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THE BIG PICTURE ON TRAFFIC FINES

I had a most remarkable conversation with a five-year old last week. I was waiting in my car that was parked against a double yellow line, which means no parking for cars on that stretch of road. The clever little girl told me the police would come along and post traffic fine. I asked her why they had to do so. She said, ever so confidently, that the fine was to collect money to give to the Prime Minister, because the Prime Minister needed a lot of money. I asked what the Prime Minister needed so much money for. She said it was “to buy stuff for himself”. I asked where she had learnt all these things. She replied her dad had told her so.

A few minutes later her brother came along. I asked him why the police would impose a traffic fine. He said it was because I was parked in the wrong place. I was quite hopeful this elder kid would get things right, so I asked why the police was collecting the fines. He said it was to pass the money to the Prime Minister, because the Prime Minister was “very expensive”. I asked where he learnt this from, and he said it was from his dad!

The two kids were obviously bright, but with innocent minds. It just affirmed to me how critical it is that parents bring up their children with right attitudes, right values, and right understanding. Education for life, at the end of the day, is the responsibility of parents, not of schools. Schools are the supplement and the complement.

Even so, when parents place their children in schools, they must give the schools the authority to do whatever is appropriate and necessary for the education of their children, including giving principals and teachers the authority to teach and to discipline. In addition, parents must honour their teachers in the way they speak and behave, and must require their children to honour their teachers.

Teachers may not be perfect, but if they are not honoured by parents and children, it is the children that bear the consequence of teachers who are demotivated and demoralized from the lack of respect and affirmation.

6th June 2014 by Joanne

Are you the chicken or the pig?

When I was in São Paulo, the industrial and commercial capital of Brazil, last week, I attended a meeting with a healthcare entrepreneur.

The most important words I heard from him were:

“It is a pleasure to be the best! Don’t chase money. If you are the best, the money will follow you!”

He said he works long hours and through the weekend never thinking about money, but about how to keep pushing his business to be the best.

He illustrated this point by giving the story of the pig and the chicken, a story of total commitment:

“The pig and the hen were debating on who is doing the more good, and they got to talking about ham and eggs.

The hen said she making very good contribution – eggs for the health of others.

The pig responded that his was a case of total commitment, a sacrifice of himself to provide ham to others.”

So, is your commitment like the hen or like the pig when it comes to your family, work, and anything else that you undertake in your life?

2nd June 2014 by Joanne

LITTLE WISDOMS

I am in the midst of the longest ever business trip I have undertaken, starting with Mexico City where I attended a meeting of the SwissRe Advisory Panel and had several GIC business meetings, then onto São Paulo in Brazil where I inaugurated what is GIC’s tenth office worldwide and again had several GIC business meetings, and then onto London for GIC meetings. I share in this blog a good number of the little wisdoms I picked up during the trip.

Our Country Needs Good Children

First, a remark that Carlos Slim, the one of the world’s richest men and Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, is reputed to have made when someone said what is needed is to have a “good Mexico for the children” of Mexico. Slim countered this is wrong: “What is needed is to have ‘good children for Mexico’.” We also should think the same way of the need to have “good children for Singapore”.

This wisdom reminded me of a visit I made many years ago to a research station in the Negev desert in Israel; the research was to develop a self-sustaining community that made its own electricity and water and grew its own vegetables and poultry – a community that would not require external supplies for its survival and sustenance. Someone in the visiting team remarked: “This is very good. When you succeed, you can bring the people to the desert.” The chief scientist countered with typical Israeli directness: “You’ve got it wrong. Bring the people here in the desert and we will succeed.”

Approach Life with a Sense of Humour

I was sitting at dinner in Mexico next to a senior manager who was doing two jobs at the C-suite level – in other words he was Chief of two different functions in his company. I asked him jokingly whether he got double pay. He, just as jokingly remarked: “No, they pay me half my pay, because I must be an idiot to agree to do two jobs.” Life is always easier if we approach it with a sense of humour!

Competition is Good

In one of the business meetings, we were talking about business competition. Our business associate said: “When you lose a great enemy, you lose a lot of information.” In other words, having strong competition keeps you alert and continually aware and sensitive to what is going on in the environment. Killing competition weakens those who remain.

Feedback from Readers of “The Leader, The Teacher & You“

Finally, it was heartening that several people have been reading “The Leader, The Teacher & You” and were quoting the parts they were particularly struck by. I list here what they quoted as indication of what they had found to be particularly helpful to them, which was why they were able to immediately recall what they had read:

“It is better to have stallions, which we occasionally have to pull back, than to have donkeys you have to kick to move.” (Dr. Goh Keng Swee)

“Nothing in our past is wasted.”
“Be in time for the future.”

“The Circle of Improvement: from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Incompetence to Conscious Competence to Unconscious Competence and back to Unconscious Incompetence.”

“Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last, and least, experience. Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind. Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good use by people who have all the other qualities.” (Dee Hock)

“Challenge 12 is so moving:

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign that said, ‘I am blind, please help.’

There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote several words. He put the sign by so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Son, the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognised his footsteps and asked, ‘Were you the one who changed my sign this morning. What did you write?’

The man said, ‘I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.’

What he had written was: ‘Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'”

23rd May 2014 by Joanne

HONOURING MOTHERS AND FATHERS

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is a celebration honouring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society.

The celebration of Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May first happened in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. Anna had started her campaign in 1905 to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday in the United States. Her intent was to honour her own mother and for everyone else to honour their mother, “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday to honour mothers.

Mothers are possibly the most important factor in the moulding of character and establishment of lifetime values in children. Values and attitudes such as honesty, kindness, patience, and hard work often get passed down, simply through example and experience.

Most of the famous leaders of history have had good, God-fearing mothers.

The mother of the first President of the United States, George Washington, was pious, and the mother of Scottish poet and novelist, Sir Walter Scott, was well-steeped in poetry and music. In contrast, it is believed that the mother of the Roman Emperor, Nero, was a murderess; legend has it that Nero was playing his fiddle while Rome burned in a great fire, a fire some say he himself started in order to be able to re-build the centre of Rome. Nero murdered his own mother, his first wife and, apparently also, his second wife.

Mothers are most critical in the development of younger children as they are protector, provider, and guide. Children grow their sense of security and stability through their mother.

But what is possibly not well understood or recognised is the critical role of fathers, particularly in the teen years of their children. Fathers help children grow up with a sense of adventure, confidence, and steadfastness – critical qualities that children require to face a future that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Children need to learn to think for themselves, stand their ground against negative influences, and grow into independent adults.

Children grow best into well-balanced adults when they have both the protection of mothers and the encouragement of fathers at home. Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May is a day to honour our mother for their love and sacrifice, and Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June is to honour our father for their courage and resilience.

May we always remember to honour our mothers and fathers through our words and actions!

16th May 2014 by Joanne

THE SMART DUCK AND THE DUMB MONKEY

THE SMART DUCK AND THE DUMB MONKEY

There is a story of a duck that went into a shop and asked, “Do you have grapes?”

The shopkeeper gently said, “No.”

The next day the duck came again and asked, “Do you have grapes?”

The shopkeeper, this time with louder voice, responded, “No.”

The third day the duck showed up and asked, “Do you have grapes?”

The shopkeeper shouted, “No! And if you come along again asking for grapes, I will nail your webbed feet to the door and hang you upside down!”

The following day, the duck, shaken by the threat of crucifixion, asked, “Do you have nails?”

The shopkeeper replied, “No.”

The duck continued, “Do you have grapes?”

If you had a kid come along like the duck, would you think him smart and see how you could help him become even smarter, or would you consider him a smart aleck who had to be disciplined and put in his place?

Your reaction will tell whether you are the innovative, inventive, and creative kind or just the opposite – the staid and proud kind who will not accept anyone cleverer than you.

If we do not have the capacity to be the smart duck, we must at least be careful that we are not the dumb monkey.

There was this experiment with five monkeys in a cage with a hanging banana. Whenever any of the monkeys tried to get the banana, all five monkeys were doused with cold water. Soon enough, any monkey who tried to get the banana would get beaten up by the others, as no one was enjoying the cold showers!

One of the monkeys was taken out and replaced with a new monkey. This monkey wondered what was wrong with the other four monkeys, who were all placidly leaving the banana alone. So he reached out for the banana, only to be promptly set upon by the other monkeys. The new monkey did not know why he had got the beating, but learnt fast there was something prohibitive about the banana. No one knew the cold water had been turned off.

Then another of the original monkeys was taken out and replaced with a new monkey who again wondered what was wrong with the other monkeys to beep ignoring the banana. The second new monkey went for the banana, only to be mercilessly beaten up by the first new monkey.

One by one the original monkeys were replaced with new monkeys. Finally there were five new monkeys, none of whom had experienced the cold showers. All they knew was that the banana was an invitation to be beaten up. Nothing could be changed, nothing could be improved. If only the banana-which-caused-a-beating could be replaced by an ordinary banana?! But no one dared to go for the banana, so there could be no solution.

So this is my blog for the week… do you choose to be a smart duck or a dumb monkey?

7th May 2014 by Joanne

TRAVEL THOUGHTS

Every year after the annual GIC staff conference, I visit 8 cities in 8 days to connect with the staff at GIC’s five offices in Asia (Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and Shanghai) and GIC’s three offices in the US and UK (San Francisco, New York, and London).

This blog lists snippets of interesting observations I had on my trip.

MUMBAI

Mumbai has a new airport that is very impressive and vast, offering a good opportunity for me to reach my target of 10,000 steps a day (which, sadly, I seldom achieve). It was striking that the general public and well-wishers are kept out of the airport. I could understand this for the old airport building, which was small and crammed, nevertheless, the Indian authorities must have their reason for still keeping the public out.

What I would like to share, however, is my experience at departure. As is the case all over the world, there is the usual security clearance – taking out the mobile phone and the laptop, passing the bags through the scanner, and so on. What was special after the scanning was that the staff produced a book, somewhat like a visitors’ book, and asked me to sign it: name, passport number, country, and a special last column asking for comments. After some thought, I wrote: “Very efficient and friendly”, which really made the day of the security personnel! It was a comment that was fully deserved as the staff had taken most unusual care to be efficient and friendly.

TOKYO

Speaking of airports, someone pointed out to me that in Japan, somehow the aero bridge operator always aligns the aero bridge to the level of the plane door. I looked out for this when I arrived at Haneda airport and I can say, yes it is indeed so. The aero bridge when I arrived in Beijing, for example, was 15 cm lower than the door! There must be something about the Japanese attitude of always aiming for zero defects. I am reminded of what my daughter told me about trains in Tokyo: it is almost a matter of honour for the train driver to align the train doors exactly with the platform markings. Contrast this with Singapore’s MRT where sometimes the train stops with half the train door out of alignment with the platform door!

MOVIE LEARNINGS

Being on long flights provides me with the rare opportunity to watch movies. I would like to share two learnings.

“47 Ronin” is a wonderfully inspirational samurai film. Lots of fighting and killing – I did say it was a samurai film! To be a Ronin – a samurai with no master – is considered the ultimate downgrade for a samurai. The memory of the 47 Ronin who put duty and justice before their fear of death has lived down through the centuries as one of the greatest examples of honour and loyalty in Japanese culture. Each year, on December 14th, thousands of people from around the world visit the graves of the 47 Ronin to pay their respects. The film is inspired by their story.

The most memorable quote I got from the film was: “None of us knows how long he shall live or when his time will come, but soon all that will be left of our brief lives is the pride our children feel when they speak our names.” Honour, my friends, is a heritage for our children, as illustrated by this quotation from the book of Proverbs in the Bible: “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”

“Jobs” is a movie about Steve Jobs, the founding spirit of Apple. The film closed with the wonderful quotation from the 1997 Apple commercial: “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Do we have the courage to be crazy enough?

And just one more Jobs quotation which explains somewhat the craziness: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me…Going to bed at night and saying we’ve done something wonderful . . . That’s what matters to me“.

What matters to each of us? To do good? To do right? To do our best? To be our best? These are questions worthy of thought and answer.

“LOVE” vs “LIKE”

Finally, on the last leg of my journey, there was this Singapore Airlines crew member who asked how many grandchildren I had. I told her four, three girls and a boy, and asked her in return how many children she had. She said: “Not yet, but the greater challenge in marriage is how to keep it going well.”

I said: “There is a big difference between ‘like’ and ‘love’. ‘Like’ is when our partner pleases us, ‘Love’ is us looking out all the time to please our partner. Two people come together because they like each other, but to keep a marriage going well, the like must turn to love.”

She was so grateful for the exposition about the difference between “like” and “love” – it was enlightenment to her, as I hope that it is to you!

25th April 2014 by Joanne

INTERVIEW WITH ECHO

This week’s blog post features an early Siong Guan’s interview with ACS Echo, a quarterly magazine published by the ACS Board of Governors. Siong Guan was educated at the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS), Singapore, where he was the top student as well as head prefect. After graduating from ACS, Siong Guan he was awarded the President’s Scholarship to study at the University of Adelaide, Australia, where he graduated with First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering in 1969.

Echo: Mr Lim, can you please share with us your experiences when you were schooling in ACS?

Mr Lim: ACS gave me a lot of opportunity for experience and exposure, be it in running societies, learning to work with others or lessons in leading. My time in the Boys’ Brigade (BB) was particularly impactful: I rose to the rank of Colour Sergeant and was the drum major. The BB was where I learnt how the demands on the leader means both taking on responsibility as well as offers a deep sense of fulfillment in doing something important and worthwhile through people and with people.

Echo: What were the forces that drove you to excel in school and to become a President’s Scholar?

Mr Lim: I never pushed to be top boy or President’s Scholar or anything. It was just a matter of doing as well as I could in whatever I had to do. This applied to every situation, whether in studies, prefectorial duties, helping fellow students, or whatever. I think too many people mistake “excellence” to mean “outstanding”. To me, “excellence” simply means being the best you can be. So if you are capable of 100 marks but scored 90, you have done only a 90% job; but if you are capable of 70 marks and scored 70, you have done a 100% job.

Echo: In school, did you have plans for a public service career?

Mr Lim: I am possibly one of the most “ambition-less” people you can find. I certainly had no plans like wanting a career or other, I think most parents at that time felt that a public service career would always be a great idea because it offered security. We need to recognise that having a job was a most valuable thing for our parents, and so making sure their children had a good education so they could find a good job was the greatest contribution they could make for their children’s future.

How I landed up in the public service was straight and simple: there was no way I could have got to university, whether local or abroad, without a scholarship. My father was a taxi driver, my mother a schoolteacher. When I was offered a Colombo Plan Scholarship to Australia, it was a great opening for getting to university. It could just as well have been a scholarship to Canada or the United Kingdom or wherever. As they say, “beggars cannot be choosers”.

With the scholarship came a bond, which was ‘good’ as it meant you would have a ‘guaranteed job’. It never occurred to me that a bond was a burden or something to be broken. When you take something from the government, it is totally fair to give back, no questions asked. Incidentally, just to show how much the issue for me was simply to get a scholarship to university, I did not know where I would be going to in Australia when I left Singapore; the group of us went to Sydney, where we had a kind of introductory programme for a couple of weeks, and then only did I learn I would be going to the University of Adelaide.

Echo: Would you say that the ACS brand of education has something to do with preparing incumbents for a public service career?

Mr Lim: No. If we look at the list of Permanent Secretaries and CEOs of statutory boards, there are certainly many more not from ACS than there are from ACS. But there is one thing absolutely critical for me personally in my work, and that is the “fear of God”. I came to God through ACS, though people can come to God in a multitude of ways, and we all must very much hope that ACS is not the only way because the reach will be far too small.

The public service summarises its core values as Integrity, Service and Excellence. It is one thing to join the public service and subscribe intellectually and even by action to these values. It is another when you know that the driving force to observe those values in the way you lead your people run your organisation and relate to those around you, is the inner motivation based on being true to Jesus Christ and His Word. The statement I strive always to make in my words and my actions is: I can be trusted because I am a Christian; I seek to serve to the best of my ability because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”. As a public officer, I must treat all people equally, irrespective of race, language or religion, but the drive to serve with excellence and the way I treat people comes from Christ.

Echo: What advice can you offer to our young students to help them chart their lives and careers?

Mr Lim: Learn all you can. Stop complaining. Do something. Look at difficulties and obstacles as opportunities to learn new things. You can never forever be on top. And you will never forever stay down. Be humble in achievement. Be circumspect in failure. Forgive. Honour your parents. God has given you talents. Do not waste them. Jesus loves you. Follow Him.

Echo: Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced in your illustrious career and what you have learned from them?

Mr Lim: Perhaps the most important thing I have learnt in all my years of work in the public sector is the centrality of people for all things, though I am sure this applies to all organizations, not only the government. People can make or break organizations. They can make the workplace either energizing and challenging, or enervating and boring. The deepest challenges are therefore leadership and the management of change. How can we create an environment where everyone is doing the best he or she can do, and feels there is the chance to be the best he or she can be? This is a never-ending challenge, for which we have to recognise that people are not just physical and mental beings, but are also social, emotional and spiritual beings.

Echo: Do you have any advice to offer students aspiring for a career in the public service sector?

Mr Lim: The public service offers wonderful opportunities for self-development and for contribution to your fellow citizens. Where else can you find the chance to do something that affects so many people in so many different ways for so many years into the future? If you keep chasing the material things of the world, or the things that simply are nice and convenient and comfortable to you, you will soon discover that life has little meaning and purpose because you are spending your time and energies on yourself. The sense of purpose and fulfilment lies in contributing to the lives of others. Be “inner-driven” but “other-centred”. Some will find the opportunities for this in the public sector, some in the private sector, some in the people sector. See where your aptitudes and interests lie. But seek, most of all, to be sure that God will be pleased to find you wherever you are.

14th April 2014 by Joanne

HOW TO APPROACH INHERITANCE

It was remarkable how many talks I gave last week: 6 talks in 6 days!

On Monday, it was with a Cru group at the National University of Singapore, on Tuesday it was at the Annual General Meeting of the EDB Society, on Wednesday it was at the Institute of Policy Studies Corporate Associates Breakfast, on Thursday it was at U@live at the National University of Singapore for NUS students and alumni, on Friday it was the Straits Times Big Read Meet at the National Library Board Building for the general public, and on Saturday it was at the Annual General Meeting of the Association for Early Childhood Educators (Singapore).

While the approach and contents of my talk were different for each audience, one important common underlying point was about how we approach inheritance.

There are three ways we can handle inheritance.

The first is to say, “Wow, I am really lucky! My grandfather left me this inheritance. I will spend it and enjoy myself.”

The second is to say, “My grandfather left me this inheritance. It is so precious. I have to lock it up and make sure no one steals it.”

And the third is to say, “This inheritance is so valuable. I need to work at keeping up its value.”

Of course, the best is to benefit in all three ways. And it can be done: Invest to keep up the value, Invest in a way which is safe and secure, and Invest to yield ongoing income that can be enjoyed.

This approach to inheritance can be applied to material inheritance – money, valuables, property, and so on. But it can just as well be applied to intangible inheritance – the environment, law and order, education, sound organisation, good leadership, critical values and principles, as well as a culture of honour as the foundation for the peace, harmony, stability, and well-being of Singapore.

To honour does not mean to always agree or to support blindly; to honour is to love, respect, esteem, value, and care for others in the spirit of integrity, other-centredness, and responsibility.

May we all have the wisdom to choose well, and the courage to do right!

4th April 2014 by Joanne

LESSONS ON LIFE AND LIVING

I learnt various things at the conference in Beijing (that I had mentioned in my previous blog), even while I enjoyed facilitating the many discussions on life and living.

Here are a few the more memorable learnings:

(1) Strengthening relationships: The 5:1 Principle

There needs to be at least 5 times as many positive moments as negative moments if a marriage is to be stable
It is a question of balance: a marriage needs positivity to nourish love
Couples heading towards break up do far too little on the positive side to compensate for the growing negativity between them

(2) Aristotle on Excellence:

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intensity, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”

(3) SUMO = Shut Up and Move On

Stop talking and get something done!

(4) Advice on making decisions in life:

What are your options?
Which option is best for you?
What are your reasons for thinking so?
Are your reasons good enough for you to choose that option?

(5) Was Tiger Woods Talented or Hardworking?

His father gave Tiger a putter when he was seven months old.
Before he was two, he and his father were on a course practising regularly.
Both father and son attribute Tiger’s success not to talent, but to “hard work”.

(6) Steve Jobs on Wealth:

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful . . . that’s what matters to me.”

(7) Success & Failure

John F Kennedy in his last speech to the Massachusetts Legislature on 9 January 1961: “When at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us . . . our success or failure in whatever office we hold will be measured by the answers to four questions:

Were we truly men (and women) of courage . . . ?
Were we truly men (and women) of integrity . . . ?
Were we truly men (and women) of judgment . . . ?
Were we truly men (and women) of dedication . . . ?”

1st April 2014 by Joanne

Marbles And Sweets

I spent last weekend in Beijing as a speaker at an event for selected students of Peking University, and as a facilitator in their small group discussions. I was asked to speak on the topic of “Life of Integrity”, which I began with a story on sweets and marbles:

“There was this boy who had a great collection of marbles and this girl with her collection of sweets. Each looked at what the other had and was envious. So they agreed on an exchange: the boy to give the girl his marbles, and the girl to give her sweets.

On the night before the exchange, the boy went through his marbles to pack them off in a bag. He came across a marble which was particularly attractive. He decided to hide it under his bed. Then he came across another marble, and again decided to hang on to it. He packed off the rest of his marbles.

The girl also went through her sweets and put them all into a bag for the next day.

The day of the exchange arrived. Each gave to the other what had been packed.

That night, the girl was so happy with her new collection of marbles. She went off to a pleasant sleep.

The boy looked at his collection of sweets and said, ‘I wonder whether she had given me all her sweets.’ He could not get to sleep, weighed down by the thought that the girl might not have been honest with him.”

Thus ends this story about integrity: Oftentimes, what we wonder of others is basically a reflection of ourselves. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the wonderful golden rule taught by Jesus Christ. “Do not do unto others what you would not want them to do unto you” is the wisdom of Confucius.

Integrity runs in the veins of those who want to have peace of mind in a trusting relationship with others.

24th March 2014 by Joanne

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