10 model, the “sixth why,” and a reminder that curiosity is a strategy, not a personality trait. We close with why we built retension: pairing seasoned professionals with rising talent so teams can do and tell better—solving real business problems while transferring capability across generations.Chapter markers 00:00 — Brand, safety & why “doing good” can drive growth 00:00:16 — Welcome to the retension podcast 00:00:23 — Meet xiaowei: adapting from journalism to global business 00:03:16 — “Give up what you know”: core skills that transfer 00:05:38 — The will–skill matrix: what we hire for 00:06:50 — AI is a copilot; judgment is the job 00:08:01 — From IC to 175: how clarity scales teams 00:10:24 — Scorecards over spin across a diverse region 00:12:31 — Case study: road safety → revenue & brand preference 00:14:28 — Generalists who lead; specialists who deliver 00:16:19 — For grads: 70-20-10, curiosity, the “sixth why” 00:17:41 — Reinvention: the “super-gig” phase 00:23:19 — Why retension: the intergenerational advantage 00:23:37 — What good consultants get right (and wrong) 00:26:54 — Sustainability that sells: integrate doing + telling 00:29:19 — Advice to a younger self & close Key takeaways Hire for will; train the skill. Delegation without expectations is abdication—clarity scales. Prevention compounds: “no news is good strategy.” Do, then tell: integrate social value with business outcomes. AI boosts efficiency; humans own effectiveness and judgment. Intergenerational teams = faster delivery + durable capability. connect / work with us site: retension.org email: hello@retension.org linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/retension

    32 min
  • 1 Episode

About

Experience is one of the world’s most undervalued assets. Hosted by Daniel Lee, the retension Podcast captures raw, human conversations with seasoned professionals like co-founder Xiaowei Liu, who prove that meaning doesn’t end at retirement. It evolves. These are stories of change, mentorship, and purpose across generations, reminding us that the future of work is built on lives well-lived. We are building a community to preserve expertise across generations, a space for veterans and emerging talent to learn from one another and build something lasting together.

Information