Project M

The man, the myth, the legend - Bobby Saputra aka @supercoolben

Worked in tech all my life, never once made an episode about this topic. The industry is indeed at a precarious place right now as lay-offs and economic uncertainty still loom over us and conspiracy theories of how we'll all be replaced by machines in the next few years are extremely prevalent. Hence, super excited that I can have discussion about this topic today with two men that I really admire, Kevin Sutantyo and Ronald Ishak, who are experts in this space that can represent both the VC side and start-up founder side as well

Those of you who have been listening for awhile have probably already noticed - many of the things I say do come from a Christian point of view. Sometimes its subtly hinted and sometimes its explicit, and although Project M is not an exclusively Christian podcast, I can't deny that its an important part of who I am, and I do believe its what makes alot of the values I champion here work. So today I have with me the pastor of my church CCC, Tezar Putra & CCC's Men's Ministry Director, Freddy Kurniawan, for an episode dedicated to talking about masculinity from the biblical Christian point of view and how Christianity can help with some of the confusions we may have right now about this topic.

Wow, can't believe I'm back here again after almost 2 years. I know alot of you haven't heard from me in a while and am wondering how I'm doing. I am not dead, nor have I been kidnapped. The last several months has just been a crazy emotional roller coaster that's been really tough on me mentally and I haven't been able to catch everyone up on what's happening, mainly because, if anything, its way too painful. But today I decided this is a story worth telling and can bring about the positive impact I want Project M to be. So, hope you all enjoy this little recap of what's been going on in my life and what my thoughts are on it, and I pray that it can be a message of hope during these tough times.

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't made an episode in forever. The last few months have been a roller coaster ride for me, moving from Indonesia to Singapore to start an MBA program (more on that in a future episode maybe). So the timing could not be more perfect for us today, for us to talk about rest. With me today is Jourdan Hussein, an executive life coach, and we discuss how we can find rest in this crazy hustle-culture world & how this ties to men specifically who are always expected to be the breadwinners of the household and to just "tough it out" regardless of our own physical and emotional capacity. This ones for all the overachievers out there - let's all learn to chill (bro) :)

[EPISODE RECORDED IN INDONESIAN] Di episode kali ini, Project M kedatangan tamu istimewa, Eko Yuli Irawan, seorang atlet angkat besi yang sudah mewakili Indonesia di berbagai kompetisi di seluruh dunia, yang akan bercerita tentang pengalaman nya sebagai seorang atlet dan pelajaran apa saja yang kita bisa ambil dari situ. Seperti apakah mindset seorang pemenang? Dan pelajaran apa saja yang bisa kita dapatkan dari persiapan untuk kompetisi yang bisa diterapkan di kehidupan sehari-hari agar motivasi dan performa kita bisa maksimal? Ini adalah pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang akan kita telusuri hari ini. Mau denger perspektif dari Mas Eko? Dengerin episode nya yuk!

This week we have another solo episode where we (finally) talk about dating. Improvised, Unscripted with two Gin & Tonics to help me get through the recording session. This one's truly from the heart guys. Enjoy!

This week we're going to be talking about mental health! "Boys don't cry" is a mantra many of us should be familiar with and its often been used to set unrealistic expectations for boys and men to never be able to show our emotions as its considered a sign of weakness. Joining me today is Lukas Limanjaya, one of the co-founders of Kalm, an online counseling platform here in Indonesia, who gives his thoughts on this topic. Tune in to hear our thoughts!

Education plays a significant role in the growth of young children and our time in school really played a huge role in shaping us into the people we are today. Some people found their passion which later developed into a career, others maybe found their soulmate and married their highschool sweetheart while others like myself discovered our caffeine addictions which stayed with us throughout college, all the way until we started working :) In todays episode I have a chat with Mr. Eric Henry, my economics teacher from highschool, to talk about how education plays a role in shaping young boys to good men and how to best achieve this goal in an era where the system may not optimal for this endeavour and more and more boys showing poor performance in school compared to their female counterparts. Tune in to hear our thoughts!

Happy International Women's Day Everyone! In honor of this special day, I'm inviting Abigail Limuria, founder of the Lalita Project, to have a conversation about gender equality & women empowerment and what the role of men could be in this (do we even have one? hmm). This is an important topic for us men to know about and its often one that is unfortunately usually discussed contentiously. My hope from this episode is that we can help foster more healthy conversations on the subject that can ultimately help us achieve real progress where men and women can support each other in creating a better more harmonious world. Tune in to listen to our conversation!

WARNING: This episode will really hit you in the feels. This was such an emotional episode for me, I couldn't even come up with a funny title. In todays episode I get to have a conversation with one of my childhood role models and favorite youtubers, Frank Hwang or ice1cube who shares his story on his experience as a youtuber, how his videos have evolved from comparing girls to cars to now going into deeper topics that are important to him and his current struggles taking care of his mom who is suffering from dementia. It was such a great blessing and honor to be able to record with someone I've been watching for years who I consider one of my heroes and I'm super excited to share this with all of you.

[EPISODE RECORDED IN INDONESIAN] Hari ini kita bakal ngobrol bareng Bro Michael Victor Sianipar, ketua DPW PSI Jakarta tentang situasi politik di Indonesia dan apa yang dapat dilakukan kita sebagai individu untuk dapat membantu mereformasi dan melayani negara kita. Biasanya, denger kata "politik" aja di suatu pembicaraan itu bisa langsung bikin kita gregetan dan buru-buru coba ganti topik. Apalagi di Indonesia, kata tersebut biasa berkonotasi negatif dan sering diasosiasikan dengan korupsi dan nepotisme. Ngapain kita harus tetap peduli? Dan bagaimana kita masih bisa tetap mempunyai jiwa yang semangat untuk melayani, meskipun ada banyak tantangan, bukan saja dari sistem pemerintahan negara ini, tapi juga dari keraguan diri kita sendiri? Mau tau perspektif Bro Mike? Dengerin episode nya yuk!

I was eating at a restaurant a few years ago and was really craving some mushroom risotto. I tried ordering it and the waiter said the dish was out of stock, after which a strange intense feeling of anger and disappointment came over me after which I screamed "BANGSAT" or "bastard" in front of the waiter, who was shook. I wasn't trying to call him a bastard; I just really wanted mushroom risotto. Such is my love for food. So for part 2 of "Masculinity Across Industries" today I'm inviting my friend Fernando Sindu, head chef from the Union Group and other famous estalishments. Fernando shares his experiences in the F&B industry and how he brought his culinary creativity and expertise to Indonesia and how he tenaciously overcame the challenges he faced along the way. Tune in to hear about his story, and do please try out his food :)

For the next few weeks, Project M will be doing a series called "Masculinity Across Industries" where we will have conversations with men from various fields that will talk about what healthy masculinity looks like in their respective professions & sectors. This week former US marine and owner of Empire Fit Club in Jakarta, Elbert Tiwa, who will be talking about Fitness & Health, and his experience transitioning from military life in the US to opening a gym in Jakarta and adjust to civilian life. Our society often has expectations that a "real man" has to have a certain level of fitness - the washboard abs, bulging biceps and chiseled pecs (don't skip leg day though!). What does a healthy viewpoint of fitness actually look like? And how can we have a warrior mindset to navigate through life's challenges? Tune in to find out!

Does the phrase "Too foreign for home, too foreign for here" resonate with you? Have you always felt like somehow you didn't belong? Have you heard the title of this episode being said to you more often than maybe you would like? Such is the life of a third culture kid. In todays episode I have a discussion with my friend Xiang Yi Lau on our experience as third culture kids -feeling too foreign for home, pursuing opportunities to settle elsewhere (where we also felt too foreign but still wanted to try and live there anyway), having those opportunities taken away from us and then realizing later on that, in a way, "home is where the heart is." Tune in to the episode to hear our conversation! P.S - Mie Goreng was created by Indonesia :)

The Boys are Back! Tune in to our last episode of 2020 where John, Andrew and I chat and reflect on this past year with some wine and our usual bromantical dynamic. Life is indeed a storm, and in order to navigate through it, find yourselves some bros who will be there for you through thick and thin - comrades that you can be completely vulnerable with, who are unashamed of the fact that they watch k-dramas and who you can spontaneously break into song and dance with whether that be during karaoke or a podcast recording session :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Adulting - How does one actually go about doing this well in life? As men, our careers are a big part of our lives. It's our source of income which we need to support our families and ourselves, it contributes significantly to our overall personal and professional growth and we often derive from it our sense of self-worth and purpose. Over the years however many challenges have come up for us to think through such as how much more competitive the professional world is now, this pandemic situation that has caused huge losses in opportunity as well as the overall trend that people are finding it harder and harder to find meaning and purpose in their work. Today's episode features Christopher Kasidi, Vice President of the Commercial department in GoJek who will be sharing some wisdom on this topic. Tune in to listen to our conversation!

What exactly was the inspiration behind Project M? Why did I decide to make it in a podcast format? Why do I believe that the phrase "Hakuna Matata" from the movie Lion King may not be aligned with healthy masculinity? Today's episode will be a shorter one as I do my first solo recording session, doing some personal reflection on Project M and masculinity as a whole. What it means to be a man seemed much more obvious a long time ago but this concept has evolved throughout history into the complex puzzle that it is today. In a lot of ways, things are more confusing now and my hope is that Project M can foster discussions to help us figure out all these confusing things together. Tune in to hear my thoughts!

We come back this week for part 2 of trying tackle the age-old question "Can guys and girls just be friends?" this time from the girl's perspective featuring my friend, who is a girl, Chelsey Prewitt. Although that does mean no cringey bromance moments for this episode, trust me when I say, you don't want to miss this one :) Chelsey gives us a lot of valuable insights on this topic during our conversation and it reminded me, if anything, how important it is for us men to get a woman's perspective on some of life's challenges. The pursuit of healthy masculinity is not something men can do alone, but it is an endeavour that requires the help of women as well, so that ultimately both genders can thrive together, side by side.

"Can guys and girls just be friends?" Today the boys and I try to tackle the age old question that has been debated by world-reknowned scholars for decades (...ok maybe not scholars, more like rom-coms, stand-up comedians and your favorite trashy dating advice website). My discussions with others on this topic often get pretty heated, with the answer always being either a hard "yes" or "no" and the other person very passionately arguing for the stance they believe to be correct. Is there a middle ground here? And how should a man really view his friendships with the opposite sex? Tune in to find out!

What is the secret to a long, happy successful bromance? In this first episode, John, Andrew and I talk about friendship, how its evolved for us throughout different seasons of our lives and how we managed to stay close friends all these years. In our society today, often times popularity equals power regardless which stage of life you're in, and you need to "network" and "make connections" in order to thrive. Is it actually an absolute necessity then to have a large social circle you can tap into, or is it actually better to just have a selected few close friends that you can invest all your time in? Tune in to hear our thoughts!

In this day and age, it seems life is becoming more and more complicated for the average young male. While society expects us to be these stoic, no-nonsense individuals whose got life all figured out, life can actually be pretty confusing sometimes, and to say we don't have it figured out would lead to people saying we're not real men or "not man enough." Project M aims to be a platform that fosters conversations that promote healthy masculinity. Inspired by the late night conversations of between me and my close guy friends as men who are just really in-touch with our feelings, this podcast aims to show that masculinity and vulnerability can go hand-in-hand and we men can try to figure out life's confusing aspects together.