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What It Takes: Southeast Asia: From Periphery to Core of Global Consciousness
ONE OF THE MOST UNDER-NARRATED REGIONS IN THE WORLD DOES NOT HAVE TO BE. THIS BOOK WILL TELL YOU WHY.
With 700 million people and a $4 trillion economy, Southeast Asia has what it takes to move from the periphery to global discourse consciousness. This book shows which problems to focus on to become the region's storytellers.
About the book
Nearly 5 years and over 200 recorded conversations with great narrators and luminaries from the region and the world, combined with almost 3 years spent at a widely-recognized nexus of innovation, academic excellence, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Stanford University, led to a compelling Southeast Asia has what it takes to be part of global consciousness—to have the capacity and disposition to think and act on issues of global significance such as energy transition, humanitarian crises, and social inequality. But we just haven't been focusing on the things that matter in the long run, and we don't have enough storytellers to convey this message.
This book aims to instill hope and test the boundaries of imagination for future storytellers from within this region while encouraging members of the global community to understand the future, more-interconnected Southeast Asia a little better. Drawing from the author's multidimensional experience across government, private sector, and academia, this work examines the region through interconnected history, economics, education, sustainability, and the technological innovations that will shape its forward trajectory.
Who this book is for
1. Free-thinkers hoping to contribute to something larger than themselves
2. Academics and changemakers wanting to bridge their fields with regional understanding
3. Diplomats looking to connect their expertise to broader global issues
4. Private sector decision makers hoping to turn uncertainty to extraordinary results
5. Policymakers hoping to shift perspective and remove blind spots
And, most importantly, the future narrators of Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
With 700 million people and a $4 trillion economy, Southeast Asia has what it takes to move from the periphery to global discourse consciousness. This book shows which problems to focus on to become the region's storytellers.
About the book
Nearly 5 years and over 200 recorded conversations with great narrators and luminaries from the region and the world, combined with almost 3 years spent at a widely-recognized nexus of innovation, academic excellence, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Stanford University, led to a compelling Southeast Asia has what it takes to be part of global consciousness—to have the capacity and disposition to think and act on issues of global significance such as energy transition, humanitarian crises, and social inequality. But we just haven't been focusing on the things that matter in the long run, and we don't have enough storytellers to convey this message.
This book aims to instill hope and test the boundaries of imagination for future storytellers from within this region while encouraging members of the global community to understand the future, more-interconnected Southeast Asia a little better. Drawing from the author's multidimensional experience across government, private sector, and academia, this work examines the region through interconnected history, economics, education, sustainability, and the technological innovations that will shape its forward trajectory.
Who this book is for
1. Free-thinkers hoping to contribute to something larger than themselves
2. Academics and changemakers wanting to bridge their fields with regional understanding
3. Diplomats looking to connect their expertise to broader global issues
4. Private sector decision makers hoping to turn uncertainty to extraordinary results
5. Policymakers hoping to shift perspective and remove blind spots
And, most importantly, the future narrators of Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 4, 2025
20 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
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December 24, 2025When most Indonesians focus on a nationalist narrative, Gita Wirjawan invites us to expand our perspective toward an ASEAN narrative through his book What It Takes. He opens the discussion by examining how Southeast Asian countries position themselves amid the struggle for hegemony between the United States and China, a rivalry that is already unfolding and will likely intensify further with the ongoing tariff war and the emerging AI war.
This book discusses many important points on how ASEAN can become more influential on the global stage, rather than remaining merely a spectator. One key pathway is through storytelling. Storytelling ability can only be developed through education and open mindedness, which can be effectively distributed using the internet and AI technologies.
ASEAN countries should maintain a balanced collaboration with China for technological manufacturing and with the United States for liquidity. Indonesia joining BRICS is a strategic move and also a political statement, signaling that we do not rely on a single great power. Indonesia has experienced this before, when it relied too heavily on one great power, and the price paid has remained a national burden until today.
I also want to highlight one important point that making a viral hashtag #kaburajadulu. Gita Wirjawan argues for pushing the growth of the diaspora as much as possible to improve overall talent quality. He suggests that when members of the diaspora stay longer in the countries where they work and are educated and reach senior or influential positions there, instead of returning immediately to their home country, they can act as bridges for collaboration between nations. This makes it easier, in the long run, for Indonesia to export and import talent, knowledge, and opportunities.
Just imagine if the CEO of Google came from Indonesia instead of India, it would create far more value than if members of the diaspora returned too quickly to their birth country before building global influence. This strategy can also be applied across other ASEAN countries.
There are still many other interesting points discussed in this book, such as the modernization dilemma faced by developing countries without increasing carbon emissions, the post-truth era driven by social media, ancient civilizations and historical amnesia, and many more. I recommend reading it for yourself, or if you are not familiar with Gita Wirjawan starting by listening to his podcasts on YouTube. When I saw him interviewing Klaus Schwab, I realized that he is a serious figure who genuinely cares enough to creates YouTube contents for citizens like us.
This book discusses many important points on how ASEAN can become more influential on the global stage, rather than remaining merely a spectator. One key pathway is through storytelling. Storytelling ability can only be developed through education and open mindedness, which can be effectively distributed using the internet and AI technologies.
ASEAN countries should maintain a balanced collaboration with China for technological manufacturing and with the United States for liquidity. Indonesia joining BRICS is a strategic move and also a political statement, signaling that we do not rely on a single great power. Indonesia has experienced this before, when it relied too heavily on one great power, and the price paid has remained a national burden until today.
I also want to highlight one important point that making a viral hashtag #kaburajadulu. Gita Wirjawan argues for pushing the growth of the diaspora as much as possible to improve overall talent quality. He suggests that when members of the diaspora stay longer in the countries where they work and are educated and reach senior or influential positions there, instead of returning immediately to their home country, they can act as bridges for collaboration between nations. This makes it easier, in the long run, for Indonesia to export and import talent, knowledge, and opportunities.
Just imagine if the CEO of Google came from Indonesia instead of India, it would create far more value than if members of the diaspora returned too quickly to their birth country before building global influence. This strategy can also be applied across other ASEAN countries.
There are still many other interesting points discussed in this book, such as the modernization dilemma faced by developing countries without increasing carbon emissions, the post-truth era driven by social media, ancient civilizations and historical amnesia, and many more. I recommend reading it for yourself, or if you are not familiar with Gita Wirjawan starting by listening to his podcasts on YouTube. When I saw him interviewing Klaus Schwab, I realized that he is a serious figure who genuinely cares enough to creates YouTube contents for citizens like us.
January 21, 2026
Rekomendasi untuk pembaca yang punya ketertarikan terhadap pembangunan struktural di lanscape Asia Tenggara terkini. Topik-topik yang diangkat dalam buku ini tidak beda jauh dari diskursus yang juga aku peroleh dari podcast Endgame : Edukasi, literasi, teknologi, geopolitik, ekonomi, governance, meritokrasi, sustainability, dan alokasi keuangan negara. Selain belajar dari sejarah masing-masing negara Asean, banyak proof berupa data menjadikan narasi yang disampaikan reasonable dan relevan, beberapa hal bahkan eye-opening. Sebuah bacaan yang bermanfaat untuk mengenali negara sendiri serta mengupdate pengetahuan tentang posisi kita di kalangan negara tetangga dan dunia.
Awalnya aku berekspektasi buku ini bisa jadi "Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think"-nya Asia Tenggara. Meskipun ternyata, tata penulisan dan bahasa buku ini masih terasa akademis. Berharap ada lebih banyak visualisasi data yang menghubungkan fenomena satu dengan yang lainnya. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that bacaan ini meningkatkan kepekaan terhadap kondisi geopolitik sosioekonomi di Asia tenggara, dan prioritas apa yang perlu diangkat naik jika ingin melampaui predikat, selain menjadi salah satu region paling damai di dunia, juga negara-negaranya maju secara ekonomi, mengimbangi Singapura dan Tiongkok.
Key takeways yang paling aku suka : negara maju perlu invest in education, tingkatkan kesejahteraan pendidik, dan perbanyak lulusan STEM.
Awalnya aku berekspektasi buku ini bisa jadi "Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think"-nya Asia Tenggara. Meskipun ternyata, tata penulisan dan bahasa buku ini masih terasa akademis. Berharap ada lebih banyak visualisasi data yang menghubungkan fenomena satu dengan yang lainnya. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that bacaan ini meningkatkan kepekaan terhadap kondisi geopolitik sosioekonomi di Asia tenggara, dan prioritas apa yang perlu diangkat naik jika ingin melampaui predikat, selain menjadi salah satu region paling damai di dunia, juga negara-negaranya maju secara ekonomi, mengimbangi Singapura dan Tiongkok.
Key takeways yang paling aku suka : negara maju perlu invest in education, tingkatkan kesejahteraan pendidik, dan perbanyak lulusan STEM.
January 3, 2026
Indonesian much needed book to read to see how far behind we are comparing to others nation in global economic, education, and literacy in global competitive.
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January 14, 2026Indonesia once carried a real sense of direction on the global stage, back when Bung Karno helped initiate the non aligned movement and brought Asia and Africa into a shared voice. But somewhere along the way, that mandate has slowly degraded. Today, Indonesia and Southeast Asia more broadly, too often feels like a spectator watching the U.S. and China rivalry, instead of stepping forward and fully owning the region’s potential: our resources, our relatively stable and peaceful environment, and the cultural strength that should give us confidence, not hesitation.
Reading Pak Gita’s What It Takes honestly brought me back that hunger we once had. It reminded me that Southeast Asia is not a “supporting actor” in the world economy, we’re a region with scale, leverage, and a future worth shaping. And what I appreciate most is that the book doesn’t stop at big ideas because it pushes toward practical and long term moves. Things like redefining the region by building stronger narrators through meritocracy, improving legal certainty so FDI can flow with more confidence into developing areas, and making an equal access to education for every child without exception. Those aren’t just nice statements. They’re the kind of structural foundations that actually change trajectories.
The part that stayed with me the most was the “world paradoxes” angle, especially the elitization of renewable energy, where sustainability becomes something only richer countries can afford, and the struggle to democratize ideas in a world where information is everywhere, yet idea still isn’t equally distributed. That tension feels real, and it’s exactly why this book was such a meaningful read for me.
Overall, this is genuinely a great work from Pak Gita. It felt like getting a clean synthesis of the Endgame conversations I’ve been listening to for the past five years. only now, packaged in a way that’s easier to reflect on and build from. We need more writing like this: a writing that disrupts and challenges the status quo!
Reading Pak Gita’s What It Takes honestly brought me back that hunger we once had. It reminded me that Southeast Asia is not a “supporting actor” in the world economy, we’re a region with scale, leverage, and a future worth shaping. And what I appreciate most is that the book doesn’t stop at big ideas because it pushes toward practical and long term moves. Things like redefining the region by building stronger narrators through meritocracy, improving legal certainty so FDI can flow with more confidence into developing areas, and making an equal access to education for every child without exception. Those aren’t just nice statements. They’re the kind of structural foundations that actually change trajectories.
The part that stayed with me the most was the “world paradoxes” angle, especially the elitization of renewable energy, where sustainability becomes something only richer countries can afford, and the struggle to democratize ideas in a world where information is everywhere, yet idea still isn’t equally distributed. That tension feels real, and it’s exactly why this book was such a meaningful read for me.
Overall, this is genuinely a great work from Pak Gita. It felt like getting a clean synthesis of the Endgame conversations I’ve been listening to for the past five years. only now, packaged in a way that’s easier to reflect on and build from. We need more writing like this: a writing that disrupts and challenges the status quo!
January 15, 2026
This book is not only about Southeast Asia. It is about potential, responsibility, and leadership.
In this book Pak Gita explains why Southeast Asia has everything it needs to become an important global player, but also why the region is still often being ignored by the world. He talks about different set of topics from education to economy, energy, governance and geopolitics in a way that is easy to understand.
One of the strongest messages in this book is the importance of education and storytelling. The author believes Southeast Asia must invest more in human capital and must tell its own story to the world, instead of letting others define it. This idea feels very relevant, especially for young people in the region.
Highly recommended!
In this book Pak Gita explains why Southeast Asia has everything it needs to become an important global player, but also why the region is still often being ignored by the world. He talks about different set of topics from education to economy, energy, governance and geopolitics in a way that is easy to understand.
One of the strongest messages in this book is the importance of education and storytelling. The author believes Southeast Asia must invest more in human capital and must tell its own story to the world, instead of letting others define it. This idea feels very relevant, especially for young people in the region.
Highly recommended!
January 23, 2026
Tidak seperti kebanyakan buku yang hanya mengambil satu disiplin ilmu, "Pak Gita" dengan sangat piawai mengkombinasikan berbagai disiplin ilmu. Mulai dari sejarah suatu bangsa, perekonomian dalam sebuah negara, dan sejauh mana teknologi yang digunakannya.
Menggunakan case Asia Tenggara yang alih-alih memihak salah satu kubu, justru Asia Tenggara dapat menjadi menjadi Interlock antara China dan Amerika Serikat ditengah ketidakpastian.
Asia Tenggara kepada negara barat menjadi tempat untuk mencari "fulus" sedangkan kepada China untuk mencari "teknologi".
Buku ini menomorsatukan meritokrasi sebagai fondasi utama dalam kemajuan suatu negara.
Selain itu, investasi terhadap Guru itu dirasa sangat penting. Karena agar bangsa kita menjadi "storyteller".
Menggunakan case Asia Tenggara yang alih-alih memihak salah satu kubu, justru Asia Tenggara dapat menjadi menjadi Interlock antara China dan Amerika Serikat ditengah ketidakpastian.
Asia Tenggara kepada negara barat menjadi tempat untuk mencari "fulus" sedangkan kepada China untuk mencari "teknologi".
Buku ini menomorsatukan meritokrasi sebagai fondasi utama dalam kemajuan suatu negara.
Selain itu, investasi terhadap Guru itu dirasa sangat penting. Karena agar bangsa kita menjadi "storyteller".
December 28, 2025
Frankly, I listened to most of his Podcast episodes, "Endgame" and reading his book is like talking to him in real depth of his understanding of the topic, Southeast Asia, and beyond. I guess, this book marks the beginning to actualize his idea that we (especially for Indonesians) must have a lot of great storytellers, so that we can shape our own reality and move forward with our aspirations.
At first, I thought this book is just all about Southeast Asia, but frankly it's more. Check out for yourselves!
At first, I thought this book is just all about Southeast Asia, but frankly it's more. Check out for yourselves!
January 14, 2026
For me personally, this book clearly explains what Southeast Asia should take, from economics and politics to the region's ability to narrate. I enjoyed the data presented and the comparisons made, such as with Singapore and China. I really liked the part that states we must build our ability to narrate this region, starting from our daily activities at home with our parents and eventually, even within our communities. I realized that Southeast Asia has great potential to enter the global value chain with all its advantages, especially when it comes to regional stabilization.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2026
It sounds like you are reading a book that captures Gita Wirjawan’s signature optimism and forward-thinking approach to the region. His perspective often moves away from the traditional "geopolitical chess" mindset and instead focuses on the inherent strengths—demographics, digital transformation, and cultural richness—that Southeast Asia possesses.
By highlighting "potential" rather than just "power blocks," the narrative shifts from competition to contribution, which aligns perfectly with his reputation for intellectual humility.
By highlighting "potential" rather than just "power blocks," the narrative shifts from competition to contribution, which aligns perfectly with his reputation for intellectual humility.
January 23, 2026
Pesan utama yang disuguhkan oleh buku ini sangatlah mendasar, yaitu jangan sampai kita menderita amnesia sejarah akan pentingnya integritas, karena tanpa itu, kemajuan ekonomi hanyalah bangunan di atas pasir.
Gaya penyampaiannya juga sangat bernas, di mana beliau menghubungkan peristiwa masa lalu dengan tantangan masa depan untuk mencari solusi yang paling arif bagi bangsa.
Karya ini adalah harapan bagi generasi muda agar tidak menjadi penonton pasif, melainkan aktor utama dalam penulisan sejarah Indonesia emas.
Gaya penyampaiannya juga sangat bernas, di mana beliau menghubungkan peristiwa masa lalu dengan tantangan masa depan untuk mencari solusi yang paling arif bagi bangsa.
Karya ini adalah harapan bagi generasi muda agar tidak menjadi penonton pasif, melainkan aktor utama dalam penulisan sejarah Indonesia emas.
January 23, 2026
bought this book since the beginning of 2026. reading this book is like a roadmap equipped with very specific metrics to bring southeast asia to become the center of modern world civilization. highly recommended to read. this book explores the potential as well as development opportunities and also challenges for southeast asians to leap to become the next giant of the world. hats off mr gita wirjawan for this book. thank you very much for the book
January 23, 2026
What It Takes merangkum gagasan dan percakapan lintas disiplin untuk menjawab satu pertanyaan penting: apa yang dibutuhkan agar Asia Tenggara berpindah dari “tepi” menuju “inti” kesadaran global? Buku ini lahir dari dialog dengan akademisi, praktisi, dan tokoh dunia, lalu dirangkai menjadi semacam “kompas” isu prioritas—dari pendidikan (termasuk STEM), tata kelola, infrastruktur, inovasi, hingga keberlanjutan—agar kawasan ini mampu membangun narasi dan aksi nyata di panggung global.
January 31, 2026
200+ podcast episodes weren’t enough, Pak Gita had to emphasize over and over again through this book. Can be a bit dry in writing style, but it’s for the best. The book is made for people to believe that there’s still hope in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. As a fan of Endgame, I truly admire his persistency to get his points installed in everyone’s head. And we shall see bright future ahead of us.
January 22, 2026
This book introduce me to the topic that I'm not aware of. Pak Gita expand our knowledge about Southeast Asia countries, the challenge they face and how Indonesia can position itself amid current global condition. There a lot of data included in this book to help us better understanding the topic explain in each chapter. I encourage everyone to read this book.
January 14, 2026
What is most interesting is not a single data point or a specific chapter, but the way of thinking the book offers. It encourages readers to see Southeast Asia as a region that can shape its own destiny, as long as it is willing to seriously invest in people, ideas, and narratives.
January 23, 2026
I enjoyed What It Takes: Southeast Asia because it made me see the region’s potential in a new way. It made me think about how leadership, mindset, and purposeful action can shape the future, also what role I want to play in it.
February 1, 2026
The individual is not receptive to criticism, which is why I am reluctant to review the book, as it may be perceived as a critique of the author. To avoid potential misunderstanding, it is preferable to remain silent.
January 14, 2026
A timely and insightful book that shows why Southeast Asia matters globally and why the region needs stronger storytellers to shape its future narrative
January 23, 2026
Must to read this book for get it the insightful about southeast Asia & energy to giving impact
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews