The Durian Deal™ Podcast
Conversations about how students, parents, and schools decide when there is no formula.
Season 1, recorded in Bangkok, September 2026
From seed2rise
Every family in an international school makes decisions nobody has a template for. Which subjects to drop at 16. Which school to move to. What to study when half the jobs on the list may not exist by graduation.
This show puts those decisions to the people who see them up close: heads of school, counsellors, teachers, parents, and students who have already been through it.
Your host
Pascal D. Hasenmaier is a doctoral researcher in risk and decision-making at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the author of The Art of the Durian Deal. He built the Durian Deal™ framework based on work with 5,700+ students, and now teaches it in international schools across Southeast Asia.
He asks the questions he keeps hearing from parents and school leaders, and lets the guest do most of the talking.
Come on the show
Season 1 is being recorded in Bangkok in September. If you spend your working life around students, or have raised one through a decision worth talking about, there is a seat for you. Thirty minutes, in Bangkok or online.
How it works
What do you actually talk about?
Whatever the guest knows best. A head of school might talk about what really separates one international school from another, once you look past the curriculum label and the university acceptance list. A parent might talk about getting a 17-year-old through A Levels without adding to the pressure. A careers counsellor might talk about advising on a job market that keeps being redrawn.
The through line is decisions made without a formula. Everything else follows the guest.
How long does it take?
Thirty minutes of recording. In person in Bangkok in September, or online any time.
What do I need to prepare?
Nothing. You get the themes a few days ahead so nothing lands cold, and there is no script to hold to. If a question goes somewhere you would rather leave alone, say so and we move on.
It is audio only. No camera, no lighting, no reason to think about what you are wearing.
Do I hear it before it goes out?
Yes, and you have the final call on all of it. You get the edit before anyone else hears it. Anything you want cut gets cut, and you do not owe me a reason. If you decide the whole conversation should stay unpublished, that is the end of it, and the recording gets deleted.
And no question is built to catch anyone out.
What do I get out of it?
Your episode, plus a short clip cut from it, captioned and ready to post, with your name and a link to wherever you want it pointed. Episodes go out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, and each one gets its own page on seed2rise.org.
Is this a pitch for something?
No. Nothing is sold on the show, and nothing is asked of you afterwards. I run workshops in schools and that is on the rest of this site, where you can look at it in your own time.
Do I have to eat durian?
Only if you want to. If we record in Bangkok and you have never tried one, I will bring it, and you can decide for yourself whether the smell is a fair price for what is inside. There is no camera, so the face you make stays your business.
Put your name down
Guest spot or first listen.
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