Lim Siong Guan Singapore time

SINGAPORE – Mr Lim Siong Guan may not be a familiar name for many Singaporeans today, but the seasoned civil servant and permanent secretary of multiple ministries has helped lay the foundations of the Republic.

So having done it in Mindef, they have to argue why it cannot work outside of Mindef – which is a more difficult argument to make.”

On top of that, Mindef is a “mini-government” where every function of government can be found. He has written a third book, “Can Singapore Fall?”, based on his lectures as the fourth S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore, delivered at the Institute of Public Policy.

A frequent speaker on the topic of leadership and change management, Mr Lim is a member of the International Board of the stars Foundation in Switzerland, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes development of next generation leaders.

You’ve taken something, so you don’t think of anything else. A lot of training in administrative service is talking about these. Mr Lim has compiled key lessons from his life experiences and his leadership insights into a book he co-authored, “The Leader, The Teacher And You: Leadership Through A Third Generation”, which co-won the Singapore Literature Prize for English Non-fiction in 2014.

Yet, even he was once cowed by Dr Goh into re-writing a proposal to suit the minister’s conclusion, only for Dr Goh to insist that he re-instate his original differing opinion.

Like many of the memoirs recently produced by Singapore’s pioneer civil servants, it is an understated, pragmatic handbook.

Mr Lim is wholeheartedly supportive: “Because they attend a lot of the same training, they have an intrinsic sense of how the ministries interact.

He has described both leaders as his master teachers.

Citing Dr Goh Keng Swee in particular as his role model for leadership, Mr Lim is a great believer in the need for critical thinking, imagination and courage, as well as the urgency of being in time for the future. There is very little done, really, from the technical point of view.”

Mr Lim himself neither expected nor desired a switch in tracks.

An offer to pursue a doctorate at the University of Cambridge was turned down by the Public Service Commission because “we kind of desperately need you back in Singapore”.

“When we are dealing with a national character of innovativeness, we are talking about the engine.

Does this justify the plucking of high-ranking generals – as well as permanent secretaries – to fill the Cabinet?

You've taken something, so you don't think of anything else.

There is little appeal for recognition, merely documentation and an effort at distilling lessons for the young. “When diplomats like Tommy Koh and Kishore Mahbubani speak, they always talk in terms of three points.

So much so that a then young officer at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong, mistakenly attributed to Mr Lim the slogan: “The only way to avoid making mistakes is not to do anything.” This, Mr Wong later found out, was cribbed from Mr Lim’s one-time boss at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), Dr Goh Keng Swee.

If Mr Lim could have his way, these would be still shorter – or even acronymised, like so many of Singapore’s public schemes.

“We have to boil it down to principles, because application is always very contextual,” he says. His reflections challenged us to think deeply about how we lead our lives—and how we uplift others in the process.

Literally, for post-university in 1969, he started in the sewerage department.