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RACHEL CHAN
I MAGINE a time when thelast thing on your mind isyour own survival, and you
had the power to do somethingfor humanity.
That was what Google’s JollyGood Fellow (which nobody candeny) did one day in 2003, andhatched the idea of a using emo-tional intelligence (EI) as a keyto world peace.
That Jolly Good Fellow is38-year-old Singaporean TanChade-Meng. He was one ofGoogle’s earliest software engi-neers, but the “Jolly Good Fel-low” title is etched on his name-card.
Mr Tan, who was the firstSingaporean to be employed byGoogle in 2000, told my paperyesterday: “People who joinGoogle know they can changethe world.”
Eight years later, the HwaChong Junior College and Nan-yang Technological Universityalumnus is now at Google Uni-versity in California, where heworks to promote both the Goog-le culture and personal growth.
Now, as ambassador forGoogle.org, his company’s phil-anthropic arm, his main projectis Search Inside Yourself (SIY) –“a mindfulness-based emotionalintelligence course”.
According to him, “mind-fulnes” is “moment to moment,non-judging awareness”.
Mr Tan spoke with my paperin a 20-minute interview yester-day – just before he was due tospeak at the Infocomm Develop-ment Authority’s inauguralLive! speaker series here.
By focusing on one’s breath-ing, body and emotions, he said,SIY is supposed to help one de-tect emotions even before theyarise, so one can gain masteryover oneself.
And those exercises are justpart of the larger idea Mr Tan istrying to materialise: That oneday, exercising one’s EI wouldbe as common as going to thegym.
He said: “I want to create aworld where everyone benefitsfrom knowing how to be mental-ly and emotionally fit. It makesbusiness sense.
“In 1927, a group of scientistscreated the Harvard FatigueLaboratory to study exercise, be-cause they were passionateabout bringing fitness to theworld.”
Mr Tan, who has a nine-
year-old daughter with Singapo-rean wife Cindy Tan, 37, wishesto do the same in the field ofmental and emotional develop-ment.
He said: “If everyone canfind inner peace in themselvesand be compassionate, then thatwould be a foundation for worldpeace.”
One of Mr Tan’s fellow devel-opers is none other than MrDaniel Goleman, author of inter-national best-seller EmotionalIntelligence.
As a software engineer, MrTan had helped build Google’sfirst mobile search service, andheaded the team that monitoredGoogle’s search quality.
Currently, Mr Tan has about20 Singaporean colleagues.
He speaks with nary a traceof an American accent, but is inno hurry to come home.
When asked what Singa-pore’s companies should do toprevent a brain drain of scienceand engineering talents, hesaid: “Find ways for engineersto make a big impact in theworld.”
SEARCH INSIDE YOURSELF: Mr Tan Chade-Meng was the first Singaporean ever hired by Google in 2000,and he now promotes emotional intelligence at Google University in California. (PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN)
For he’s a Jolly Good FellowMr Tan shows people how to use their emotions to achieve world peace
PERSONALLY SPEAKINGW I T H G O O G L E ’ S T A N C H A D E - M E N G
PAYA Lebar MethodistGirls’ School student LeeChong Ning shows offher toy, F1 Clown. Shewas one of the winnersat the Sony CreativeScience Award 2008, acompetition whichchallenged primaryschool children to inventcreative toys with ascientific touch.(PHOTO: ST)
Toy joy
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