Page 30 - The Art of Leadership (preview)

the art of leadership

Singapore had to remake itself when it became
independent in 1965. The Cold War was on,
China was isolated and out of the world’s

markets; most developing countries chose
import substitution and rejected multina-
Mr Lee Kuan Yew encouraged the audience to be more innovative and entrepreneurial.
tional corporations (MNCs). They believed
preneurs. In Singapore, many of those who they have a fairly egalitarian society. In the MNCs would exploit their labour and natural
are most likely to succeed have been inducted United States, it was 9.4. resources. We had the whole export-oriented
into politics, the bureaucracy and the defence freeway open to us and we succeeded.
To change our values, we must consciously
forces. Hence, too few are in business on their focus on new specific values we have to adopt. The Cold War is now over. The enemy is not
own and even fewer are entrepreneurs. There are four salient features of American communism, but terrorism. The terrorist war

However, Singaporeans can slowly change entrepreneurial culture: looks set to be the backdrop for some time.
with changing circumstances. Our values and 1. A national emphasis on personal We are in for a new era of the global economy.
culture are not as deeply embedded because independence and self-reliance. China will be a vacuum cleaner of foreign
we are a young society of immigrant stock. 2. Respect for those starting new businesses. direct investments (FDIs) and its production
Nevertheless, it will take time and effort to 3. Acceptance of failure in entrepreneurial capacity is enormous, but we must get part of

change their outlook through education. and innovation efforts. the FDIs in higher value-added and higher

There is an obverse side to a dynamic entre- 4. Tolerance for a high degree of income technology sectors.
preneurial economy. The same GEM study disparity. Our own domestic conditions have changed.
found that in Denmark and Finland in the For over 30 years, we, in Singapore, have aimed We have become a manufacturing base, finan-
early 1990s, the total income controlled by the for an egalitarian society. If we want to have cial services centre and transportation hub.
wealthiest 20 per cent of the population di- more successful entrepreneurs, Singaporeans We have rebuilt our city centre and re-housed
vided by the total income controlled by the must accept a greater income disparity be- the whole population. Now we need imagi-

poorest 20 per cent, was 3.6. In other words, tween the successful and the not-so-successful. native and artistic architects and city planners

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