A full house of more than 300 student leaders were challenged by established industry professionals to consciously cultivate their leadership ideals, according to the world’s current volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) climate.

Leaders from diverse fields, which covered the arts, public, private and social service sectors, were invited to share their thoughts on how youth in newly-appointed leadership roles can develop their strengths and foresight, at Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Leadership Symposium.

Themed Sow. Sprout. Soar, the sixth instalment of the annual symposium was held on 10 and 11 December 2019 at the Mochtar Riady Auditorium. Organised since 2014 by the SMU Office of Student Life (OSL), the symposium provides potential student leaders with valuable insights and introduces them to fundamental leadership skills through speeches, panel discussions and workshops conducted by renowned public figures and practitioners across industries.

In response to the symposium theme, OSL’s Senior Associate Director Wong Yew Tong urged participants to first identify personal values and align them with their teams’ and SMU’s CIRCLE Values; before harnessing them in order to encourage and effectively lead their peers and CCA groups. He reminded participants to lead humbly and not to forget their ‘roots’, ideals and supporters, while progressively reflecting how their actions and role-modelling practices should ultimately impact those around meaningfully.

Throughout the two-day symposium, more than 20 professionals candidly shared how their life experiences honed and developed unique leadership styles. Notably, some spoke about how serendipitous events – from the life-changing to the commonplace - weathered them through key stages of their leadership journeys, from planting ideals, to growing and fulfilling passions. The intimate anecdotes and observations shared - especially during two lively panel discussions – gave participants an insight to how even small actions amounted to big examples of leadership, if performed with purposeful intent and right motivations.

These were some symposium highlights:

Day One

Keynote Speech by SMU Provost Professor Timothy Clark: The Foundations of Compelling Leadership Oratory

In his opening address, Professor Timothy Clark underscored the significance of effective communication - in particular rhetoric and persuasion - as an important attribute that potential leaders should possess and master in order to convey shared visions, goals or strategies to his or her teams. Through media samples, he analysed oratorical tools used to garner audience attention and response. He also highlighted the use of relevant humour and outlined the importance of charismatic oratory to sustain interest.

He further noted that a leader’s words would only be taken to heart if perceived to be sincere and genuine. “Don’t do things that are fake. People respond to genuine emotions,” he stressed. Prof Clark summed up with a quote by renowned international psychologist and author Daniel Goleman, “we all have the power to make each other feel better or worse,” to emphasise that leaders should harness their emotional intelligence to empower peers.

Panel Discussion

Panellists:

1. Lam Shiu Tong, Managing Director, C&W Services (S) Pte Ltd
2. Carrie Tan, Founding Executive Director, Daughters of Tomorrow
3. Josephus Tan, Managing Director, Invictus Law Corporation
4. Moderator: Koh Wei Ren, SMU alumni (SOE, Class of 2019)

The three panellists revealed common themes in the lively discussion of how they each managed to sow, sprout and soar, while negotiating and being moulded by lessons along the way. These included staying true to one’s initial passions and finding ‘your ‘tribe’ among the naysayers; realising that you may never be “the best”, but to harness the strengths of teammates by occasionally stepping back; leading with humility, which could include performing menial tasks; developing empathy in order to understand others better; and knowing that a good leader will positively influence lives.

The panel advised participants to remain open-minded, yet focused on what they could control, to be up to date with current social issues, to wisely take advantage of information made available through technology and social media, and be bold enough to make mistakes, but more importantly to learn from them.

Day Two

Keynote Speech by Mr Soo Kok Leng, Chairman, CapitaLand Commercial Trust on “The 仁 of Leadership”

Mr Soo began by explaining that unpredictability can result in leaders having little reactionary time to plan ahead, thus leaving employees feeling demoralised or disengaged when directions are not clear. He then sited five philosophies discussed in Sun Zi’s Art of War which could abate such situations. These are: continually analysing the environment; being disciplined yet flexible; possessing soft skills; knowing yourself, and others; and thinking strategically.

Leadership, he felt is having the ability to rally and unite others to enact a collective vision, especially in uncertain times, nurturing awareness of self and others, and maintaining a symbiotic relationship with one’s team, occasionally empowering others in order to enhance overall team strength.

Adopting the tenets of Sun Zi’s Art of War, Mr Soo stated key leadership traits as having:

• insight into others by gleaning wisdom from mentors or past leaders;
• trustworthiness, faithfulness and integrity;
• benevolence, humanity and compassion;
• ability to take calculated risks;
• the discipline to carry them out

Panel Discussion

Panellists:

• Daniel Boey, Fashion Director and Creative Architect
• Tiziana Tan, Founder & CEO, Brain Juice Collective
• M Valluvan Nandesshwar, Naval Officer, Republic of Singapore Navy
• Moderator: Koh Wei Ren, SMU alumni (SOE, Class of 2019)

The panellists shared that having mental resolute, empathy and the ability to constantly update oneself and remain relevant were key leadership traits in our VUCA environment. The also shared that possessing humility, learning from others and remembering one’s purpose was especially crucial. While moments of self-doubt were inevitable in life journeys, how one overcomes challenges and stands again is what defines true grit, they said.

The discussion rounded up with panellists agreeing that knowledge attained through reading, and actively learning from other leaders or role-models allows them to constantly emulate, redefine and shape their onward leadership journeys.

Apart from keynote speeches and panel discussions, participants engaged in introductory workshops such as effective listening, techniques to unlocking creative potential, community development, leading as fresh graduates, polarity thinking, as well as The Leadership Challenge.