Speak Good English Movement chairman Jason Leow embraces audiobooks for convenience

Who: Jason Leow, 54, is chairman of the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM). He was appointed senior managing director at global consulting firm FTI Consulting in December 2025, where he oversees financial communications and analytics for South-east Asia. He is also founder of The Doing Well Centre, a CEO coaching practice he started in 2014.

“I take the bus or MRT to and from work. On my commute, I often listen to an audiobook or my Blinkist app for audiobook summaries.

I usually drive when taking my mum to a doctor’s appointment. While driving to her home, I typically listen to an audiobook or podcast episode too. It turns travel time into something interesting.

It is harder to hold a book and drive, or stand on the bus and read one. Audiobooks are hands-free products I can tune into anywhere. Sometimes, I listen to an audiobook to fall asleep. It usually takes me 10 minutes to ease into sleep.

I used to think I would not be able to remember details from listening to audiobooks. But on occasions when I have followed up the audiobook with a reading of the physical version, I have been surprised at how much I can recall from the listening.

I don’t just remember the details. I get the same appreciation of the nuances and the subtlety of the writing. Audiobooks don’t diminish the reading experience.

I like fantastical and magical novels, and books that are naive and quirky. I am not drawn to authors, but to styles.

I am also more drawn to female writers because it is my very subjective view that there is a certain transparency in the way they tell stories. A lot of female writers don’t clutter their writing with symbolism, metaphors and imagery. There is less ego, and often more humour, in the female perspective.

I am listening to The Astral Library by Kate Quinn. She takes the idea of escaping into books by literally transporting her characters into classics and paintings at an astral museum. It is also a book about gender and power, and being an underdog.

The other book I am listening to is Butter by Asako Yuzuki. It follows the account of a Japanese journalist who interviews a lonely chef serving time for murdering her lovers with delicious food. The book explores misogyny and unlikely female friendships.

A lot of my audiobooks are from Libby. I also have audiobooks from Audible that I have accumulated, but have not heard. I have not given up on the written word – I still read books, but mostly e-books on Libby.

I have also been reading The Swedish Art Of Ageing Well by Margareta Magnusson. I have been studying a lot on ageing and retirement.

When I listen to or read a book that I know is the one, I can see my imagination emit rainbow colours. That is when I know I am loving a book.”