You Take Care of the Results. I Will Take Care of the Politics

 One of the most accurate descriptions of Singapore that I’ve heard came from my former client, Datuk Vinod Sekhar, Founder of the GreenRubber Group. He described Singapore as “Disneyland under Martial Law,” and explained that Singapore was Disneyland, the place that everyone wants to be but it only got that way because we were under martial law.

Fortunately for us, the person overseeing martial law was on balance a fairly wise leader (as a matter of full disclosure, one my uncles was arrested without trial and on ridiculous charges by the said ruler) who on the balance of things produced a fairly benign society. We, the natives think of the said ruler with some fondness of a bygone era. He was like Don Corleone from the Godfather, ruthless when dealing with anyone who crossed his path but he did take care of “his” people. The Old Don and his gang can be seen below:

However, the said Godfather of Singapore got old and died and the leadership that succeeded him was what most of us would call “lacking.” The results of this new leadership, to use the Datuk’s analogy of Singapore being like Disneyland would be – Disneyland is like Singapore – everyone wants to be there except the guys who have to make the place tick.

Our complaints against the “new management” can be summed up as follows:

“Singapore is still under martial law, its just that the rules are increasingly unevenly applied.”

The new manager and his team can be seen below.

While the people from everywhere else would beg to differ, we the natives blame the “new management.” We think of the new management as being as the crazy control freak like the old Don and his gang but this time, we tend to notice that control freakery results in them benefiting at your expense. We, the poor sods, would argue that at least the control freakery of the old don was the competent variety, unlike the current crop which seems to be, well ….a little less than that. Talk to enough of us, especially those of us who are not on the established track and there will be a story of frustration when it comes to dealing with the new management running the old system.

I’m glad that I can write something from my personal experiences (which readers of this posts on the alternative media will undoubtedly crucify me for saying,) is that all is not lost when it comes to new management. There is room for real leaders.

I am currently working on a project where the client is an institution that is part of the establishment. I was in a meeting with the CEO of this client and he asked me what I needed to get the job done. I told him and he listened. Then he told me, don’t worry, send my team a list of what you need and I’ll get it for you. Then it came to another aspect of what we were doing for publicity and one his girls pointed out that there was a possibility of complaints from the public and I concurred and did mention to him that it might put him in a politically awkward situation (having done issues management for a statutory board, one is automatically attuned to how ones actions might put the client in).

At that point the CEO looked at me and said, “Don’t worry, you take care of the results and I will take care of the politics and complaints.” That moment in the meeting has stayed with me because this is precisely what I, as a contractor, needed to hear. Here was a client, respecting me for my skills and then telling me that he would allow me to do what was necessary to achieve the goals and more importantly, he would ensure I would not be troubled by politics.

If you think about it, one of the reasons why very talented people often fail is because they fail in their human relations and politics. I remember my stepfather, Lee, who was a very talented and capable creative director in a multinational. By his own admission, Lee didn’t go as far as he could have gone and by his ow admission it was because he was a lousy politician. I would understand my stepdad’s point when I started out in an agency and came to the understanding that organisations, no matter their size will inevitably have a level of politics. The success of the organization inevitably depends on its ability to keep the politics in control and the success of the individual within any organization depends on what my ex-boss, PN Balji described as “Not playing politics but knowing politics.”

When Dr. Goh Keng Swee, our former Deputy Prime Minister died in 2010, I suddenly realized the truth about the Old Don. Why was he immensely successful as a leader? It was because he respected competence and he kept the politics away from the people doing his work. Yes, Dr. Goh did do the “real” work of institution building but he could only do what he did because the boss the politics off his back.

This was the style of leadership that made Singapore and our leadership only started to show cracks when the man on top or more accurately the man pulling the strings (in his self-made consultant jobs of Senior Minister and Minister Mentor) decided that it was more fun to be a puppet master than a leader who made it possible for competent people to shine.

I had a good meeting and a better day thanks to this CEO. Yes, there was the joys of the business relationship but there was the greater hope that I had for the society at large that I had the experience of dealing with what decent leadership should be about. I pray that there are more of such men like the one I dealt with today because if there are, there is hope for the nation.