What I've Learnt From Mr Lee Kuan Yew
Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away at 3:18am on 23 March 2015, and will be laid to rest today (29 March 2015). He would have been 92 on 16 September 2015. Born in 1969, I am 46 this year and half of Mr Lee’s age. In my career I had the delightful privilege of having met and conversed with him at close quarters 4 times, the last meeting a one-on-one session of 1.5 hours. Meeting Mr Lee, hearing him, conversing with him, sharing insights and writing papers for him have undeniably made me a better leader, a better advisor, a better person. This week of his passing, when I met senior leaders whom I’m coaching, our topic was invariably “What can I Learn from Mr Lee Kuan Yew?” Here are the thoughts I brought to the table, having met him close-and-personal 4 times; reminiscing and reflecting those meetings, which for me were “moments that truly mattered” in my leadership and life. Drive Mr Lee has tremendous Drive, and he applied that Drive in a consistently disciplined and robust way to his personal life and his lifelong passion and endeavor – Singapore and Singaporeans. Continuous Learning Mr Lee exemplified Continuous Learning. Even at half his age, he made me feel that I had much to contribute to his thinking and learning. He was always on a proactive learning lookout – always maximizing and optimizing, always applying what he’s learnt to Singapore. Competitive Capacity Mr Lee has tremendous Competitive Capacity. Leaders with remarkable Drive and Continuous Learning often master convincingly their chosen industry and craft in their careers and lifetimes, sometimes with very surprising leaps and bounds. Mr Lee was a Politician Extraordinaire – a political, economic, societal leader par excellence. A Statesman par Excellence. Like fine wine and cigars, Mr Lee got better and better with age. Sense of Mission What distinguishes a great leader from an exceptional one is usually a deep and unwavering Sense of Mission. Mr Lee’s Sense of Mission is unmistakable, and it rubs off on you. The career & life path I’m currently on – leading the Rested Edge Advisory which helps leaders create better futures; and leading the One Dream Initiative which encourages Singaporeans to have dreams in their lives and as they get more successful to also help others along, to help others fulfil their dreams – is in a great part, fueled by a deepened Sense of Mission honed through my meetings and conversations with Mr Lee. Sense-Making to Decision-Making to Policy-Making to Future-Making Mr Lee’s thought process is very formidable, very strong and robust. He was both intuitive, strategic and big picture – relying on 6th sense, soaring above it all, leaping effortlessly from Sense-Making straight to Future-Making; and rational, logical and analytical – relying on the 5 senses, thinking pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, taking Sense-Making, Decision-Making, Policy-Making and Future-Making through its full course, robustly thinking decisions, policies, results, impact and consequences every step of the way. There is much that Mr Lee can teach and inspire us. As we lay him to rest today, whilst there will be much sadness and grief; we must also reminisce and celebrate what he, his team and all Singaporeans jointly have achieved to date – making our little city state what it is today, punching above its weight, forging a viable path in an increasingly complex global world.
