[The following are excerpts from a paper entitled “Lee Kuan Yew: Leading Singapore, Lessons In Leadership,” submitted to Atty. Damcelle Torres Cortes, Professor in Development Management 201 -Managerial Leadership, University of the Philippines – Los Banos (UPLB) – Fidel M. Arcenas]
Lee Kuan Yew' Leadership
How could a small island with very limited natural resources compete with its neighbors and the rest of the world? The answer: Lee’s leadership.
[“There’s …another crucial truth about leadership. It’s something that we’ve known for a long time, but we’ve come to prize even more today. In talking to leaders and reading their cases, there was a very clear message that wove itself throughout every situation and every action. The message was leadership is a relationship. It’s the quality of this relationship that matters most when we’re getting extraordinary things done…A relationship characterized by mutual respect and confidence will overcome the greatest adversities and leave a legacy of significance.”[1]]
Singapore’s experience with Lee Kuan Yew at the helm fits perfectly to this observation. At the time when the government was just starting to draw its roadmap, Lee Kuan Yew related:
“Our greatest asset was the trust and confidence of the people. These we had earned by the fight we had put up on their behalf against the communists and the Malay Ultras, our refusal to browbeaten and cowed at a time when the police and the army were both in the hands of the central government.”[2]
[“At the heart of collaboration is trust. It’s the central issue in human relationship within and outside organizations. Without trust you cannot get extraordinary things done….To build and sustain social connections, you have to be able to trust others and others have to trust you. Trust is not just what’s in your mind. it’s also what’s in your heart.”[3]]
“The other valuable asset,” Lee continued, “was our people – hardworking, thrifty, eager to learn. Although divided into several races, I believed a fair and even-handed policy would get them to live peacefully together, especially if such hardships as unemployment were shared equally and not mainly by the minority groups. It was crucial to keep united Singapore’s multilingual, multicultural, multi-religious society and make it rugged and dynamic enough to compete in the in world markets.”[4]
[“Leadership is not a solo act, it’s a team effort….Through the years, leaders from all professions, from all economic sectors, and from around the globe have continued to tell us ‘You can’t do it alone.”[5]]
“After pondering [Singapore’s] problems and the limited options available,” Lee Kuan Yew declared: “… an island city-state in Southast Asia could not be ordinary if it was to survive. We had to make extraordinary efforts to become a tightly knit, rugged and adaptable people who could do things better and cheaper than our neighbors…We had to be different.”[6]
Here, we get a glimpse of Lee Kuan Yew’s resolve as a leader of his people, inspiring them to take extraordinary efforts; to be different; to survive, to become a tightly knit, rugged, and adaptable; and, as manager, motivating them to do things better and cheaper than (their) neighbors. In effect, Lee wanted to achieve competitive advantage.
[“Competitive advantage refers to what sets the organization from others and sets it apart from others and provides it with a distinctive edge for meeting customer and client needs in the marketplace.”[7]]
To enable Singapore to survive, Lee Kuan Yew had to concretize his vision and develop the right strategies.
Defining Singapore’s Vision
“To create a First World oasis in a Third World region.”[8] This was Lee Kuan Yew’s strategic vision for Singapore upon its separation from Malaysia. He explained that “if Singapore could establish First World standards in public and personal security, health, education, telecommunications, transportation, and services it would become a base camp for entrepreneurs, engineers, managers, and other professionals who had business to do in the region.”
[“Exemplary leaders are forward-looking. They are able to envision the future, to gaze across the horizon of time and imagine the greater opportunities to come. They see something out ahead, vague as it might appear from a distance, and they imagine that extraordinary feats are possible and that the ordinary could be transformed into something noble. They are able to develop an ideal and unique image of the future for the common good.”[9]]
“This meant,” Lee continued, “we had to train our people and equip them to provide First World standards of service [enabling his constituents to act in consonance with the vision]. I believed this was possible, that we could reeducate and reorient our people with the help of schools, trade unions, community centers, and social organizations. If the communists in China could eradicate all flies and sparrows, surely we could get our people to change their Third World habits.”
[“Whatever the challenge, all the cases involved a change from the status quo. Not one person claimed to have achieved a personal best by keeping things the same. All leaders challenge the process.”[10]]
Lee Kuan Yew inspired this shared vision. As a leader he “gaze(d) across the horizon of time, imagining the attractive opportunities that are in store when (he) and (his) constituents arrive at a distant destination.”[11]
[Kouzes and Posner cited five practices of exemplary leadership. These are: “Model the Way; Inspire a Shared Vision; Challenge the Process; Enable Others to Act; and Encourage the Heart.”[12]]
[Maxwell also said: “All leaders have two common characteristics: first, they are going somewhere; second, they are able to persuade other people to go with them.”[13]]
We see these exemplary leadership practices observed repeatedly by Lee Kuan Yew as he led Singapore even through the most turbulent times.
After a series of studies, discussions, meetings, and consultations, Lee Kuan Yew decided that to attain this vision it was necessary to “leapfrog the region.”[14] This strategy, which was based on the Israeli model, sprang from Lee’s discussion with a United Nations Development Program (UND) expert who visited Singapore in 1962. The UNDP adviser described “how the Israelis, faced a more hostile environment… had found a way around their difficulties by leaping their Arab neighbors who boycotted them to trade with Europe and America.”[15] Lee thought that since Singapore’s neighboring countries “were out to reduce their ties with (Singapore}, we had to hook up with the developed world – America, Europe, and Japan – and attract their manufacturers to produce in Singapore and export their products to the developed countries.”[16]
[“Leaders who are dedicated to getting extraordinary things done are open to receiving ideas from anyone and anywhere. They are adept at using their outsight to constantly survey the landscape of technology, politics, economics, demographics, art, religion, and society in search of new ideas.”[17]]
With this strategy, Lee Kuan embarked on a risky but determined journey, introducing changes in the political, social, economic landscapes of Singapore, and transforming it into one of economic centers of the world.
[1] J. M. Kouzes & B. Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition, published by Jossey-Bass
[2] Lee Kuan Yew, “From Third World To FIRST,” HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.,
[3] J. M. Kouzes & B. Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition, published by Jossey-Bass
[4] Lee Kuan Yew, “From Third World To FIRST,” HarperCollins Publishers, Inc
[5] J. M. Kouzes & B. Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition, published by Jossey-Bass
[6] Lee Kuan Yew, “From Third World To FIRST,” HarperCollins Publishers, Inc
[7] R.L. Daft; New Era of Management;CENGAGE Learning Asia Ptd. Ltd.
[8] Lee Kuan Yew, “From Third World To FIRST,” HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
[9] J. M. Kouzes & B. Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition, published by Jossey-Bass
[10] Ibid
[11] Lee Kuan Yew, “From Third World To FIRST,” HarperCollins Publishers, Inc
[12] Ibid
[13] J. C. Maxwell; Leadership Gold; Thomas Nelson Inc., 2008
[14] Lee Kuan Yew, “From Third World To FIRST,” HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
[15] Ibid
[16] Ibid.
[17] J. M. Kouzes & B. Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition, published by Jossey-Bass
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