The Business Times, July 12 2024, page 2
Lee Con You's well-known strategy is to have the CEO assemble a team of highly capable and competent people to run a ministry, organization or agency. The CEO doesn't need to have prior knowledge or experience to do their job. (A senior civil servant who courted controvery when he and his family spent thousands of dollars on a holiday in France just to learn French cuisine and cook French food revealed Old Fart's strategy.)
This was how Pinky was put in charge of GIC, Queen Ho Jinx became CEO of Temasick, Tharman and Lawless Wong became directors of MAS board, etc. They just sleepwalk in their roles and let their subordinates run the entities.
Wooden Goh taught it to his son who is a good and fast learner. After all the latter is a qualified physician.
So why did Lee Con You's strategy fail to work in Goh Jin Hian's case?
It only works when you're in total control of an authoritation gabrament just like Old Fart was. Plus what is happening daily in the entities such as GIC, Temasick, etc are completely shielded from public scrutiny. The Sinkie public knows some bits and pieces of information about those entities because their gabrament allow them.
Sadly, Lee Con You's strategy fails and will always fail to work in the private sector. Goh Jin Hian was under the impression that he could just sleepwalk in his job as director of IPP and collect his remuneration. Well, he learned it the hard way. If he wishes to blame someone, he should blame his father and Old Fart.
My colleagues and I have always known about the limitations of Lee Con You's strategy. Goh Jin Hian's case vindicates our hypothesis.
Vocab (in order of appearance)
Wooden Goh a.k.a. Woody Goh = second prime ministar of Sinkapore who was actually a seat warmer for the third prime ministar
Old Fart a.k.a. Lee Con You a.k.a. Leetator a.k.a. Supreme Leader = first prime ministar when Sinkapore became a sovereign state
Pinky = third prime ministar
Ho Jinx = Pinky's second wife
Temasick = Temasek which has been financially sick after years of suffering bad investments by its staff
Tharman = current president of Sinkieland
Lawless Wong = fourth prime ministar
gabrament = government which stumbles and makes big mistakes
authoritarian gabrament = countries such as North Korea, China, Cambodia, Burma ruled by the military junta, Sinkieland, etc
