In Sunday Times today (page 31), Mr Tan Jee Say, who used to work for our late founding father Dr Goh Keng Swee in the government service, wrote about "Dr Goh's lessons in life and economics".
Among the accounts is of Dr Goh's approach to governance: "a man who works for you either out of fear or out of love; it it is out of fear, you are in charge but if out of love, he is in charge as he can take his love away". Mr Tan also wrote of Dr Goh underestimating his own ability to inspire those around him to give of their best without fear or favour.
If one is leading by fear, there is a limit to how far the team can go.
But if one inspires, one can galvanise the team to go much further. If one inspires with vision and real leadership, one should not have to worry about the led taking their love away.
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