0:00

Monica H. Kang: So as we continue our journey in learning about merger and acquisitions, what is it like? Why is it tough and what can we do about it? Another question comes to mind, which is, how do you become an expert in M&A? And what skills and experience would you need? Well, great questions to ask with today's guest, Ken park. He is the talented M&A lead at Netflix, where he has built a team and practice that spearheads deal an integration work for all phases of M&A work at Netflix. An employment attorney and consultant by background, Ken has M&A and legal experience in multiple regions, including Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle east, across various sectors such as tech and media.

0:49

Monica H. Kang: Prior to his time at Netflix, Ken has led HR, M&A practice at American Express, where helped to develop and deliver on solutions geared towards integrating top tier, startup based technology talent. And that's not it. He's also been consulting and working on various aspects of M&A. And as you have heard from his bio, he started that journey from the legal perspective, to be specific, getting excited about employment law and what are the rights that employees should have in. In what they were not having. He realized how so often he was at the end of the curve, often being in a position where he would hear the complaints from employees of what they didn't have. So he wanted to be proactive.

1:36

Monica H. Kang: In other words, find ways how he can help people better earlier in that journey, so that way they don't have to struggle when they file the complaints or know where they need legal support. That led him to the unique niche of bridging HR and legal. And now M&A and so perfect time to get a chance to explore what does talent M&A mean and how did he get to build this expertise? So, meet Ken, tuning in from New York.

2:11

Monica H. Kang: So very excited to have Ken Park here from New York as we continue our conversation in merger and acquisition, M&A world. Ken, thank you so much for joining us. I'll dive into my first question immediately. I guess I'm curious, like, how in the world did you start your chapter into M&A? Because I noticed that you started with your legal degree.

2:31

Monica H. Kang: Tell me a little bit more. Monica H. Kang: Did you know already back then when you were starting your law, that this is what you wanted to do?

2:36

Kenneth Park: No, not at all. And it was a long and windy, so I think it's fun to talk about. But I mean, I could go back as far as undergrad when I went to college, so I went to a smaller bars college with sort of a little bit of a push for my parents to be a pre med student. I did a year of it. I just couldn't stand it. And sort of the good part about that was that I made some of the best friends of my life, but most of them were pre med, and they had more discipline and fortitude than I had, and they ended up becoming doctors. But effectively, what I wanted to be was a literature major. So I really just loved it. I read books and talked about it in class.

3:13

Kenneth Park: I felt like I was cheating the system almost for a couple years. You write about it, you know, you get a good grade, and you feel good about yourself. But that journey quickly came to an end, you know, as I realized sort of at the end of my junior year that I'd probably have to do something after college. And so I. It wasn't desperation. I wanted to go to law school, but in some ways, it felt like a three year extension of unreality. But I applied, got into some schools, went to the one that was, you know, sort of close to my family, grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, ended up going to school in Ithaca. So it kept me close to my parents, who I'm very close with. So went to law school, enjoyed it as an intellectual pursuit.

3:48

Kenneth Park: Can't say I was necessarily so passionate about the law. But in any event, you know, finished law school and then, you know, started working at a firm and in house in claims, you know, very much with an employment law, you know, sort of specialization. I found employment law fulfilling. But I think one of the biggest issues of it was that I really wanted to help employees, HR practitioners, and companies with their sort of overall HR health. Right. And by the time that they had gotten to me and by the time claim or grievance or litigation was on my desk, it was to the point where the issue, whether it be sexual harassment or sexual discrimination or, you know, sort of some iniquity in compensation, the issues were more of a symptom as opposed to, you know, so the actual problem within the system.

4:37

Kenneth Park: And that really sort of nodded me, and I really wanted to help these people, help these companies, help the overall process a bit more proactively. And about that time, I was starting to take part in, I guess you could call them, extracurricular activities in addition to my job working with HR consultants on various projects. I didn't even know HR consulting was a career. So I was just like, you guys are great. I really want to find a way to transition into this type of work. So I was lucky enough to have a family friend and mentor who was a very senior consultant and just an unbelievable professional. And he was taking a chance himself by trying to open up a practice from a brokerage firm called Aon.

5:19

Kenneth Park: So Aon had a small management consulting practice, but they wanted him to build it out a bit more with one of the other past partners that he had worked with. So he asked me if I wanted to take a shot and work with him, and I jumped at the shot. One of the issues with that, I was in New York City at the time, and then I had to move to LA for a bit to work with him. But in any event, I was working in HR consulting by design, but business needs dictated. The biggest clients at the point were in M and A. So again, not a field that I was familiar with, but one that I was just thrown into. They have the proverbial drinking from the fire hose.

5:56

Kenneth Park: My first project, the first day I started working, our client was a mid sized company in near Baltimore, and they had just won a stocking horse auction bid of a bankrupt entity or aspect of Nortel, which was kind of selling off at the time. So they were going to acquire this divested portion of Nortel, and it was going to double their footprint from 4000 to 8000. It was going to double their population, 4000, 8000, and double their global footprint from like, 32 to 60 with regards to, you know, sort of regions they're in. So it was madness, and there was a sense of recklessness and there was a sense of, you know, just like, havoc on the part of the client. But I enjoyed that.

6:38

Kenneth Park: You know, I enjoyed kind of being in there to, you know, sort of use, you know, sort of whatever professional experiences I had and skills I had to kind of help right the ship and to also quell the madness and find a way to, you know, sort of develop the project plans, mobilize the right teams to sort of make this work from an employee perspective. So that was about, gosh, it was about 15 years ago when I first started at Aon Hewitt and sort of never turned back on the HR, M and a work and went from Aon Hewitt to stay in PwC for several years. And that was amazing because PwC had this delivering deal value practice, which was incredible. They were amazing at bringing in work. You work in all different verticals. You could work in any geography.

7:23

Kenneth Park: It was like you would be a kid in a candy store, you know, at times if you wanted to do the m and a work. So learn so much and learn so much about, you know, sort of the intensity of the work, you know, so the value of some kind of extreme ownership. But I was at a point where, you know, sort of traveling, you know, sort of Monday through Thursday, you know, in the office on Friday. I had a two year old son at the time, and, you know, so it was just kind of untenable for me. Well, he's ten now, but that was a while ago. And so I said, this is unsustainable for me. And then, lucky enough, I had many fortunate opportunities. Lucky enough that american express was looking for someone with my skill set without the travel.

7:59

Kenneth Park: So I jumped at the opportunity to apply, got the job, and then helped to try to build out the practice of HR m and a at American Express. But that's kind of how I ended up at American Express. Loved it there. It was a different experience in that when you're a consultant doing this type of work, you help with an acquisition, you do the due diligence. You get to know the co founders, you get to know the people in the company, the leadership team, and then, God willing, you know, you integrate them effectively. And, you know, maybe 30, 60 days after that is kind of bye. It feels like kind of leaving camp, right? You know, okay, maybe I'll write to you. But, you know, there's a sense of, you know, sort of sadness in that.

8:32

Kenneth Park: You know, you don't really get to see or get to be a part of the end product, the end state. What I love about American Express and working there and working in house is one thing. You're far more involved in sort of the talent hypothesis when they're, you know, sort of looking at an organization or potentially looking at a target, and you're also more involved in the negotiations. And then, you know, I guess there's three things. And the third thing is these people, these companies, and, you know, at American Express was kind of smaller, you know, sort of startup type companies, tech and, you know, type companies, you got to see them be part of your, I guess, your family.

9:05

Kenneth Park: It's a cheesy way of supporting it, but you really got to live with it and, you know, sort of, you know, sort of continue to organically grow with the companies that you acquired. So that's American Express. And then four or five years into American Express, I like to think I built a fantastic team and helped to grow them in relation to their HR m and a expertise. But it's also getting a little bit restless. I was starting to think, I've been doing this for a while at the same company. I feel like if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, my team would be fine. Not that I couldn't add insight. Maybe if I won the lottery tomorrow and I left, my team would be fine. I could leave without having any concerns.

9:45

Kenneth Park: And I think when you're at that point in your career, it might be time for a change or a new challenge. So that's the point where I was looking around, you know, sort of within American Express's HR functions. They call it a colleague experience group, which is an amazing talent function, by the way. I mean, I think it's first in class, but, you know, I think I was relatively well regarded, and I think they were looking to try to position me in maybe other leadership roles and maybe compensation or maybe an HRVP rule, which I was somewhat excited to do, but at the same time, I was going to miss the HR M and a work. And that's about the exact time that Netflix came calling. So Netflix called. First question I had was, do I have to go to LA?

10:20

Kenneth Park: And they said, no, it could be a remote job as long as you're what we're looking for. So I kind of jumped at the opportunity. It was just another opportunity to do what I did in American Express, a very vibrant, exciting company, and one that is just so different than one in the financial sector. So that's how I landed at Netflix. And I'm sorry, that's kind of a long, winding response.

10:41

Monica H. Kang: But, no, this is fantastic. No, I appreciate it, because I think it's now raising me, like, even more questions. I can't wait to dive in. And I know our listeners are taking notes and observing and soaking in your stories. But one of the things I'm hearing, as you're reflecting on your chapters on those different points, is that it was okay when we're younger, that we don't know fully what we might want to specialize in pieces together over time. And even throughout that time, it's okay. Even if you might have a really great senior position in a promotion, if maybe that's not what you want, maybe you just pivot and then find something else. And in a way, like, you know, you kind of continue to adapt, do something else. When there were, I guess, quote. Easier path. Leadership, in any regards is not easy.

11:27

Monica H. Kang: But, you know, quote. The easier path could have been you staying in American Express. You already knew the team, you already knew the system, but you said, wait, but my heart is back here. How do I still upskill, but also know that I've done my task well. And I think, honestly, that is kind of a leadership gap. Often, like, when leaders grow, they feel like, oh, well, I want to continue to stay because I want to do everything, but when we don't step out, we don't let other people step up. And I think you sharing that, you recognize that I want to make sure others grow, and I left them in good hands. That's a really powerful place to share. But building on that, the question that's coming up as you're sharing this that I'm really enjoying is just they're also different industries.

12:09

Monica H. Kang: And I feel like you mentioned already, like, you know, from the consulting end, you're kind of the house that's supporting the others, both from the merger side and the acquisition side, and american expression now in Netflix, I assume as well, you're being in house. What would you say skill wise, now, having been on both boats, that was really important for you to thrive as an HR M and a expert who knows legal and the human piece?

12:35

Kenneth Park: Sure. I mean, I think by way of skill sets, mine is an odd one, and I'm not sure if it's so traditional for, you know, the type of work I do, although traditional for the type of work I do is kind of an odd way to put it, too, because it kind of is a new field. I mean, I think what we're doing is a newer discipline. But I think for me, obviously, the employment law experience and the legal experience in general was extremely helpful and useful. It's more helpful in house capacity than it was as a consultant. And the reason for that is the consultants, they kind of have it down.

13:08

Kenneth Park: They have the process down, and they don't get as much into the legal negotiations around employee terms and conditions within the purchase agreement or retention agreements or, you know, sort of employee offers things of that nature. Now, when you go in house, you have folks in general counsel that are the leads on that. But as the person playing point on the overall diligence and integration of the incoming employee population, it is extremely helpful to be able to speak legal, to be able to talk with lawyers, and to be able to talk meaningfully to deal counsel when you're hammering out aspects of the purchase agreement, as well as with employment counsel, when you're looking at how are we going to design and place meaningful business thresholds and guardrails on retention agreements, those are just two examples.

14:02

Kenneth Park: But I do think the legal skillset has really served me well and been a value add. My work, I think the other skill that you need is just sort of strategic project management, but one that is just incredibly steady handed and understanding and empathetic because I think projects in sort of a steady state, I feel like, are different than project management in an m and a state. And one thing that I learned really quickly, and I think I go back to that first acquisition where it was just chaos and you could see the concern, you could see the fear in the eyes of the client. You have to understand, it's not perfect when you're doing this type of work.

14:44

Kenneth Park: I mean, effectively, when you're doing diligence, you're looking for mistakes, you're looking for reasons to say not that you want to, but because you have to. That's your job. And integration, you know, you're effectively just mashing two companies together. So it's not going to be smooth. There's a violence to the work we do. There's a disruption and there's a cultural violence to it. Right. No matter how well you do your cultural integration plans or your assimilation plans, I mean, there is going to be concessions with regards to the way people work and with regards to way people have to show up. So I think everything you do from a project management standpoint, from a deal management standpoint, should be viewed with an overlay of that, with that lens, and with a lens of understanding and empathy, and again, with just an understanding.

15:27

Kenneth Park: I don't want to say concession, but sort of a realization and acceptance that things are going to go screwy on these deals. Your job isn't to do things perfectly. Your job is to continue to identify where things go off course and to get them back on course.

15:40

Monica H. Kang: That's so powerful. And I appreciate you breaking that down into both technical skills and leadership skills and different tangible, intangible skills to look out for. And I'm curious, like, even for you, when you look back at your journey, m and a is a world where I feel like there's probably a lot of misconceptions and misunderstanding that happens all the time, even for experts like yourself. If you go back to Amit Ken, young Ken, who started your chapter in m and A, what would you want to advise and share with that young Ken? Knowing what you know now about the m and a world and how it works, what skills you've needed and how you've had to adapt?

16:17

Kenneth Park: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it would be sort of anchoring on what? On my last answer going back to, I mean, look, when you're dealing with folks who are working in m and A, a lot of times these are high performers right. And like, when you're working with people, even on the front lines of a company who have been assigned to sort of maybe head, if they don't have an m and a team, the ones that are supposed to head work for their functions, I mean, especially this within consulting. I mean, they want to get everything perfectly right. The mo that you want to imbue on people is in deal work. Perfection is the enemy of the good. Perfection doesn't get things done.

16:51

Kenneth Park: What we need to do is get things done and get these people, we get this crossing finish line. We need to have people in their seats at their computers, online, get ready for their paychecks. I mean, this is really what we're headed for. It's not every single imperfect embellishment or making sure that every I is dotted and every t is crossed.

17:08

Kenneth Park: It's more of a, you know, sort of like, let's just keep our eye on, you know, sort of the macro goals and the milestones and, you know, sort of what the end state is going to look like as opposed to, you know, sort of getting too sidetracked by, you know, whether or not, you know, sort of the PowerPoint presentation was perfect one day or, you know, sort of whether or not you showed up well in sort of an IMO meeting or an integration management meeting. So I'm not sure if that's one piece of advice, but that's sort of the flavor of advice I'd want to give myself.

17:33

Monica H. Kang: No, that's super helpful because I know a lot of high achievers are tuning in right now, and they're like, oh, I've been called guilty.

17:41

Kenneth Park: Yeah, folks should take it easy on themselves when we're doing this work. We're all working crazy hard.

17:47

Monica H. Kang: So how do you do that? Like, how do you balance out, continuing to perform high, deliver the quality work, but also taking easy on you? Like, what has been your ways of managing yourself, your energy and stress when you're facing those difficult moments?

18:02

Kenneth Park: I think for me, and I don't know if this is anything that I did, I'm not sure if it's luck. There is something to be said about building the right relationships and building the right teams, but what I've been able to do is sort of really draw strength and draw an ability to stay level from my teammates, from my team is not just on maybe, you know, my team's called the talent m and a team. Not necessarily just on that team, but from, you know, some of my partners in corporate development, my partner's employment, legal, just being able to, you know, take a step back and, you know, sort of crack a joke about the madness of things and, you know, remind each other.

18:36

Kenneth Park: You know, I just have always really had good colleagues, teammates, and stakeholders who were always able to remind ourselves that nobody's on the operating table. Right. And, like, you know, these acquisitions, some of them might be larger than others, but, you know, again, none of them are going to move market that much at the end of the day. I mean, like, if they're going to work, it's not going to because on this day, we just nailed our project plan, or on this day, we nailed that meeting, and, you know, so everything clicked perfectly. It's going to work because, you know, there was sort of a steady hand incrementally working towards integration goals. So I think that's one of the biggest things.

19:09

Kenneth Park: So it's a combination of luck and working on your relationship, lucky that I've had great partners and then putting the work in to make sure that we trust each other and, you know, so don't really bond with each other.

19:19

Monica H. Kang: Thank you for sharing that. I mean, I'm hearing the Karen, the continued learning. Speaking of which, I would love to do maybe a few rapid fire questions where you're at now and kind of learning a little bit more about that space. So you've worked now in the different companies that you have highlighted, and also in Netflix now in the entertainment space. I feel like that's probably a place where a lot of people are super geeky and curious. Like, what is it really like to work inside Netflix? And, like, especially in a space where it's, like, been changing and adapting so much entertainment, just thinking about quick numbers wise within the realm that you're allowed to share, how many m and a would you have to go through in maybe a year, in six months?

20:01

Monica H. Kang: And is that number higher or lower than the other spaces? If you think about the amount that you have to do at Netflix currently because of the entertainment space?

20:10

Kenneth Park: Yeah. So I think at both American Express and at Netflix, it's kind of, like, not linear. Right. They go through. So I want to say that there's a target to do a certain number one year and a certain number the next year. I mean, I'd say, like, for both of the companies, they were always looking for opportunistic, you know, sort of acquisitions. But I'd say, you know, back in American Express, I think the average was something like maybe three to four transactions a year. And when I'm saying three to four, could be divestiture related as well as acquisition related. Netflix, just by way of background, up until about the fall of 2021, Netflix never really did an acquisition. That was one of the second questions I had in addition for the recruiters when they called.

20:54

Kenneth Park: The first one was, do I have to move to La or Los Gatos? And the second one, does Netflix do acquisitions? They went through a flurry where they did, you know, seven in the span of just a little over a year, which is kind of crazy for a company that hasn't been doing it. But it's also the charm and sort of the boisterousness of Netflix as a company that's something. Netflix, with that dude, they're like, well, let's just give it a shot and let's see what happens. We have smart people. You know, some things are gonna break, but, you know, we'll figure it out. Right? And that's kind of what happened. So we had, you know, those seven that came and, you know, so I came a couple months after that flurry started. So that's kind of where we are at Netflix.

21:32

Kenneth Park: So I'm not sure if we have a target of how many deals we're expected to do this year, but I would say we're in an opportunistic mode, but we're also in analysis mode of sort of those seven acquisitions. What went right? What went wrong, where do we still need to potentially course correct on the integration approaches that we took with them? So, I mean, we're still dealing with. One of my colleagues likes to call integration debt with a couple of these, because I think initially, when Netflix acquired a couple of companies, they took an approach where maybe we don't want to really do too much with them, and let's just let them have an incubation period where we observe how they work almost as just a separate entity from us.

22:14

Kenneth Park: I had a point of view on that, but I just started in my tenure, but I think we've had a meeting of the minds that it does make sense to have more wholesome integration, at least from a functional perspective, for several of these companies. So we're reengaging in regards to exploring that and potentially sort of executing on further integration.

22:35

Monica H. Kang: Building on that, I feel m and a is a space where it's important to stay critical, take feedback, adapt, but as a result, you could probably have a lot of heated conversations no matter where you work. As you all pointed out, as a leader individuals, in M and a who's listening, how can you balance out staying open minded and seek the opportunities from your colleagues and partners and everyone else, but also knowing when you need to stay firm and knowing how to position the message of, like, hey, no, we really need to do this, or we really need to not do this. How do you balance those voices out and what has helped you?

23:10

Kenneth Park: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And I can't sit here and say that I'm the expert on that or that I've always done that. Right. I think I'm improving. I mean, I think I've had successes. Right. But that it's a. It's a really difficult. I don't want to say problem, but it's a difficult dynamic to solution for. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong. You know, one of my learnings from Netflix is, you know, I started right in the middle of things. I was new to Netflix. Netflix just does everything a little different. It's just a different culture. It's a. It's an outspoken culture, but not in a bad way. It's in a way where people feel free to express their opinions and to care enough to sort of speak out their opinions.

23:49

Kenneth Park: But folks are so bright, they're so talented, they're so strong in their domains that when you hear all these different opinions, it's a marketplace of ideas, but it's a marketplace of really good ideas. But just because they're really good ideas doesn't necessarily mean it's the right idea for what you're trying to do for a specific deal. So I think if I could go back in time, I would have stayed a little firmer in that regard and maybe gotten into not heated conversations, but, you know, sort of maybe push back, you know, from the start on some of the things that I was hearing thinking, you know, from my industry knowledge or from my experience, that doesn't necessarily make 100% sense, but, you know, it's a balance that I'm finding.

24:33

Kenneth Park: I think I'm in far more firm footing at Netflix now that I've been here for about two years. But more so than tense discussions or touchy discussions. I think it's more that I was a little bit more reticent to engage or push back, mostly because these folks are really smart. And then secondly, I just felt like maybe it's sort of ignorance of the Netflix culture or how things are done at Netflix. So I guess that's how I'd answer that one. Yeah. In past experiences, there's always going to be a healthy, I call it almost a sibling type tension between development and talent. M and a or HR, m and a, you know, because, you know, we have, you know, we all have the best interest of our company. And this was from American Express. Right.

25:20

Kenneth Park: But, you know, sort of like the corp dev team wants to get the deal done. We want to get the deal done, but we do have to bring up, we have to bring up flags of, you know, sort of maybe culture or, you know, sort of behaviors and personality traits that we see in the co founders. Has it always been perfectly civil? I want to say that. Right. I'd say there were times where, you know, sort of, I left the conversation, you know, I wish I'd shown better to that or I wish that I'd maybe kept my cool a little better on that conversation.

25:49

Kenneth Park: But I think the beauty of that is we had strong enough relationships that it's just, you know, sort of maybe a walk back down to the office, you know, sort of the person that I had that conversation with and, you know, sort of, you know, hashing it out, patting each other in the back, and then moving on to the next conversation.

26:03

Monica H. Kang: No, it's really important. And thank you for humanizing that answer because, you know, that's kind of the reality. It's not as like clear cut. It's a constant evolving skill, as you have said. I'm curious, building on that, AI has been impacting everyone in all the industries. I assume it's impacting your world as well and in the industries you're currently at. I envision with all the strikes that was going on in the entertainment space last year fight for their rights. I've also seen now a lot of writers and those in the creative space wanting to fight for their rights even more because of the AI growth on top of the underpayment that they were feeling. How are you feeling about it? Are you worried? Are you excited? Not ready yet?

26:46

Monica H. Kang: Like, what are your thoughts with how the AI has impacted your industry in general and also for M and a.

26:52

Kenneth Park: World with regards to how it's impacted the industry?

26:57

Kenneth Park: I mean, this might sound controversial, but I mean, I think with regards to AI, the sort of interest and the momentum of AI, gen AI, sort of the whole area of expertise in technology in general, I think it was in some ways a good time for this to come up in the strikes because I think for me, and I'm not that close to it, so I can't speak as an expert, but I feel like it may not have necessarily been a complete aversion to using AI for these writers, but it was just necessary and total valid need to understand exactly how it's going to be used, how it's going to impact their livelihood, and also understand how these writers can utilize AI and these creatives can sort of take advantage of AI, as opposed to having it be sort of a threat to their jobs or what they do.

27:44

Kenneth Park: And I think, I feel like with all the negotiation discussions, I'm not sure if we've come to a complete agreement or sort of a complete meeting of the minds. We're certainly closer than we would have been had we not gone through those rounds of negotiations. Feels like folks are at a better place. Obviously, the strikes are over and everybody's working. But again, I think, if anything, it was horrible to have the writers strike, and I think everybody's hearts went out. So the writers and the actors were impacted by it. But I mean, I think if one good thing came of it, I think there was sort of clear understanding of what intentions are with AI, and again, how writers and actors can benefit from it, as opposed to just see it as something that is an opponent or an adversary for. Excited about it.

28:37

Kenneth Park: We're just excited to see all its applications. One area. So Netflix, I wouldn't call it a serial acquirer in any way, but outside of Netflix, I think it's extremely exciting how many private equity firms who are really kind of scouring the earth for targets are using AI to have out of the box really interesting applications for sourcing potential targets. That's one area that I love to learn more about from a deal management perspective and integration management perspective. The applications are limited in relation to how they can help us with organizing documents, understanding documents, culling through documents, creating documents. So I see that all the good things, but it's one that obviously still has to be managed. But I see such a rapid trajectory for the application of it. I do think it's one that all not be afraid of drilling down on.

29:32

Kenneth Park: Really want to get a handle on it right now, as opposed to trying to keep it as arm strength.

29:36

Monica H. Kang: You've also been in a lot of senior positions. You are currently leading as a director ahead of HR and M and a Netflix. I'm curious, for somebody in that role, where is next steps, because there might be others out there who's in that similar level. What would it mean for you to get to the next level? Where would future Ken would want to go, and what are the skills and experience you need to get to that next level?

29:59

Kenneth Park: Oh, wow. That's a great question. It's one that I really. Because I think you might get this sense for the time being, I'm just sort of along for the ride and just enjoying my role. But, yeah, I mean, I do feel like unless we make a pivot to extremely transformative deals, and I can't say one way or the other whether that would be the case, there is a ceiling to this particular position. There will be a point where I say, I've been doing this long enough at Netflix. I think what I'd love to try to do is position myself to lead other project based roles within. Within Netflix talent, or, you know, so I do. And this is an area that I don't necessarily have the seasoning for yet or, you know, sort of have the direct skill set for.

30:41

Kenneth Park: But I would love to, you know, see whether or not I could excel in sort of an HRBP role. Being that I do feel like I've worked with business leaders on, you know, sort of helping them design and develop, you know, sort of strategic visions for, you know, sort of large bodies of employees, I do think that there are experiences and skills that I have that could transfer over quite seamlessly. But again, it's also, you know, sort of a very specialized skill set in its own right. So, I mean, you know, something to endeavor to maybe, you know, sort of somewhere down the line, love it, because.

31:14

Monica H. Kang: I know folks who are listening, like, I'm pretty senior, like Ken, too. Where would I go next? We want to make sure all the great, talented innovators out there continue to grow and thrive. And so thank you for sharing that. I don't know how fast time has flown by. Thank you so much for sharing so much wisdom and insight in our community conversation. As we wrap up, I guess a few final questions is one, we've shared a lot of different advice from both technical, non technical, general leadership insights. But I'm curious if you have to leave us this one final wisdom or insights. No matter where somebody is in their journey, what would it be?

31:46

Kenneth Park: Oh, wow. Yeah. That's a great question. And, you know, sort of like, you know, I'm. Thank you for saying so many nice things about my career journey, but, you know, I'm not sure how much of a position I am to give really golden nuggets of wisdom. I would say that I think this is reflective of my career journey. Don't be afraid to pivot. I mean, don't be afraid to take a chance and change direction in your career. Whether that may mean going from consulting maybe illegal, to consulting or consulting the in house. Trust your skill sets and trust your instincts. If this is something that would be a challenge that you would enjoy and would help you grow. I say go for it. There's only so much safety in any career, any import of your career.

32:31

Kenneth Park: So if you have a chance to do something that livens up your passion for your work or sort of gives you that extra inspiration, go for it, even if there is a little bit of a risk to it.

32:46

Monica H. Kang: Well, thank you so much, Ken, for sharing that, inspiring us to make sure we pivot, stay flexible, but know where we need to stay firm, balancing all of that. Final question is, what's the best way folks can stay in touch with you and follow up?

33:00

Kenneth Park: Oh, great. I mean, I'm on LinkedIn, I guess I'm on social media, like Facebook, et cetera. But I think the best way to reach out is probably LinkedIn. I'm pretty sorry, I'm pretty engaged. Got it with that platform.

33:14

Monica H. Kang: And that's how I met Ken, too, so I can affirm, attest to that. Thank you so much, Ken, for joining us. And thank you all listeners for continuing and joining this conversation on learning and M and I, I hope this has inspired you all that, yes, there is space, room to grow, but there's a way for you to step in and navigate this differently. And so thank you, and we'll tune in again for another conversation next week. So thank you so much.

33:39

Kenneth Park: Thanks so much. Monica H. Kang: We'll see you later. Bye.

33:45

Monica H. Kang: Thank you so much, Ken, for sharing that inspiring and powerful reminder as a leader, our journey to learning never ends. And as he has pointed out, whether its figuring out how to balance being flexible and being firm, as well as upscaling yourself and constantly being aware of different legal trends and industry trends to make the best decisions. Its key to know that your curiosity is a key skill that comes with it, even with AI. So as we continue our learning about the workplace here at this show, I'm grateful for leaders like him who's willing to share their honest insights about the different challenges and opportunities. And I hope this has inspired you to know that your questions and curiosity matters, both the goods and the bads, because that might help you navigate something differently, but also tap into something new.

34:41

Monica H. Kang: So thanks again for tuning in for the past few weeks on our series for M&A. Starting next week, we're going to start a new conversation. Curious to learn more? Tune in next Thursday and you will find new stories with us. This is your host Monica Kang at Dear workplace by Innovators box, and I'll see you soon. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks so much for tuning into today's episode at Dear Workplace, where we untangle your questions about the workplace. I hope you enjoyed today's conversation. Please send us your questions, feedback, suggestions at info@innovatorsbox.com or dearworkplace.com because we want to know how to continue to dive deeper in navigating those questions with you. This show, of course, is possible thanks to the amazing podcast team at InnovatorsBox Studios that I want to do a little shout out.

35:34

Monica H. Kang: Audio engineering and producing by Sam Lehmart, Audio Engineering and assistance by Ravi Lad, website and marketing support by Kree Pandey, Graphic Support by Lea Orsini, Christine Eribal, original music by InnovatorsBox Studios, and executive producing, directing, writing, researching and hosted by me Monica Kang. Thank you again for your support.