Speech by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, at Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College Command and Staff Course 2015 Graduation Ceremony

Chief of Defence Force,
Service Chiefs,
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Policy),
Senior Commanders,
Graduands of the 46^th Command and Staff Course,
16^th Command and Staff Course (National Service) and
4^th and 5^th Command and Staff Course (Executive)

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

My wife and I are very happy to be here tonight with you and your loved ones. It is always a pleasure and we look forward to this occasion where we can sit down, have a meal and learn about each other and your experiences. First, let me congratulate all the 230 graduands from these four different courses, including one Singapore Police Force officer and 14 officers from other countries, I understand nine countries. As graduands of the Command and Staff Course, the CSC, you now join an alumni that is useful to build networks both locally and internationally, which I think adds value to yourself and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). I am very proud of the fact that SAF top commanders are known for their high standards of professionalism and personal ethos, and of course with your graduation, the responsibilities upon you to maintain this high level of standards as you join their ranks.

Changing Demands on Military Leadership

During these past few months, I am sure that you had ample time to reflect on what is expected of you as you take on greater responsibilities. And truth be told, it is not easy to address a graduation ceremony of the CSC, because you spend all these months learning about high level organisations, how complex the world is. I thought it would be useful if I reflected on my own personal observations about leaders. I think a good leader is one who knows himself or herself - where your strong points are, where you are weak at, your blind spots. All of us have blind spots. I think a good leader also knows his and her limitations - you choose the battles that you can win, or when certain missions greater than your capabilities are assigned, I hope you recognise it when something is assigned to you that you handily know is too big for you, because in those instances, you need to tap on the resources of others. A good leader discovers why people follow him or don't. And I think in the next few years of your careers, where you helm pinnacle positions - as you should after this course - I think there will be a time of discovery for yourself, of others and the world we live in.

There are many books out there you can read about leadership, so I should be brief. I think to be a good leader, one has to learn to simplify and localise - to tell the people you lead that they will have to be good at everything because the world has become more complex, and they have to be nimble and adapt; risk them and your organisation loses its core competence - it will be like asking them to be a multi-tool knife instead of a stable fruit knife. Leaders direct, and the clearer your directions, the sharper your defined goals, the more focused and energetic your organisation, agency, or unit becomes. But all of us know that central to leadership are people, how well you know them as you first know yourself. I have, in the course of my career in medicine as well as in politics, met many bright men and women with stellar academic results. When you look at their results you say this guy must be a genius, but when you speak with them, then you realise why they have limited their potential, because they did not fully know themselves or the people they are surrounded by.

Over the past 10 years that I have been in MINDEF and the SAF, I have had the privilege of working alongside, what I consider, some of the best leaders in our nation, here in the SAF and Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). It is no secret that our talent bench is full. I say this not to make you feel happy, proud or haughty, but for us as an organisation to count our blessings and to thank our predecessors for putting in place strong processes that ensure a continuing pipeline of strong leaders. In other words, the leadership that we have is not by chance. It did not occur by chance, it was decisions, programmes and initiatives, that somebody, somewhere thought would be good for the organisation, including this Command and Staff Course.

Without this strong professional and moral leadership - there is a moral component that cannot be divisible from professionals - the SAF could have easily fallen behind, as the scale and spectrum of threats have increased over the years. We now have to include terrorism, natural disasters, biological pandemics and cybersecurity threats, as I am sure many lectures you heard over the months expounded them. With these threats, lines across previously separated domains are now increasingly blurred - that between military and civilian; peacetime and periods of tension; the real and virtual world; information and propaganda; our agenda and others; my job and yours. All these lines have blurred, and as a result domains have coalesced; work cycles, operational terrains and missions have subsequently also changed. Let me just give you one metric. In the last 10 years alone, we have conducted 20 Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions, that is 60 per cent of all HADR missions in the SAF's history. That is how much the tempo has changed. Since 2009, we have been in the Gulf of Aden, thousands of miles away, working with other navies to deter and disrupt piracy as part of the multinational Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151). And because it is important and in our interest, we will continue to contribute. Tonight I am pleased to announce that the SAF will lead the CTF 151 for the fourth time, from March to June next year. This is an honour to be asked to lead, and it demonstrates the high regard that other militaries have for the SAF.

Think about this, if you as commanders after attending these courses with extra notes and time to reflect, and with that higher helicopter vision can feel sometimes bewildered by all these complexities and mission sets, think what your men and unit troops feel, where they only have a small piece and slice of information. I said that to be a good leader means that you have to simplify and localise, but also to be a good leader, in these circumstances, you will need anchors for you and your organisations that you lead. And you ought to choose carefully and think about what anchors mean, and build it well. I think that the anchors you choose, for yourself and your unit, will make all the difference when there are big waves - whether you are set adrift and directionless, or moored and secure, intact and ready for action.

What's your anchor? What gets you up in the morning energised or at least to keep going? And for some children, it is their mother's voice. But that is an anchor. What is your anchor? What do you hang on to when there are crises or uncertainty? From personal observations, highfalutin ideals are often inadequate to ground us. I have found that simple virtues make better anchors - whether it is for a person, a home, a unit, a country. "Do this because mom or dad loves you" works better than "if you want to be top general one day, you will have to study hard". "Dad likes our family to eat more often together" works better than "Statistically, family cohesion has been correlated to shared meal times". Children will still do it, even if Dad is less communicative or attentive than he should be. Telling a soldier to charge in the face of machine gun-fire to counter extremist terrorism is unlikely to be a motivational statement. But that same soldier will risk life and limb for his buddy. When Singaporeans were asked why they were willing to wait for hours under the hot sun during the week of mourning for Mr Lee, the more common answer was not because he was a great statesman or that they agreed with his policies, but that he cared so much for Singapore as a person or for Mrs Lee as a husband.

The anchors that you choose will weather you and your unit through uncertainty. In the last two years alone, we could not have known beforehand that we would be deployed in Nepal after the earthquake struck in April this year. Or that we would be searching for lost aircraft; or dealing with floods in Kelantan; or going against pirates in the Gulf of Aden, extremists in Syria and Iraq, the list goes on. I can be quite certain of one thing, that your next mission will be somewhere we did not expect and for a task not anticipated.

I believe that the worth of an organisation is what the commanders want it to be and that has to come from something deeper. I remember a conversation with a CEO of a regional bank here and he said he was taking his top management to a retreat. So I asked him what they would discuss about. Finance planning, profits or losses. He said, "No, at this level they already should have known all of this. That was why they are top management." They bring them to the retreat for "actualisation" and I don't know what that means. Apparently, they do yoga and meditation. But his point is this: At that level of leadership, you have to come down to ground and share why do you do what you do, what you want the unit to achieve. What is your anchor and keeps you going.

So at the successful conclusion of your CSC, I wish all of you well. I charge each of you to provide that kind of leadership that offers clarity amid uncertainty; hope in despair; persistence amid difficulty and success against the odds. For the 14 international officers from nine countries this year, including our first student from Oman, I wish you all success in your careers. May the friendships forged enrich you and our two countries.

I want also to thank all the spouses and families who are present for your unwavering support. Mrs Koh, wife of Captain (CPT) (NS) Koh Kai Hwee met with an unfortunate accident and suffered spinal injuries. Despite this, she supported her husband, CPT (NS) Koh, to successfully graduate tonight. People and families like yours continue to form the bedrock of our society. I want to thank especially the families and employers of the 58 Operationally Ready National Servicemen, whose support was essential for them to participate in and graduate from the CSC.

Thank you all and have an enjoyable evening.

More Resources

• Command and Staff College Graduates Ready for Senior Leadership Roles in the SAF