A Wise Message To All Leaders

What can you learn from Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s former and first Prime Minister, about leading your organization?

Lee Kuan Yew is the person who inspired Deng Xiansheng to lead china to open its market and create large scale economical changes. His reflections about Singapore in his conversation with Charlie Rose carry a wise message to all leaders:

Lee Kuan Yew says about Singapore:
“It has to be a place that is useful for the world, otherwise it wouldn’t exist. We have made ourselves relevant to the world.”
Asked: “How do you maintain relevance?”
“You keep on changing. You cannot maintain relevance by just staying put. The world changes; watch it and ride the surf.”

When asked: “what’s the most important thing you’ve learned in the last 20 years?”
Lee Kuan Yew replies: “The impossible can happen.”

The message for leaders:
1. How is your world changing?
2. How must you and your organization change to stay relevant and be useful for the world?
3. What “impossibles” will you make happen?

© Aviv Shahar