I Dream of A Big-Hearted Singapore

A nation that only knows how to talk up its successes will have nothing else to look forward to, except to look inwards since there are no more examples to follow. If we wish to reach higher then Singapore must become a big-hearted nation by truly welcoming diversity, build bridges with the region to create a friendship ballast in a more uncertain world.

As we near the 52nd national day of Singapore, you can expect to read articles in the state media that glorify our successes and exceptionalism. And so Prof. Tommy Koh's article that trumpets our litany of successes was 'timely'. I cringed as I read the article even though I find it so familiar in tone. And frankly speaking, our people and neighbors know all about our towering accomplishments since we never fail to show off whenever we have the chance. This is where our problem is, we have become used to being big-headed that we don't even realise it.

As I travel around the region for business, the prevalent complaint that I hear from our neighbors about the Singaporean business professional is that of arrogance. Once a colleague in our Philippines office shared that his parents cannot believe that his son is working for a Singapore firm because everyone is so friendly and humble. I thought long and hard about their comments and why Singaporeans are viewed as arrogant.

It is a really a bad habit but something ingrained. When we were truly a nobody, we had to claim our exceptionalism by proving to the world that we can make it. We were the first to begin the trend of being the first-in-everything which eventually Dubai took on as a mantra and now has matched or exceeded us in a number of ways. The late founding father Mr. Lee Kuan Yew even emphasized that being number one in this or that defined our exceptionalism: take a look at what he said.

Our exceptionalism cannot be based on material success alone

Mr Lee is certainly right to be worried about complacency because in business everyone knows that once you have reached your perceived market pinnacle is when you are also the most vulnerable. Because this is when you feel most assured but at the same time this is when the blind spots multiply. When a company feels that they have won, then people will tend to slack off which then opens the door to disruptors. And when one has won, one may also feel that they can afford to lose a little here and there.

One of the signs of being at the top is the start of infighting since there is no one else to compete with. It is therefore ironic that it is the founding father's children who dare to tempt fate by throwing accusations at each other while disregarding the reputation of Singapore.

But if we truly want to remain at the top of our game then we need to say that these material successes are not enough, we have to go beyond them. Plus, a first world nation like ours can no longer seek affirmation through international benchmarks, it needs to get comfortable to create new benchmarks and I don't mean new projects like Smart Nation but new benchmarks in being a people and a nation.

My dreams for a big-hearted Singapore

Singapore's exceptionalism is also based on other fundamentals, on long-lasting values and they ought not to be aspirations but guiding principles. Our commitment to diversity must be applied faithfully without political excuses or sophistry. The limiting racial framework of defining Singaporeans as just Chinese, Malay, Indian and others must be dropped. So long as you are a Singaporean, you are first and foremost one before your race. And all races must be named and not simply tagged as others.

Anyone who desires to serve must be able to serve in any rank or office. I am quite disheartened that thus far only Chinese ministers of the 4th generation political leadership have been identified by the state media as likely candidates to succeed the Prime Minister. It is quite hard to believe that after 52 years of existence, we cannot even find a candidate who is Non-Chinese. This shows that we really have a long way to go.

On the aspect of heart, Singapore has certainly come a long way at the grassroots level. There are a lot of more NGOs and civil societies doing their part to help the poor and the needy. Our judiciary too has started to take a hard look at how we mete out punishments and have began to adopt a more considerate and caring approach.

In terms of relations with our region, we can certainly do more. With the US in a leadership limbo and China asserting itself, we need to firmly anchor ourselves in ASEAN. Singapore can certainly contribute more as it takes over the Chairmanship of this association and it should be more than just business but also in terms of shaping a culture of ASEAN unity.

I do agree with Mr Kishore that we ought to contribute more to funding ASEAN. In my view we should invest in building lasting friendships and dialogue among the young by leading the way to invest and establish ASEAN youth circles. This group of ASEAN youth can also look at how to respond in times of natural disasters and look at the long-term needs of the region in terms of poverty, connectivity and interdependence. This is the type of project where we should not hide behind our constant excuse of being a small nation but to be big-hearted to serve and build unity in ASEAN in a big way. We spend billions annually defending ourselves from our neighbors, surely we are smart enough to spend millions to build lasting friendships.

In our education system, we have to sow the seeds of interdependence to teach our young how our culture, our food and our existence is very much linked to the region. We have to seed the concept that our exceptionalism is enhanced with our neighbors. So while celebrating racial harmony day is good, a day of interdependence with an understanding of the ASEAN culture and economy is essential.

Finally the truly great knows how to be generous and humble. So let us stop trumpeting our accomplishments and learn how to shape a collective win with the region. At the end of the day, the greatest legacy we can pass on to the next generation is to teach them to be big-hearted leaders with the wisdom to renew the purpose of our nation and build lasting friendships with our neighbors in the region.

Happy 52nd National Day to fellow Singaporeans.

Here is my favorite national day song which expresses the sentiments of my dream for a big-hearted Singapore: Home

About Lawrence Chong

Lawrence shares regularly about his experiences of helping companies transform to enable innovation through purpose and unity. His passion is in shaping purpose-driven companies that will contribute to shaping a better world.

He is the Co-founder and CEO of Consulus, an innovation consultancy with business management and multi-disciplinary design capabilities. Lawrence is a featured speaker at global events such as World Marketing Summit and World Brand Congress. He served as the Immediate Past President of Design Business Chamber Singapore. His thoughts on innovation and creativity appear in regional media such as Fortune, Nikkei Asian Review, Business Insider, Business Times, Marketing Magazine, Newsbase, TheEdge , Prestige Magazine, VTC10. In his personal capacity, he is a member of the Focolare, a movement in favor of building a united world through dialogue, economics, and politics.

Here is a video of Lawrence's talk at Innovation by Design in 2017 about Consulus

About Consulus

Consulus is a global innovation consultancy with multidisciplinary business and design capabilities. Since 2004, we have transformed companies, places and experiences from multi-nationals to start-ups in more than 20 cities around the world. Our clients include Teo Garments, BIBD, Goodrich Global, DST, Health City Novena, MTU and Sony.

Applying our proprietary UNIFY methodology to redesign business models, organizational cultures, and brand experiences, we help our clients develop in-house capabilities so as to enable them to innovate more effectively and meet the complex challenges of the 4th industrial revolution.

PurposeCORE programme, the principal consulting solution of Consulus and the world’s first 3-in-1 transformation program covering business, human resource and design. Applied in hundreds of companies throughout the world since 2004, find out how an effective 360 transformation can help you shape the new world.

PlaceCORE is the joint innovation programme jointly developed with CPG Consultants. It is the world’s first integrative development solution incorporating data and insights from Masterplan, Business, Design and Human Development. It provides governments and developers with a 360 view on how to establish a sustainable and creative place economy for sustainable development.

Our custom-built solutions have allowed our clients to increase revenue by over 138%, expand to overseas markets, develop new products and intellectual property and prepare the next generation of leaders to drive and sustain high-growth. Today, Consulites are present in Singapore (World Centre), Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Italy, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam. Consulus is a member of the Economy of Communion

Consulus is the convener for Shape the World Conference, a creative thought-leadership event aimed at providing design-led strategies to inspire companies to innovate and shape the world. In 2013, Consulus launched the World Company Day initiative to inspire companies to shape the world into a better place through daily work.

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