Like everyone living in Singapore, I spent most of last week reading, listening and learning about the life of Lee Kuan Yew and how he built a nation from scratch. And it made me realise that in many ways, Singapore is like a start-up and the late Mr Lee its founder.
Here are the 10 lessons I feel we could take from him.
1. Surround yourself with people smarter than you
The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. (Image credit: Remembering Lee Kuan Yew Facebook page)
In Mr Lee’s case, he married a woman smarter than him. This is one of the points raised in the video of Charlie Munger, which made its rounds on social media last week. In his lecture, Munger said that if we wanted to study a successful society, “study the life and work of Lee Kuan Yew, you’ll be flabbergasted”. One example he gave was how Mr Lee went against traditional Asian culture by not “marrying the younger woman with bigger boobs”, but the smarter one. Mrs Lee was his collaborator and advisor throughout his life.
2. Don’t get discouraged by the first setback, reboot and plough on
When Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia in 1965 for wanting to pursue its vision of a state where all races were equal, Mr Lee was devastated. The image of him breaking down after separation played over and over again last week. However, he wasn’t defeated. He stuck to his vision but thought up a new model.
3. Be frugal, every dollar spent is revenue
Mr Lee was known for his frugality. His house was simple and he didn’t make changes to it, furniture remained unchanged. The best example of this frugality was told during the funeral service when former Senior Minister of State, Sidek bin Sanaff, spoke of a trip to China and Mr Lee asked him if he had a coat for the cold. He said he would buy one but Mr Lee said, borrow one, don’t buy. Then Mr Lee asked him if he had boots and he said no, and he would buy it. Same response, don’t buy, borrow. And so he went off to China with a borrowed coat and pair of boots.
4. Pay attention to details because they reflect on you and your business
Former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong spoke of how when Mr Lee relinquished the PM’s role to him, he would appear at all functions before Mr Goh. Mr Goh said it wasn’t necessary at unofficial functions but Mr Lee insisted, saying that people might draw the wrong conclusions that he didn’t respect Mr Goh.
On another occasion during a Chinese New Year ceremony – the firecrackers went off at the wrong time – and Mr Lee said, if we can’t get this right, how can we run a country?
5. Set strong and clear values from the start
Former Cabinet Minister, S. Dhanabalan, said from the start, Mr Lee wanted an honest, corruption-free government. That set the tone for all decisions.
Modern Singapore was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 as a British colony. (Image credit: Noppasin/iStock)
6. Don’t dictate, argue and articulate to get your team’s buy-in
S. Dhanabalan said that contrary to perception that Mr Lee just ordered and people followed him like sheep, he said the truth was that Mr Lee argued tirelessly to get people behind him.
7. Act pragmatically, but be driven by ideals
Again contrary to perception that he was a “complete political pragmatist”, Mr Dhanabalan said Mr Lee was an idealist at heart. Pursuing his vision of a multi-lingual society, he said, was the act of an idealist. A pragmatist would have gone for the easier option.
8. Be a lifelong learner
Mr Lee took Mandarin classes all his life. On the day before he was admitted to hospital, he had a session with his Mandarin teacher.
9. Collaborate, influence and stay relevant so you can punch above your weight
Mr Lee proved that size didn’t matter. He ran a small business really, 4.5 million people on a very small island. But he knew who to collaborate with, how to build and nurture partnerships, how to influence those whose views and friendships mattered – and he did this by staying relevant and keeping up with the times, trends and issues.
10. Don’t plan on running the show forever, have a succession plan
Mr Lee gave himself a long runway to develop a new generation of leaders. The man who took over the reins from him, Goh Chok Tong, spoke of that moment when Mr Lee asked him to take over. He chose character, fortitude and ability over academic qualifications, said Mr Goh. Some people were upset they weren’t chosen but each decision was made after much agonising. He believed in leadership renewal.
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