A NEWSLETTER OF SIM PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

DECEMBER 2016MCI (P) 196|04|2016

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EXPLOIT YOURLEADERSHIP

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His unusual profile certainly drew participants like finance professional Victor Heng, who was driven to hear what a war veteran had to say about leadership and management. He enjoyed his take on real-world applications of management tools and took away the message of taking risks and embracing failure.

“I like the passion in how John narrated his story because it was his personal story,” said management consultancy director C. Muruganand, who felt that the topic of choice was pertinent to the current business climate. “He made it very enjoyable. The delivery was very impactful.”

“Leaders, you set the atmosphere to engage people to deal with uncertainty,” John said. With experience comes grit. Leaders need to learn to adapt, to get back up from failure, change and move forward. And to succeed, having the right culture is more important than strategy, he added.

Self-reflection as a leader is a recurring theme throughout John’s presentation. There is another key learning idea that is essential to transformational leadership that he wanted the audience to take away. Remember this phrase: To change the organisation, change the conversation.

J ohn Peters, distinguished speaker at the Transformation Series event “Leading in Uncertain Times”, captivated the audience

with his compelling storytelling as he relived moments of his life-changing experience as a Gulf War veteran, and imparted insightful perspectives on leading a business under pressure. The former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot turned management consultant and keynote speaker recounted his experience as a prisoner of war (POW) in the first Gulf War of 1991 at the SIM Performing Arts Theatre on October 25.

What does a Gulf War veteran have to say about business leadership? John masterfully guided the audience to make connections and see the relevance of his story in today’s uncertain and volatile business world. His unconventional background and experience reflect just what the SIM Transformation Series event is about - delivering inspirational professional insights with unique perspectives.

During his time in captivity, a fellow prisoner, a colonel from the American military, said something to John which left a profound and lasting impression. In the few times that they could converse under the door.He was told that the way he talked made the rest of the prisoners feel they could trust and believe in him that all of them could get through the ordeal.

John leaned towards the audience and quizzed, “For all your capabilities, are you the sort of character whom people trust and believe in? How do you lead an organisation where you’re not going to see all the people you lead? What sort of role model are you? How do you have a role model for your business for people to understand what you stand for?”

The VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world as we have come to acknowledge is here to stay whether we like it or not. Uncertainty is the only certainty, and we need to embrace dealing with surprise.

Emcee Jonathon Chua and John Peters taking questions from the audience.

HIGHLIGHTS

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BUSINESS INSIGHTS | TRANSFORMATION SERIESLEADING ON THE EDGE: RESILIENCE AND PERFORMANCE UNDER PRESSURE

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PREVIEW: Learn to Manage Your Reputation in the Digital AgeWith today’s technology, digital marketing is no longer optional. But before businesses start to invest in digital, they need to know the potential dangers that come with it. Without a safety net to ensure timely and appropriate response to the inevitable customer issue, social media could be the double-edged sword that cuts into revenues and leaves your reputation up in flames.

Get a sense of what it is like to deal with modern crisis; crises that are sparked online and spread like wildfire. The speaker has years of practical experience dealing with such issues and helping brands navigate reputational landmines.

Keith Nakamura has more than 15 years of digital marketing experience and has been training and advising organisations such as Microsoft, MINDEF, Samsung, Twitter, the Prime Minister’s Office and the governments of Thailand and Bhutan. A well-sought after speaker, Keith has brought together a team of media and legal professionals to help businesses navigate out of tricky reputational issues. He is currently the Director of Digital at RHT Digital & Media.

COMPLIMENTARY TICKET worth $50 for the first 50 sign-ups.

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Warrior or Worrier?Stress Management Strategies In a city filled with pressure, deadlines and demands, it is inevitable that people working and living in the city will be stressed. With limited resources in a small city and an ever increasing workforce, stress will always be lurking around the corner. The cost of stress and the hours lost in productivity are rising every year. Do not allow stress to grow and consume your life. Equip yourself with the latest stress management techniques to combat and dissipate your anger.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE• Appreciate the cause and value of stress• Managing your emotions during stress• Use three effective techniques to dissipate your stress

Michael Lum started his own training consultancy in 1995. He is an AMA and NLP Licensed Trainer, ICF Coach, IACT Stress Management Consultant, 6 Seconds EQ and Center for Body Language Trainer. He is also an author of 4 books: I Once Wore Diapers, Who Broke My Rice Bowl?, From Beggars to Millionaires and Make The World Your Oyster. In 2003, he won the ABC True Hero Award for his community work. Michael is also an adjunct faculty with SIM University.

JANUARY 14 (SATURDAY)

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SKILLS ALIVE

Exploit Your Leadership AgilityMaster Class by Dr Paul Aitken

Entrepreneurs build their early success on exploiting a fantastic business idea. However, as the business begins to grow, a well-functioning management team becomes more critical to building and sustaining productivity, profitability and prosperity. The quality of the interactions within the leadership team, and with employees, investors, suppliers and customers dictates the progress and sustainability of the enterprise. This Master Class offers you a glimpse of the agile leadership toolkit you need to constantly outperform your competitors.

MASTER CLASS OUTLINE• 12 leadership agility practices that will take an enterprise from being good to becoming great• Improve the 3 pillars of sustainable success — internal and external communications, vital relationships with

key stakeholders, and knowledge creation-sharing-exploitation for continuous innovation.

Dr Paul Aitken is the founder, owner and CEO of Mastering Leadership Agility Ltd, UK. His mission is to prepare the unprepared for change, through learning the 12 leadership practices, which build leadership talent and develops a position of maximum opportunity into a sustainable enterprise, career and life. He focuses on discovering and building leadership talent from an early age and in any part of society. In essence, he helps leadership learners (individuals and teams) clarify, execute and sustain their purpose - values, vision and strategy.

Dr Aitken was a corporate selection, career guidance and training director, and is currently an international consultant. He has worked with over 100 organisations on projects involving over 20,000 managers, professionals and employees. More recently, he has facilitated change leadership learning for owner-entrepreneurs, CEOs, directors, early career managers and young people from over 20 countries, including those attending business schools in his capacity as a visiting associate professor of leadership practices development.

JANUARY 13 (FRIDAY)

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Starting A Mobile App BusinessDid you know that:• The world’s largest transport company, Uber, owns no vehicles and is valued at US$68 billion?• The world’s largest accommodation provider, Airbnb, owns no hotels and is valued at US$25 billion?• The world’s largest telephone company, WhatsApp, own no telecom infrastructure and was acquired for

US$19 billion?• The world’s most popular media owner, Facebook, creates no content and is valued at US$250 billion?

The face of business has changed. With mobile apps, you do not need to spend a lot of money setting up warehouses, rent spaces, own delivery trucks or import lots of stocks. The only main cost you will need to set up your mobile app business is the cost of your app development, which can be done at a very affordable rate.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE• Develop a little low-cost app that can make a good source of passive income.• Ways to get the government to fund your app development for free so you don’t have to spend your own

money and time to develop your app idea.• Set your app to be ranked #1 in the Appstore so that you get free traffic every day.

Lim Tian Yi has over 11 years of experience in the Internet marketing business. He started making a passive income online when he was 19 years old while serving his full-time national service. He is the founder of Appsolutely Technologies Pte Ltd, which helps entrepreneurs and businesses leverage on the mobile world to market and grow their business. He is also a Facebook and mobile app marketing consultant.

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2017 Lunar New Year Dinner GatheringSpruce up with some red feathers as we welcome the Year of the Rooster! Do not miss the generous cuisine spread and the much sought after Yu Sheng at this dinner jointly organised by Marketing Executive Group, Strategic Management Group and The Entrepreneurs Group. Make merry and network with fellow members as we toast to great health and fortune to the year ahead.

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Navigating Office Politics MinefieldMore often than not, the words ‘office politics’ have negative connotations. But it need not be so. Whether you avoid it like the plague, fear it or even practice it on a daily basis, office politics will always be a part of working life. The sooner you embrace it and learn how to use it to your advantage, the better your working life can be.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE:• Defining ‘office politics’• The importance of understanding office politics• Transforming mindset to leveraging office politics• Principles of managing office politics• Practices on life situations

Yap Mei Cheng has more than 20 years of combined experience in HR development and management. Her experience spanned across industries such as pharmaceutical, manufacturing of electronic components, consumer electronics and semi-conductors equipment industries, as well as a telco call centre. Besides setting up training departments and retail service centres regionally, her key strength lies in curriculum design and development of customised programmes. Currently, she serves actively in the HR interest group at SIM and is a SkillsFuture mentor for SMEs.

SKILLS ALIVE

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Exploit Your Leadership Agility JAN 13, 2017 2 PM - 5 PM For details, please call

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PREVIEW: Learn to Manage Your Reputation in the Digital Age

JAN 13, 2017 9 AM - 10.30 AM 35 | 40 | 50

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did not hit the targets that they were supposed to. Their mission did not go down well.

“We failed ... There I was upside down with everyone shooting at us. I remember swearing and swearing,” he lamented. “Then I remember thinking: go back to basics! Flying is about prioritisation and capacity. Life is about prioritisation and capacity. Prioritise your tasks so you have the capacity to think!”

Perplexing thoughts occurred to Peters. Should he make another attempt to attack? How would he tell his friends that he failed? After all, being a well-educated person who

ACCEPT FAILURE AND PRESS FORWARD“We’re pushing on towards the target. We’ve gone from a bird’s eye view of the world looking down to flying close to the ground. We can feel the aggression of the sand and rocks as we push on ... About 100 kilometres out from the target, I push the speed up to 600 knots and squeeze the height down to about five metres above ground. I’ve done this countless of times! This is what I do as a military pilot!” said Peters, as he paced his story with gripping intensity.

“Then at about 50 kilometres out from target, we suddenly get this big puff of black smoke ... We’ve never been shot at before! We’re flying through bullets and more puffs of black smokeas we push towards the target ... I pull the aircraft up into a climb as we begin to slingshot the bomb. We’re going up and up into the heart of the missile zone ... I rolled upside down.”

Peters was recounting that dreadful day in January of 1991 when his Tornado fighter jet was shot while on a low flying sortie, forcing him and his navigator John Nichol to eventually eject themselves into the desert. They

J ohn Peters, distinguished speaker at the Transformation Series seminar “Leading in Uncertain Times”, captivated audience with

his compelling storytelling as he relived moments of his life-changing experience of being a prisoner of war, and imparted insightful perspectives on leading a business under pressure.

Close your eyes and imagine. You are the chief executive and your organisation is facing an unprecedented crisis following a global Black Swan event. With one eye on the stock ticker, all you can take in is the plummeting stocks and people shouting across the boardroom. You have power, you have resources, and you are well-trained and made for this job. But everything is free-falling into chaos and disaster before your eyes. As a leader, what do you do?

If the above scenario seemed dramatic, the real-life experience of John Peters was every bit as theatrical, with the added tension of life and death. The former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot turned management consultant and keynote speaker recounted his experience as a prisoner of war (POW) in the first Gulf War of 1991 at the SIM Performing Arts Theatre on 25 October 2016.

What does a Gulf War veteran have to say about business leadership? One might wonder how a war story could relate to the business world. Peters masterfully guided the audience to make connections and see the relevance of his story in today’s uncertain and volatile business world. His unconventional background and experience reflect just what the SIM Transformation Series of seminars is about - delivering inspirational professional insights with unique perspectives.

BUSINESS INSIGHTS | TRANSFORMATION SERIESLEADING ON THE EDGE: RESILIENCE AND PERFORMANCE UNDER PRESSURE

John Peters delivering a captivating seminar at the SIM Performing Arts Theatre. Photo: Alvin Wong

Tornado Down, one of two books written by John Peters on sale at the seminar. Photo: SIM

proud of that statement,” Peters said. “So I turn to you. For all your capabilities are you the sort of character who people trust and believe in?”

“How do you lead an organisation where you’re not going to see all the people you lead? What sort of role model are you? How do you have a role model for your business for people to understand what you stand for?” He quizzed. Calling for self-reflection, he asked that leaders question themselves on why they lead the way they do.

Why is this significant? Citing research, he said that leaders make 30% difference to the performance of their businesses. Furthermore, a leader’s behaviour can influence profitability either positively or negatively by up to 15%.

“Are you learning to move forward, despite your success? The world is constantly changing and it’s all about uncertainty. Leaders take people beyond their own limitation,” Peters said.

In addressing the issue of uncertainty, his message was that people have to adapt and change. It is not so much as managing change, but managing what happens when change is thrust upon us. True leaders solve problems that they don’t have answers for, he said.

The VUCA world as we have come to acknowledge is something unprecedented. Peters offered the following insights into what is happening globally. Beginning post-World War II, the speed at which the world is changing and countries developing has been accelerating. The scale of social and political problems

pubs, people remembered him and complimented on his bravery. But don’t call him a hero. In his down-to-earth demeanour, he declared himself as a product of mass media.

“I can never live up to the attributes that everyone assumes I may have,” he said. “You may be surprised with what remains with me. I haven’t lost a wink of sleep and I never suffered any post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). What stays with me is that I failed to drop those bombs. When you’re in the squadron, there is an expectation that you do your job, and I failed to live up to my expectation.”

Peters neatly tied his story back to the reason he was standing in front of the audience. What is important about our past experiences is how we can make them relevant to our present situations. He did not ask to become a POW or be a face of the war. But it happened, and the massive exposure and attention made him evaluate how he can move forward. Instead of walling in defeat, he decided to turn his experience into insights that could inspire others. Hence, he made a progressive transition from battlefield combatant to boardroom consultant.

LEADING IN UNCERTAINTYDuring his time in captivity, a fellow prisoner, a colonel from the American military, said something to Peters which left a profound and lasting impression. In the few times that they could converse under the door, he was told that the way he talked made the rest of the prisoners feel they could trust and believe in him that all of them could get through the ordeal.

“Trusting and believing in me. I’m so

has been good at many things and belonging to an elite air force, Peters acknowledged that he was used to a certain level of success. But there is a responsibility to accept the mistakes made and make amends, he said.

Hence, the duo made another run for the target. The Tornado, alas, was struck by a missile to its side. They ejected from the jet as burnt into a fireball in the middle of the desert.

“I had power! I went from flying a 25-tonne, £25-million aircraft with missiles, guns and computers to ending up as little pink bodies in the desert,” Peters said. “We laughed. It was pathetic!”

Out in the desert, they were clueless, vulnerable, and exposed to the enemy. They knew capture was imminent and feared the urban myths that pilots were tortured and killed in horrifying and undignified ways. At one point, Nichol asked: “Shall we go out with a bang?”

What Nichol meant was, should they kill themselves before getting captured. Peters turned to him and said, “No, there’s always hope.”

“Standing here 25 years later, I can tell you it was the best decision I made in my life,” Peters told the audience.

He recounted what transpired when they were ultimately captured. Brought into interrogation, separated and isolated from other prisoners, Peters recalled the beatings, the tortures, and the death threats. And then there were the constant bombings. Hooded and restrained most of the time, he felt the shocks and vibrations. Along with other prisoners, he had to be moved around to other military bases whenever one location was bombed.

The entire ordeal lasted seven weeks, during which time he was forced to appear on television. The image of him, battered and bruised, was seen by over 650 million people around the world. The Gulf War ushered in a new era of live television coverage, and was the first war to receive extensive live reporting.

That harrowing image made Peters a household figure when he was released and returned to the United Kingdom. From the streets to the

Leaders set the atmosphere to engage people to deal with uncertainty. Photo: Alvin Wong

“It’s not just about what you learn, it’s the speed, depth and breadth of your learning,” he said as he pointed to a traditional plan-act-observe-reflect learning cycle on the screen. As much as organisations claim that they have a learning culture, people rarely reflect, he observed.

During his captivity, he was threatened with torture and death but his captors did not go all out to execute. Nevertheless, it left him shaking. Drawing from the experience, he learnt that the power dynamics in that cell room was all about control.

“I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking for half an hour. But in that moment, I realised I learnt about fear. I thought to myself that next time they have to push the fear factor higher and next time they got to be damn imaginative to beat me. And I knew from that moment on, they were never going to win. Why? Because I can learn faster than you can make me make mistakes. That was my pinnacle moment,” Peters said.

Returning to the learning cycle, he said, the key to becoming a fast moving organisation is to constantly reflect what was learnt and achieved since the last cycle, deliberately over multiple learning cycles to see how decisions pan out and whether they work.

Next is the depth of learning. How deeply do you think about things? When was the last time any of you spend 3 hours of your life without any interruptions and just sat in a place you’re truly yourself and reflected on your life? When things are uncertain, the job of leaders is to find a core purpose, something truly meaningful either on a personal or holistic level, he inferred.

wanted the audience to take away. Remember this phrase: to change the organisation, change the conversation.

What did he mean by that? According to Peters, there are three kinds of conversations we should be aware of. First, there are unconscious conversations, like thoughts in the head. When the thoughts are translated into language, it goes through filters like language or cultural barriers. When there is shared meaning and everyone understands your intended meaning, you have created conscious conversations. Finally, the most important conversation for leaders is self-talk. How do you change “I can’t into I can” and “impossible to possible”? This is a process of overcoming fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD).

“When someone asks you what is your vision, you got to have some sense of purpose, to paint a picture of a new reality that is worth jumping into. People are frightened. Some may jump immediately, but others might hang on,” Peters said.

On convincing and persuading others, he advocated leaders to think of the process in three stages. First you have to get people to see the realities of the old world or current situation, before finally bringing them over to start new beginnings. But crucially, it is the FUD that exists in the second stage that requires a leader to dispel. He called this approach psychological transition, rather than change management.

Peters closed his presentation with an approach for contemplation and reflection, one that has been synthesised from his gulf experience. He summarised the approach as learning ABCD with speed, depth and breadth.

is now global. We are the first generation in the history of mankind to have global problems that we have initiated and need to solve. The scale of our problems has made us question our fundamental beliefs about government and social institutions. As witnessed around the world, there is a rise in fundamentalism in many factions of society. We get a sense that the world is not quite working. And all these things are happening simultaneously rather than in isolation.

What does this mean? All of us must deal with surprise. Uncertainty is the only certainty. So how do we deal with this uncertain reality?

“Leaders, you set the atmosphere to engage people to deal with uncertainty,” Peters said. With experience comes grit. Leaders need to learn to adapt, to get back up from failure, and change and move forward. And to succeed, having the right culture is more important than strategy, he added.

Again, Peter challenged the audience to reflect on whether the problem lies with leaders themselves? Are you the kind of leader who add to the problems or difficulties, he asked, complaining that you do not have the right people or resources and constantly changing directions without a purpose. Or are you a leader who enables people to serve? The first job of leaders is to engage with the anxiety, carry the weight and see the real reality, rather than filter the responsibility down the chain of command.

CHANGE THE ORGANISATION, CHANGE THE CONVERSATIONSSelf-reflection as a leader is a recurring theme throughout Peters’ presentation. There is another key learning idea that is essential to transformational leadership that he

When leaders adapt, and get back from failure, they gain experience that comes with grit. Photo: Alvin Wong

With his gulf war experience, Peters developed an approach to learn with speed, depth and breadth. Photo: Alvin Wong

Self-reflection as a leader is a recurring theme throughout Peters’ presentation. Photo: Alvin Wong

changing mindsets. His response generated couple more insightful gems.

On human resource (HR), Peters likened HR to a parallel organisation alongside other mainstream departments such as sales and operation, as opposed to be merely serving strategic function. This way, HR is empowered to set up a system of coaching and feedback gathering for leaders within the organisation. HR should be engaged in the performance of the organisation and use development as a tool to inject that performance, he said.

After such an inspirational seminar, one might be encouraged to adopt a positive thinking mindset to weather the storm of crisis and uncertainty. Well, Peters had this parting shot: positive thinking is a lie. He went on to explain that positive thinking creates an either-or situation in the mind, which is essentially a false dilemma. He preferred to adopt the mental attitude he called possibility thinking.

It is possible that things can happen in more ways than one. Make plans and deal with the results. Furthermore, possibility thinking fits into the idea of a learning culture, he said. Take an action and deal with the result. If dissatisfied, change the action and get a different result. Food for thought.

we do not have the natural habit to do so, and our habits are unconscious. We have to raise the consciousness of the habits we want and create new rituals. And this takes discipline.

“As a leader what legacy do you leave? What does your character bring to the organisation, and why should anyone believe you? How do you make me feel confident in an uncertain future to make me go beyond myself?” Peters asked. “It’s simple, your story. We all have experiences like success, failure, love, death, hope, despair. It’s our individual experiences of how we adapt to those challenges in life that makes us leaders.”

After his presentation, Peters took questions from the audience. He was quizzed on matters such as improving leadership inside organisations and

Finally, there is breadth, which is related to the concept of associational thinking - taking unrelated ideas and re-purposing them in new ways. Why do you think POWs are isolated? Because learning is a social construct and you are weaker on your own. Frans Johannson, author of The Medici Effect, chronicled many examples of historical innovation that have come from the intersection of different ideas. There was the Renaissance in Italy which came about after the Medici family brought together artists and creators from a wide variety of creative fields.

How do you balance the speed, depth and breadth of learning? ABCD is something Peters devised particularly out of his experience in captivity. First, Accept the brutal facts of the current reality and learn fast now; forget about what should have been. Second, look Beyond the walls. In captivity, walls in the cells are both physical and psychological boundaries. For Peters, he looked way beyond his cell walls and it gave him tremendous strength. In fact, he planned the business he now runs when in captivity.

Third, stay calm and be in control of your emotions. When one is uncertain, for example when Peters was in captivity, his imagination ran wild and that exaggerated his weakness. Finally, the discipline to deliberately practise is crucial. It is difficult to change ourselves, he warned, because

Copyright © 2016 Singapore Institute of Management. To republish any part of this article, please contact SIM via e-mail at membership@sim.edu.sg for permission.

An enthusiastic audience quizzing John Peters on matters relating to improving leadership and changing mindsets. Photo: SIM

Seminar MC Jonathon Chua and John Peters taking questions from the audience. Photo: Alvin Wong

John Peters sharing with invited guests at an exclusive SIM Business Leaders Networking Luncheon. Photo: SIM