Passion and Curiosity

I agree totally with what Prof Peter Ng, director of Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at NUS, said about the work mentality here.

A short quote here:
I do not believe good scientists can be 'developed' and 'planned' for. I also do not agree that the best scientists have the best grades in school. The best scientists are those who started with passion and curiosity - asking questions and solving them. Regardless of whether the questions involve a dollar sign. These are the men or women who will change the world.

That is what is wrong with the mentality here. All the recent government initiatives always involve a dollar sign. You will save $x if you implement this technology. You will earn $y if you bring in this attraction. When you try out something new, how on earth can you guarantee its success 100%? Come on... Even trying out something tested and proven do not give you 100% success rate. One example is our famous Windows Blue Screen of Death.

So in the end what happens? Singapore is always a follower of technology, not an enabler, because they do not have people who are serious in seeing the final outcome, but only interested in having a name on their resumes. Ok, I admit the corporate world is like this, but if you're really serious in changing the culture, then things must be done differently. There always pros and cons on doing things differently, and if we're destined to be only efficient, and reliable, then so be it. You cannot have everything without taking the pros and cons of every choice made.

I've also known some people who said they are "passionate" about their job, and yet, when I ask further on how "passionate" they are, they fail outright. When you're passionate about something, you enjoy it. That's the key word. That means if you're passionate about the job, you enjoy going to work, you enjoy going the extra mile to see that the final product is almost perfect, you enjoy the journey, you enjoy reading up on it with no strings attached, etc...

To enable this kind of work culture here, you must first have 2 groups of people. 1 group who is willing to think ahead, and do things that are not done before, even if its only locally. Another group, which is the most important, is the people who are willing to accept that things can be done differently. Over here, you can never get the latter group. Why? A hint... Who's the biggest consumer of services here?

Singapore can be efficient, but we will never change the world, at least for now.