Owen is a freelance journalist and writer. A former BBC correspondent and presenter he has been a resident foreign correspondent in Bucharest, Geneva, Islamabad, Hanoi and Beirut. Owen is a former Commonwealth journalist of the year.

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He has already published two books. His history of Pakistan: Pakistan: Eye of the Storm is now in its third edition. Target Britain, a thriller set amid the war on terror is available in paperback. In 2004 he contributed to the Lonely Planet guide, Pakistan and the Karakoram Highway.

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He is currently writing  book on Russian interference in US elections.

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Even though we had not met before Owen's face and voice are well known to me having grown up in England when he was prominent on the radio and tv with the BBC.

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Owen is also the co-producer of a new podcast service Auddy, and in particular 'Make or Break' where he interviews world leading business figures about the decisions that have led to success or disaster. 

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Talking points:

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 - making decisions based on poor information

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 - the journey of Justine Roberts and Mumsnet, sometimes people are not ready for your ideas

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 "One of the things I've found about these people is that they generally have pretty big egos, you know, these people who've taken big decisions. The reason they're in a position to take those decisions is they've grappled their way out, or they've grappled their way to make their business a success, so that they're actually having an impact on the world. And you don't do it by being the mild and meekest person on earth."

 

- on average it takes about 7 years in politics and business to become hubristic, to put themselves before their people.

 

"So I was hoping that with a series, the one thing would come out of it as I begin to understand better, what commonalities that were between in successful. It's sort of It's quite strange, because I mean, a lot of these people said his gut instinct. I was so that's okay. I was just resisting because I think that's not quite good enough an explanation is it but it did seem so which which raises the possibility that it's just luck?"

 

- truth no longer matters, deciphering truth from lies

 

- when truth was no longer promoted to the media, the era of Karl Rove and George Bush 

 

- investigating Russian interference in the US elections

 

"And you lie back. And you just don't worry about the truth. And you create a narrative, which you think is proximate to the truth, your truth, you say, These elections are manipulated, and you create a story that will convince half of America that that's true, irrespective of the precise details, and that you get your point across that way. I mean, I'm not advocating it. But that's I think that is the choice facing journalists."

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- how close are to cultural breakdown and civil unrest

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"So I think that that sense has already started. And it's, yeah, it is sort of intriguing as to where it's going to go. Because it's I don't think this stuff is happening in East Asia, for example, in Chinese face this problem to the same degree. So it is weakening West Western democracies. And it's quite interesting, going back to the origins of it all with post modernism, and relativism and lack of acceptance of any real objective truths and so on. I mean, there is a philosophical background to this. And we've now reached where we've reached and there's no sense of it reversing."

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- going against the norm of business advice and when it works

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- discussing Auddy

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To contact Owen click on the links below

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https://owenbennettjones.com/

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https://auddy.co/

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