Leaderonomics

Editor’s Note

Ready to graduate! Ready for work!

IT was hard to suppress a smile as I worked on our pages this week. The brevity of the articles that describe a multitude of programmes, campaigns and efforts that have been put in place to answer the many questions a young high school or university graduate may have, belie the depth of research and analysis that has been done to develop them.

Like working adults seeking to understand our career paths and opportunities, I believe the enthusiasm ignited by education needs to be kept ablaze by first having a good understanding of the strengths, capabilities and passion of young people, and then providing them the right tools and information to choose their next steps wisely.

People are sometimes led by divine guidance, and many a time this is through family, friends, teachers, coaches, professors and even resources on the interweb.

The programmes described throughout this instalment of our career guide reflect the concerted effort by employers, teaching institutions, organisations like TalentCorp and graduates themselves, to seek an efficient and effective way of matching the right talent with the right career (in the shortest time possible).

I applaud all efforts to get someone speedily to a career they are passionate with and aligned with their purpose.

My path

It was a bit of a struggle for teenage-me to chart my destiny. My brother Ken knew engineering was for him, and my sister Kathy knew she was to be a doctor from very young. All I fervently knew was that I wanted to champion the underdog (human) and rescue all stray dogs, housing them in an animal sanctuary (to be called Neoh’s Ark!).

A good friend and I were chatting yesterday about how we were the young ones the first time we worked together (yes, more than a decade ago!), all ready to change the world.

As we stood on the grass in the Leaderonomics office (you read that right!) we were still charged with that zeal to transform the world, and with us, a legion of Leaderonomers on the same path.

Weaving a thread from table tennis to apes to brains and teatime

No matter where you are (in your career path, on a beach) do enjoy this collection of articles with valuable information for family and friends, as well as leadership lessons from movies (one of our favourite columns!) – this time round, all eyes on Caesar and Koba for leadership lessons from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes by Jermaine Bee.

In Passion, Ability and Opportunity, David Wee writes about getting the 90% of a workforce to perform like the top 10%.

Sarah Tan writes about her experience as an intern in Life as an Intern and without breaking the beat, demonstrates one of the things she does as an intern, cover the TED Talk Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career by Larry Smith.

For the readers asking for Brain Bulletin, it is also back this week! Francois Bogacz asks the question, “What is Brain Drain?”

Last, but not least, in the column Starting Young, Cassandra Yeoh offers some helpful hints to young people on “What to do during the holidays” as a stepping stone to their future careers.

Happy reading!

KAREN NEOH