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Dear Friends and Partners of Honour (Singapore),
I hope this note reaches you and your family in good health. Take care. Be safe. Keep well. Thank you for standing with us throughout the years and more so during these uncertain and challenging times. The team at Honour (Singapore) continues with our mission to promote a culture of Honour and Honouring for the well-being of Singapore, despite the fluid situation with Covid-19. Thank you for your support, help and encouragement, which is really what keeps us moving forward.
As we celebrated Youth Day some weeks back and Children’s Day this month, I share a few thoughts below on what would give young people the best chances for success in work and life. I hope you would find this useful and beneficial, especially for our younger people making their way to adult life.
But let me start off by giving you an update on our key initiatives.
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KEY UPDATES |
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We continue with our "What Next?” programme consisting of a workshop to elicit participant consensus on what they think would make a sustainably successful Singapore. We should want future generations of Singaporeans to continue to find Singapore as the place which offers them the opportunity to be the best they can be according to their talents and abilities. The workshop seeks to help participants think for the long-term without being sidetracked by the challenges and difficulties they face today in their personal and national lives. We need to have the confidence and gumption to deal with the Unknown Unknowns and to Expect the Unexpected.
Some needs for the long-term may well take 20 or 30 years to bring about. So if as a people we do not think with that longer timeframe, we will miss out on creating conditions which will allow our children and grandchildren to thrive in their time. We have conducted “What Next?” workshops with university undergraduates and young working adults, educators, and community leaders. We hope to also reach out to business leaders, religious groups, and other communities this year who are interested in the longer-term development of Singapore as society and nation so that they can also position themselves and their organisations better for the future. Should you wish for us to conduct a “What Next?” workshop for your social group or workplace, or simply to attend such a workshop, please get in touch with us at admin@honour.sg
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Honour Champions Community |
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People thrive when nations and societies offer them opportunity to be the best they can be, not just as individuals but as a community.
David Halpern, in his thought-provoking book “The Hidden Wealth of Nations” (Polity Press 2009) summarises his research conclusions as follows: “Richer nations are happier [than poorer nations], yet economic growth doesn't increase happiness. This paradox is explained by the Hidden Wealth of Nations - the extent to which citizens get along with others independently drives both economic growth and well-being. Much of this hidden wealth is expressed in everyday ways, such as our common values, the way we look after our children and elderly, or whether we trust and help strangers. It is a hidden dimension of inequality and helps to explain why governments have found it so hard to reduce gaps in society.” Governments find it difficult to reduce some critical gaps in society because the solution does not lie in government but in the relationship between the people.
Honour in society, built upon Singapore’s historical experience as a nation, has to manifest in two ways:
First, to Honour our Word – keeping promises and being trustworthy and dependable.
Second, to Honour One Another as human beings and citizens of the land.
It starts with Honour-directed Individuals who seek to be the best they can be according to their talents and abilities, then Honour-directed Families with close relations among members of the family built on love and understanding, then Honour-directed Communities with healthy relationships between people in their daily interactions built upon care and consideration, then Honour-directed Organisations and Businesses where honour prevails in relationships with customers, workers and business partners, and finally Honour-directed Nation where there is mutual trust between the people and the government, and a political, social and economic environment that encourages and facilitates all the other dimensions of Honour-directedness.
Weaving the wisdom of David Halpern with the impact Honour (Singapore) seeks to achieve for the well-being of society, the instincts most people already have about the importance of honour and trustworthiness need to be drawn out into thought and action. Honour, built on trust and connectedness and activated by love and consideration, makes for happiness and success for the individual, the family, the community, the workplace, and the nation.
Covid-19 has underlined the critical need for relationship and posed the challenge of how to build up and maintain relationship when there is less opportunity for in-person meetings. At the same time, Covid-19 is teaching that the online platform should be used with suitable imagination for maximum effectiveness in keeping relationships going.
With the recent soft launch of the Honour Champions Community, allow me to explain some of the critical aspects of the Community.
First, it is a community of “Honour Champions”, the Champions being people who believe in Honour as the foundation for long-term happiness and success through enhancing trustworthiness and connectedness in all dimensions of our lives, be it with the family, in the neighbourhood, at the workplace or across the nation.
Second, it is an “open” initiative in that anyone can join as a member so long as they subscribe to the virtue of Honour for life and living. By joining, they commit to share with other Honour Champions their ideas, challenges, opportunities, experiences both successes and failures, and hopes on practising Honour in daily living at home, in school and at work.
Third, we recognise that different people have different needs and backgrounds because their past lives, present situations and future hopes are all different. Hence the Honour Champions Community is composed of a wide range of “Honour Champions Groups (HCGs)”. Each HCG will have its area of interest which will best serve the needs of its members. Possible areas of interest/communities can, for example, be Corporate Governance, HR practices, Organisational Strategy, Sustainability, Educators, Entrepreneurs, Young Parents, and so on. The possibilities are numerous.
Every member of the Honour Champions Community must be a member of at least one Honour Champions Group. The HCG is where members help each other by sharing their ideas and experiences in living out Honour in their workplace and social circles; members are motivated to share not only about successes, but also challenges they face and even failures they had gone through. Each HCG can have its own format for meetings, whether online or in-person, and activities, the critical criterion being whatever would be beneficial, both in the short-term and the long-term, and appreciated by its members.
We have started with five HCGs: Educators, Entrepreneurs, Freelance Trainers and Coaches, Young Professionals and Polytechnic students. We look forward to setting up many more groups according to whatever may be of interest to Honour Champions.
If you are interested to know more about, and to join, the Honour Champions Community, please write us at hcc@honour.sg.
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Despite the limitations of physical video shoots and live film screenings, we persevere with the Honour Film Initiative. We continue to work on new films which feature the virtue of honour in daily living - showing care, concern, and consideration towards others we come across in our normal activities or who are often forgotten in society. To watch these highly emotive and encouraging films, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HonourOurSingapore/ and feel free to share the films around.
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| WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO SUCCEED IN WORK AND LIFE |
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I have been occupied in recent weeks thinking about what I could say to young people to help them succeed in life and work as they prepare themselves for work and family and roles in society and the nation. As so many parents will say, the responsibility of young people while they are in school is to study.
Parents will sacrifice time and take on all kinds of burdens in order to create time and study opportunity for their children. It seems to me that all the urgings and disciplines necessary for academic study are covered well enough between parents and teachers.
What I would add in my message to young people is the critical need for “soft skills”. These are life attitudes towards others and towards continuous development of the self so that each may become the best they can be. So this is what I would say to them.
Besides technical skills and academic knowledge, young people need three important qualities to succeed in life and work.
The first is trustworthiness. Bosses, customers, friends, family and colleagues must be able to trust them. They must be able to trust them to do their best in whatever task they have to perform. And they need to complete their tasks according to what they have promised, or at least to inform those affected that they will not be able to meet the deadlines and to tell them when they can expect the work to be done by. In other words, the first requirement, young people, is that you must HONOUR YOUR WORD. Do what you promise and do not cause people to doubt you. Be Trustworthy.
The second important quality is teamwork. Bosses don’t like staff who can’t get on with others, either because the staff is too proud to mix with others, or the staff is not willing to do their part to support the team. Young people, HONOUR OTHERS. Respect one another. Appreciate each other. No two persons think the same way or value things the same way. But you should always treat others just as you would like them to treat you. Be Caring. Be Gracious.
The third important quality is always to try your best. And always think of better ways to get things done. Getting A’s or Gold Medals is not the most important thing. What is most important is to do the best according to your talents and abilities. If you do not do so, you will be cheating yourself. Think about your future. Keep learning. Keep trying. Chase the opportunities, both within Singapore as well as outside Singapore. So HONOUR EFFORT and HONOUR ACHIEVEMENT. Be Innovative. Be The Best You Can Be. Look Ahead. Look Outward.
These are the Four Points of Honour for a good future for young people. They will give them the best opportunity for success in work and life:
- Honour Your Word
- Honour Others
- Honour Effort
- Honour Achievement
Do this in Seven Ways:
- Be Trustworthy
- Be Caring
- Be Gracious
- Be Innovative
- Be The Best You Can Be
- Look Ahead
- Look Outward
Dee Hock, who was the CEO of VISA International, the credit card system, has advised companies how to best select their people. He said,
“Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last and least, experience.
Without integrity, motivation is dangerous;
Without motivation, capacity is impotent;
Without capacity, understanding is limited;
Without understanding, knowledge is meaningless;
Without knowledge, experience is blind.”
Experience is easy to provide and quickly put to good use by people with all the other qualities.”
Please feel free to share this message around for young people. And if there is some way Honour (Singapore) can help the process of promoting honour and honouring, do get in touch with us.
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THANK YOU |
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My appreciation to you again for your support, help and encouragement over the years. Best wishes to you and your family with great health, much happiness and success in all your endeavours.
If you wish to get in touch with me, do write me at LimSiongGuan@honour.sg.
Lim Siong Guan
Founding Chairman
Honour (Singapore)
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