Speaking at SMU’s Career and Internship Fair on October 10, Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said in a speech entitled Perspectives On Leadership that while the Government’s approach was to simplify and provide information, several challenges stand in its way of getting its messages across. During a dialogue segment, a student asked him to what extent academic excellence was better than possessing good leadership qualities. In response, Mr Tan said that the two need not be mutually exclusive, and that grades were necessary to provide employers a certain gauge of one’s level of competency but should not be a proxy for everything.