In What Contry Do Leader Legacys Continue to Be Built Upon

Earlier this week, Singaporean woke up to the news of the passing of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, in the early hours of Monday at the age of 91. Mr. Lee who was Singapore's founding Prime Minister was a great visionary who has left behind a legacy of a modern and prosperous Singapore that is the envy of many nations. He was regarded as one of the most prominent elder statesmen and influential leaders not only in Asia but globally. He had the strategic insights and leadership skills to move the country forward. Because of him and his team of pioneer generational leaders, our nation has a better and more progressive society than it would have been without them.

Without strong leaders, there are no strong nations. Although this has been true since time immemorial, never in recent history has the need for outstanding government leaders been more acute than it is today. In the midst of global political uncertainty and threats to national security, governments globally urgently need leaders who think creatively, strategise effectively and respond with speed and competence to high-pressure situations.

The statistics show that current succession planning activities will yield "too few leaders, much too slowly" for many governments. However the situation in Singapore is different.

Although Mr. Lee may have passed away, his ideas and philosophy underpinning modern Singapore success will continue to stay alive are alive, and importantly, continue to exert a decisive influence on the wider political and economic landscape of Singapore.

The heart of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's leadership legacy is Succession Planning, which he established as the key tenet of governance to ensure that good people will be in charge.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (left), former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (behind PM Lee) at the Istana in 2012.

According to his successor, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in recent interview published in The Straits Times on 1 March 2015, "Succession planning has long been a part of the Government's DNA". Likewise, when ESM Goh took over from Mr. Lee as Prime Minister in 1990, he planned for succession. The current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who took over from ESM Goh in 2004 is also working very hard to plan for succession.

During a dialogue with regional media editors at the Istana on 10 April 2014, PM Lee said "In Singapore, we pay a lot of attention to succession planning and making sure we have a new team ready and new leaders who are capable of taking charge, so that the country can move ahead and the leaders can be in sync with the country". PM Lee, who is 63 this year, said he is making sure a new team, with new leaders capable of taking charge of the country, is ready. His goal is to ensure the country continues to thrive after he is no longer the prime minister.

There is much however that can and must be done at the at all levels of the various government agencies not only for the top political leadership. As part of well crafted succession planning and leadership development programs, innovative practices such as job rotation, leadership development through coaching, mentoring, action learning, and next-generation behavioral performance evaluation must all be considered. All of these practices, and other methods of identification and tracking of leaders, will be required to increase the speed with which government agencies develop talent and close the widening leadership gap.

On the bright side, from my talent management consulting experience over the years, I must admit that many agencies already have some of the tools they need to succeed. The challenge though is putting these and other innovative tools to use in a structured manner to build an enduring leadership succession program.

In conclusion, Singapore is one of the world's success stories and Mr. Lee is undoubtedly the architect behind this success and has ensured this continued success through succession planning of top political leadership. Although a lot of critics question his style of leadership, but no one will question the success of Singapore that he and his co-leaders from the pioneer generation, has brought.

Rest In Peace Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.

By Prof Sattar Bawany,

CEO of Centre for Executive Education (CEE)

www.cee-global.com

26 March 2015

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Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/heart-leadership-legacy-lee-kuan-yew-prof-sattar-bawany

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