Three Kinds of People to Start Innovation Epidemic in Singapore

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Roan Yong

I have always loved Singapore. One of the reason is the government’s foresight of what lies ahead. But here is a dilemma: the government could feel that the locals are getting restless with the increasing number of foreigners, but at the same time Singaporeans are not reproducing enough to sustain the nation’s growth. The earlier solution of dandling carrots to encourage Singaporean couples to have babies, does not seems to be very effective. So what’s next? increase productivity and encourage innovation so that Singapore could achieve more with less.

To do so, the government forms a think-tank group called Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), and tasks them to come up with a framework to push the nation into the next stage of its growth. One of the proposals put forward by ESC is to make innovation pervasive in the whole country. Singapore Budget 2010 committee has taken up ESC’s recommendation by setting up Productivity and Innovation Credit – basically a set of tax reliefs to spur productivity and innovation. The Budget 2010 committee has also indicated that the government would boost the R&D sector in order to drive innovation.

I think the government’s strategy has hit the nail on its head. To move forward, Singapore definitely needs to rely more on innovation. However, telling our fellow countrymen that we need to be more innovative to sustain the nation’s economy will only draw curious looks, but not sufficient to win the commitment necessary to spring pervasive innovation. To better engage the population, both the government and citizens need to find out: (1) who should rally majority of Singaporeans to live and breathe “Innovation”? and (2) where could we find these “heroes” ?

To start innovation epidemic, we need to sell the value of innovation in a language and terms that could be understood by the majority of people, without toning down the importance of it. In other words, we need “salesman”. In addition to “salesmen”, we also need “connector”, that is someone who have above average number of connections across all walks of life. Last, but not least, we have to have “maven”, that is someone who gather and develop cutting-edge knowledge. Mavens are often thought leaders that promote breakthrough / new ideas.

Now that we have the answers to first question, where could we find these three kinds of people? The short answer is they could be found in communities. Not any kind of communities though, but a very special kind of community – the community of practice (CoP).

In a CoP, there are regular discussions among people with same interests or passions, but the members do not necessarily have the same level of expertise in the domain knowledge. The experts in the community are the mavens. In addition to the mavens, as in any other communities, a member of a CoP may also belongs to other CoPs. These people are connectors, and they link CoPs through multiple membership and getting to know people from other CoPs. Last but not least, any thriving community would have salesmen – people who promote the community and explain complex knowledge in the community in a way that is easily understood by non-experts.

To summarize, the government has come up with an excellent roadmap to create conducive environment for innovation, by boosting R&D sector and providing tax relief for innovative organizations. In addition to these two strategies, the government should also encourage the “main street” Singaporeans to cultivate communities of practice in Innovation, so that we could help to spread the message and win commitments from fellow Singaporeans, and being recognized for our efforts. For a start, how about identifying the three kinds of people and appointing them as “Innovation Champions”?

References

http://www.esc.gov.sg/attactments/ESC%20Press%20Release%20Annex%20A%20-%20Summary%20of%20Key%20Recommendations%201%20Feb_0346.pdf

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/download/FY2010_Budget_Highlights.pdf

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/speech_toc/download/FY2010_Key_Budget_Initiatives1.pdf

http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/speech_toc/download/FY2010_Key_Budget_Initiatives2.pdf

Michael Jackson was not revered in City Harvest Church

Posted on June 28, 2009 by Roan Yong

City Harvest Church (CHC), who believes in engaging culture to bring Christ to the world, did not pray for Michael Jackson (MJ) – the king of pop – on its’ first english service on Saturday, 27 June, 3.30 – 5.30pm. The deputy senior pastor – Tan Ye Peng - joked about Obama and advised the members of the church not to worry about the pettiness in life, but did not mention about MJ’s death. Perhaps he is not a fan.

I was surprised not because pastor Tan’s indifference, but due to CHC’s failure to sympathize with MJ’s death, given the connection that the church has with the music industry – the founder’s wife (Sun Ho) is a singer based in the U.S. Furthermore, if I recalled correctly, pastor Kong once mentioned that we should rejoice for people who do good things in life even though they are not Christians. For example, pastor Kong urged us to rejoice for Oprah Winfrey.

Rev. Al Sharpton, a friend of MJ, was quoted in CNN saying, “Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama.” In addition to MJ’s gift in music, he was also a fashion icon. Many of his trademark fashion style was imitated back in the 1980s.

Of course other than renowned for his contribution in culture and fashion – the two things that CHC thrives in – MJ has flaws such as his involvement in child molestations. Whether those allegations are true or not, it’s hard to deny that he has done many good things (charity works). For full listing of his good deeds, please refer here. Regarding his faults, the bible (John 8:7) said,”Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. Thus, we – the Christians – should not be the one who judges MJ’s wrongdoings.

As a follower of CHC, I would definitely heed pastor tan’s advise about not letting the pettiness of life to affect my devotion to God. I’m still and would always love the god’s church – the City Harvest Church. However, I hope that the church don’t mind her followers like me prayed for MJ, may God blesses his soul in heaven. R.I.P. the king of pop – Michael Jackson, and thank you for creating wonderful songs such as thriller, black and white, smooth criminal, billie jean, and beat it.

If you have it, flaunt it: why more women are dressing sexier than ever

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Roan Yong

As the saying goes, women are obsessed with beauty as men are with money and power. At a glance, it seems like the two gender are attracted to different things, but a closer look will reveals that women are trying to charm men with her beauty while men are trying to win women through his “ability” (a.k.a. money and power). Such behavior is embedded in our genes, and it is shared across animal kingdom, including snakes, birds, and others. For example: some male snakes will “dance” to show his vigor to the female ones.

Of course, we know that mankind is superior than animal. First, we have brain, we use our mind not only to make decision, but also to outwit and outlast our rivals. Second – this may seems silly – we wear clothes. Although the later point seems so obvious, in actual fact, it is a great mystery of mankind. Aside from religious explanation, i.e. when man falls into sin, we have no clue on when and why our ancestors start wearing clothes.

In this post-modern age, we believe in many types of freedom, such as free market, freedom of choices, freedom of speech or freedom of expression. We use our mind to judge that freedom is better than oppression. Those who live in first world countries condemn the treatment of women in Afghanistan, where women would be killed for stepping-out of her home without wearing burga. In addition, with our mind, we thought that competition will benefits the whole society, and monopoly – or even duopoly – is detrimental for the whole society.

Taking into consideration the two observations above, plus the fact that overwhelming majority of men are attracted to women’s body (especially cleavage and thigh), let’s analyse the motivation for women to dress sexily on the street, or to post racy pictures of themselves online (for illustration, you can refer to NUTS and ZOO community).

I will unravel this using Game Theory. To simplify things, I assume that all women have equally attractive body. Let’s begin our analysis with all girls in the world agreed not to use their body (i.e. not to dress sexily) to attract men of their dream. This would imply that only women who are born with natural beauty (born-pretty) will successfully attract “desirable” men, while the not-so-beautiful women (born-odinary) will have to take the “left-over” men, i.e. men who are not desired by the beautiful women.

The born-ordinary women have no fair chance to compete with the born-pretty women. At this point, the born-ordinary women will be frustrated enough to break the all girls agreement: not to use their body to attract men of their dream. The not-so-beautiful women know that by showing some skin, they would be able to compete with the born-beautiful women on equal ground, or perhaps win some of the desirable men over. Please refer to below table for game theoretic perspective:

Competition between Born-Pretty and Born-Ordinary

The above table uses descending numbers to indicate the order of preference, with 1 as the most preferable outcome. We can infer the table as following:

The born-pretty mainly prefers to compete using face only, because this would mean that the born-pretty girls only need to take care their faces to guarantee winning with minimum effort. The worst outcome for the born-pretty girls is that when they use their face, but the born-ordinary girls use all their assets, namely face and body. Out of the two remaining choices, following the born-ordinary girls’ strategy will ensure victory for the born-pretty ones.
On the flip side, the born-ordinary girls mainly prefer to use both their assets (face and body), while their competitor (the born-pretty girls) uses only one of their assets (face) as this will increase their chance of winning. The worst outcome for the born-ordinary girls is when they use face only, while their competitor use both face and body to attract men. Out of the two remaining choices, using all their assets, namely face & body, is a better strategy than using face only strategy since all women’ body are equally attractive, which will increase the born-ordinary women’s chance of winning

It is clear that using both their face and body is a dominant strategy for the born-ordinary girls, and the born-pretty girls should anticipate the born-ordinary girls to use their dominant strategy. Therefore, the best move for the born-pretty girls is to use both their face and body as well. This completes my explanation on growing number of women, either pretty or not-so-pretty, who dress provocatively to attract men (or some say to boost their self-confidence, which essentially the same thing).

Using similar argument, competition among the born-beautiful women group, or among the born-ordinary women group will drive them to dress sexily as well.

In conclusion, freedom of expression and competition among women are the two “hidden” forces that drive women to dress sexily, or even to take-off their clothes under stifling competition. Alas, other than coerce the women who flaunts their assets to “cover” themselves like Afghanistan women do, I have no viable solution to deter women from wearing bare minimum clothes, even if I have, we don’t have motivation to share the solution (sorry, the writer is a hot-blooded male).

Note: my analysis above is an over-simplified game-theoretic perspective on why women are dressing sexily. It should not be taken seriously.

Singapore Population’s Dilemma: A Game Theoretic view

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Roan Yong

MM Lee reflected on Singapore population challenge, which is how to coax Singaporeans to have more kids, during NUSS dialogue 20 March 2009. I would like to offer a possible explanation, based on Game Theory, to Singapore population’s dilemma. Please refer to below diagram:

Game Theory on Singapore Population

The numbers indicate the descending order of desirability (1 is most desirable).

I use the following assumptions:

Singapore government spend more to draft new policy to induce Singaporeans to get married and have at least 2 kids, while the government will spend less if they bring in foreigners and offer citizenship to quality foreigners.
Singaporeans need to sacrifice more resources (time, money, and effort), i.e. spend more, to have family with at least 2 kids, while they can have more freedom, i.e. spend less, if they stay single or just have 1 child. (Note: stay single in the above table include couple with 1 child).

Singapore government most desirable outcome is when they bring in foreigners for Singapore economic stability and Singaporeans have at least 2 kids. The least desirable would be when the government come up with new incentives to stimulate population growth, but Singaporeans stay single. Between the remaining two options, Singapore government prefers to spend more to ensure Singaporeans as the majority of the population (and therefore avoid situation that MM lee described: Singaporeans would become the last of Mohicans), than the other option which could reduce the ratio of Singaporeans to foreigners.

On the other hand, Singaporeans prefer to stay single and the government to offer them more incentives to get married because Singaporeans will have more flexibility and choices available (after all we are ‘kiasu’ singaporeans). So this is the most desirable from Singaporeans perspective. The least desirable option is when the government bring in foreigners and they have family with at least 2 kids, Singaporeans will feel insecure about their jobs and concern about the increased competition with foreigners. Between the remaining two options, Singaporeans prefer to bite government incentives and raise family with at least 2 kids, rather than stay single and compete with foreigners.

The game theoretic table above tells us that the dominant strategy for Singapore government is to spend less (and therefore bring in more foreigners), while the dominant strategy for Singaporeans is also to spend less (stay single). When we combine the two dominant strategy (in game theory, the intersection between the two dominant strategy will be the equilibrium of the game), we have Singapore government bring in more foreigners and Singaporeans stay single (3, 3). This explains the Singapore population’s dilemma: the government have no choice but to bring in more foreigners to boost up population, while Singaporeans embrace single-hood as a new lifestyle.

In Game Theory, this situation is called the prisoner’s dilemma, i.e. the combined dominant strategies lead to an outcome that is far from ideal. Only if Singapore government and Singaporeans each chooses non-dominant strategy, then both parties will be able to reach optimum (2,2).

The Curious Stress of NTU residents

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Roan Yong

I graduated from NTU with masters degree last year. When I was at NTU, I did not feel the pressure cooker environment highlighted in the media due to recent stabbing incident by an Indonesian-chinese student (David Hartanto Widjaja). However, when I looked back in the past two years, there are some shocking incidents:

NTU don found stealing women’s underwear. April 2008
NTU student stab prof, and then commit suicide. leave 2 dead. March 2009

Considering the above two cases, NTU needs to step-up their counseling effort to staff and student. It’s not just a matter of lonely foreign student who went berserk, it’s matter of mental wellness to the whole community in NTU.

I’m glad that the Singapore government has set aside budget to promote mental health. I would urge NTU to design some bonding activities to increase trust not only between staff and student, but also among students. There is more to life than just studying. May God blesses NTU-sians all.

Winning this world

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Roan Yong

I watched a mandarin TV series that depict the founding of Ming dynasty. The founding emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, was someone who knows how to employ people according to their natural talents. It seems that this ability makes people feel appreciated and could attracts people to your side.

From this TV series, I also noticed that winning people’s heart is somewhat related to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. First, fulfill physiological needs like food (Physiological needs). This reflected in – Zhu Yuanzhang’s advisor’s – Li Shan Chang’s word: “heaven can be created by a bowl of rice”. As a result of distributing rice to the people, Zhu Yuanzhang won 20,000 soldiers. Second, become a close relative (Love / belonging needs). Zhu Yuanzhang made his greatest generals his sworn brothers, son or nephew.

It can be argued that the necessary conditions to win this world are the ability to win people’s commitment and to employ them according to their strengths. This has been proven by other great emperors such as Liu Bang, the founder of Han Dynasty, and Liu Che, the greatest emperor of Han dynasty.

My observation has implications beyond the realms of ancient china. In the realm of modern business, a charismatic leader ought to possess the two abilities in order to convince the board of directors or win over skeptics, and to drive corporate direction.

Unfortunately not many people realize that in order to rule this world, you need to meet people’s most basic needs and become that people’s close relative. I was approached by an old friend to join some sort of multi level marketing (MLM) scheme. He told me he has a business, and it is about online trading. He also said that he would like to recruit me because I have some potential.

I think the way he approached me is downright reckless for several reasons. First, he doesn’t know my needs. Definitely, my need is not about food as I still have enough money to feed myself. He would need a very strong reason to convince me that his online trading worth my effort. Second, I’m not that close to him to begin with. By asking me so directly after first meeting, he risks to sour our relationship. I would feel that he becomes my friend just for the sake of his “business”.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a better job than him. When heaven gives me sign, I’ll start my own company, win some friends to join my cause, and eventually rule this world as CEO (modern emperor)!

My post-holiday blues and how I bust them

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Roan Yong

I had a great holiday in Indonesia from 25 Dec 08 to 04 Jan 09. It has been almost 7 years since my last visit to Jakarta, Indonesia. I was hugely impressed by the progressed that the country has made for the past few years. Jakarta now boasts newly built modern super size malls, such as: Pacific Place, Senayan City, fx, and Grand Indonesia.

Unfortunately, I have no time to visit fx mall. The other three malls mentioned above offers high-end products such as Bvlgari, Hugo Boss, Guess, as well as expensive restaurants and coffee shops. Other than the malls, Jakarta also manifested by exclusive night clubs like X2 and Blowfish. I celebrated my new year in jammed-packed Blowfish.

The cool hang-out places are not only proliferated in Jakarta – the capital city of Indonesia – but also in Bandung, the capital city of West Java province. I visited Bandung for two days, and I was stunned by places like the Valley café, where you can see the whole city of Bandung at night. I was told that there are other equally interesting places like the Peak and Paris Van Java. Alas, I have no time to visit those places.

Time flies, and before I know it, it’s time for me to return to my beloved Singapore. Sigh…I dreaded returning to this country, not because Jakarta and Bandung are nicer than Singapore, but because going back home also means that I need to return to the daily routine of working. If you know how I felt, chances are you – like me – suffer from post-holiday syndrome, a condition when you find yourself lethargic, low energy, and no mood for work.

I’m relieved to know that I’m not the only one who felt this way, and I’m also glad that the local newspaper published an article on how-to beat the post-holiday blues. Here it is, (for personal reference only):

=============================================
My paper, 2 January 2009. Written by: Koh Hui Theng

10 ways to beat post-holiday blues

Now that the year-end merry-making is over, it’s time to face the daily grind again. Enter the post-holiday blues: A crash that leaves you feeling depressed, lethargic, or stressed out. To help working professionals snap out of the doldrums, my paper gathers 10 tips from expert:

1. Acknowledge that your current state of mind is temporary
2. Set a plan of action
3. Magnify your strengths. Play up your strong points in your mind.
4. Prioritise to avoid stress
5. Appreciate those who are working with you
6. Take up community work. Social engagement is strongly linked to happiness, wrote Mr Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, in the 2002 bestseller, Authentic Happiness
7. Exercise. It is well known that exercising releases endorphins, brain chemicals which make people feel better.
8. Spend time building relationships with family members.
9. Engage in activities that develop life skills.
10. Learn to relax

Harddisk crash and the stupid mistake that I did to retrieve it

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Roan Yong

My Harddisk crashed about a couple days ago. Windows XP SP3 indicated a serious of error messages like disc error, delayed write failed, unmountable boot volume. I furiously googled for an answer, but no avail. Since this is not the first incident, I can’t say I’m surprised. I can sleep well, knowing that I have already back my files in my external hard disk. So I did the usual thing, though I dread doing it – reformat my hard drive. Unfortunately that damned “delayed write failed” still appear during installation. That’s when I know my 3 years old harddisk is gone.

So, I went to Sim Lim Square to get a replacement hard disk that cost me $75.00 for a Samsung 160GB IDE ATA-6. This is the type of harddisk that is compatible with my Dell inspiron 6000. After I installed windows xp sp3, I connect my western digital external hard disk and try to get my old files back.

I was so shocked to find out that my computer did not detect my external hard drive although disk management listed it as unallocated and without recognizable format. After I googled for an answer, here is what I find: YOU CAN’T CONNECT UR Ext HDD via USB port when you are re-installing windows, windows will re-partition your hard disk and all you data will wiped out. To get your external hard disk back your need to reformat it in NTFS / FAT32. Here is how to do it: (1)Right click my computer; (2) click manage; (3) under disk management, right click your external hard disk (under disk 1); (4) click new partition (all your files already gone before this stage, so might as well reformat your ext harddisk).

Therefore folks, remember do not repeat what I did: connect ext HDD when re-installing windows. A good practice is always un-plug your external hard disk after use.

Christmas Gifts for My Family

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Roan Yong

I’m so delighted!, I have finally managed to buy branded goods for my family. I’m beginning to reap all the hard work that I have done for the past 5 years. There was a time when I was so broke that ate instant noodle for dinner.

Oh, how time has passed. I’m now holding a senior executive post in one of the best organization in Singapore, and I’m a proud owner of a Bvlgari watch (abt S$ 23,000); Gucci wallet (abt S$1,500) and belt (S$ 800); 2 pair of Guess premium jeans (abt S$300 each); 1 pair of Hugo Boss jeans (abt S$ 500); and other branded apparel like Calvin Klein shirt, Armani Exchange Jeans and shirt.

My recent branded goods capture (for my two grandmothers):

Dark Knight and White Knight

Posted on August 1, 2008 by Roan Yong

Here is news from Reuters.com, the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight,” raked in $66.4 million in its opening day to set the single-day box office record, according to its distributor Warner Bros. That’s a testimony to how good the latest batman movie is. While many people applaud the performance of the late Heath Ledger as Joker. For me, the most interesting part about “The Dark Knight” is the plot.

I would say it is quite difficult to follow the story line. The main crux of the storyline revolves around a premise that people’s behavior (good or bad) is determined by situation instead of disposition (character). What the Joker said to Harvey Dent in the hospital summarizes everything: “when soldier died, nobody cries (note: because it is expected, it is inside the system), but when an old man died everybody start to panic (note: it is not expected, it is outside the system)”.

Joker argued that such logic can be extended to Batman, who operates outside the boundary of law (i.e. Dark Knight), and Harvey Dent, who trusts the legal system (i.e. White Knight). The fact that Batman is popular means that people of Gotham city distrusts legal system and the law. Joker further suggested that the existence of Batman is bad for the society because Batman inspires people to act outside the law, and the proliferation of Batman-copies indicates that Joker has some truth. With the emergence of Harvey dent, who fights crime within the legal boundary, the popularity of Batman will go south. The Joker knows this, and cleverly manipulate the people of Gotham to force Batman reveal himself, by saying that he will start killing innocent civilians (especially Batman copycats) if Batman refuse to turn himself in.

Other than preventing the two main force of Gotham crime fighting units (Batman and Harvey Dent) work hand-in-hand, the Joker also seeks to destroy their reputation. Here, he plays psychological attacks to agitate Batman, and transform Batman into a killer. Examples:

The Joker continues to rile batman and allow himself to be abused physically by Batman in interrogation room.
The Joker force batman to save either his love interest or Harvey Dent, who represent the future of effective law enforcement in Gotham. Either choice would make Batman a killer.

The Joker also destroys Harvey Dent’s belief on the legal system, by suggesting that the law fails to function as it should. The law fails to save his girlfriend. Harvey Dent turns mad, and became “The Two-Face.”

To prove his theory of situational behavior, the Joker conducts a “social experiment”, he planted two bombs on two ships, one is full of convicts, and the other is full of civilians. The twist is, both ships will explode on midnight, however the Joker might spare one of them if one of the ship detonates the other. Here, the Joker is out to prove that both convicts and “innocent” civilians will be driven to bomb each other, in order to survive. However, this does not happen, neither group is willing to kill the other. This means that the people of Gotham is still good, and they are not driven to be killer by situations. The Joker is wrong.

I shall leave the rest of details. “The Dark Knight” is truly a great movie with deep psychological plot.