The Worms Can Teach the Way the Stars Cannot.

 

One of the great joys about living in Singapore is the fact that despite being so small, we are incredibly diverse. Some would call in unequal and I guess if you looked at the fact that we are attracting the world’s wealthy to our shores while at the same time our elderly need to collect cardboard boxes just to get by, this is probably true.

However, our diversity or inequality isn’t limited to wealth. We are an incredibly diverse place when it comes to talent and character and this is probably no where more clear than in the army. Anyone who has gone through national service will get a glimpse of the best and the worst that the nation has to offer. In my basic military training (BMT) batch, you had a guy who already gotten his degree and a fellow who only studied up to primary six and went to a different school for each year of formal education.

Then, when I got posted to 23 SA, I had the privilege of serving under a battery commander who was the text book ideal of what a commander should be. My former boss was reasonable but firm. Took the time out to listen to the men and specialist. More importantly, a rarity among people in positions of power – he actually lead by example. One of the most annoying was during a fast march (5km in full battle gear to be completed in less than an hour) when the national service battery commander ordered the men to carry their riffles over their heads. The actual battery commander did so and then barked at the rest of us with “I’m doing it – you better follow.” Years latter he would get caught in a similar situation – call it a publicity coup, except it was a weird one for a scholar-general. Instead of being photographed shaking hands with ministers or other generals – he was caught packing goody bags for National Day alongside the troops and they caught the sweet too.

However, whilst my former boss remains a shinning example of leadership skills, two of the best lessons came from two Sergeant Bilko characters. This was at a time when I was happily posted out of my unit to be a recruit instructor under the Artillery Formation’s Training Cadre team.

 

 You can definitely learn a trick or two here

First character was a Warrant Officer who was nicknamed the Fox. He was called the Fox for a good reason. He knew how to stay away from most things. He was one of those characters who would support you in everything that you did – that is, you could always count on him to give you “moral support.” One of the few times I got ready to punch someone was on the island of Tekong where the Commanding Officer (CO) decided to hold a 16km route march at noon (Tekong being two degrees hotter than mainland Singapore). Struggled during the first four kilometres but somehow had to stay strong because recruits were dropping like flies. Then, the Fox decided he needed to give us encouragement, yelling “come on it’s only four clicks.” Ya, except whilst we were marching – he was on the Land Rover.

People who worked for the Fox didn’t much like him. The guys in office noticed that he insisted on processing lots of sick leave reimbursements for his entire family. He did, however, have one unique talent. Whenever you heard his voice, you could be assured that CO was lurking around. He was in Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) speak “A crab detector.”

That was the character that one cursed during National Service. However, when I joined the corporate sector, I realised that he wasn’t particularly unique. He was doing what a lot of people do in the corporate sector. They focus on pleasing the boss without doing very much.

You can curse these characters for wilfully screwing you up by simply not being where they are required. However, somehow these guys thrive. Think of the main lesson as – why do you need to show up, unless you have to. Someone would latter explain to me the obvious logic of telling the boss what he wanted to hear – It doesn’t cost me anything and once he’s in a good mood, the atmosphere becomes better.”

The second Bilko like character to teach me important lessons was my platoon sergeant. He had a golden rule, which was “The Battery (in an artillery unit, the equivalent of a company is a battery. However, during BMT, the artillery unit becomes the equivalent of an infantry platoon. Hence terms become interchangeable during the Training Cadre phase) must run without me.”

He too was never around. Once found his zonked out in his bunk when I needed him to conduct drill lessons. His instruction to me was “get them to area cleaning.” You could say he was a “lazy SOB,” but years later, I would discover the extreme – leaders who were so paranoid about their abilities, they wouldn’t let you tie your shoe laces without their approval.

If you look at the largest companies, you’ll notice that the biggest ones are inevitably the ones where no individual is irreplaceable. Take General Electric (GE) for example. When its CEO, John Flannery was fired after a year on the job, the company merely replaced him and life went on. Apple did not collapse when Steve Jobs died. Instead, it remains at number one or two on the world’s largest corporations by market capitalisation at any given time. How did it happen? Simple, they became bigger than their iconic founders.

A good leader can make a big difference to an organisation. A great leader will ensure that the organisation thrives when he or she leaves the scene. I think of being a parent. Often tell the Evil Young Woman that I could drop dead tomorrow. If she can’t handle things without me, I’ve failed. Great leadership is like great parenting and its ironic that one of the Sergeant Bilko’s of my life would be the first to make that point to me.