Leadership allows Global Opportunity

Sun Tzu was a famous Chinese philosopher and strategist. He spoke and he wrote literature. The Art of War’ was written around 400 to 320 B.C. and is well-known throughout Asia and the western world.
“If one obtains a worthy general, the army will be strong and the state will prosper,” Sun Tzu stated.
Centuries and centuries down the track and the young people are showing they are worthy leaders in Singapore. They are men and women Sun Tzu would be proud of.
The Sports Challenge team can report on such. This year the programs in Singapore focussed upon leadership and the importance of the country wanting to be a global player.
So how does that start? With school students learning the key areas of leadership.
As Dr Garry Tester said: “Schools in Singapore want to have ‘leading edge’ programs to engage their potential leaders and learn about Western cultures.”
Sports Challenge completed two leadership programs during the year: at Cedar Girls | School and Katong Secondary School. Both were winners.
“Our approach of theory development, combined with ‘hands-on’ experential activities, exercises, problem solving initiatives and self-assessment are pivotal to the motivation and success of the program,” Dr. Tester said.
“We needed passionate, committed and well-trained mentors in Singapore.”
Those leaders included Luke van Zeller, Greg Hicks, Cory Hugo, Emma Attwood and rookie Lindsey Marchant.
This is how Suresh, the pastoral care coordinator at Cedar Girls School, explained what happened.
“The way our girls responded to the program is fantastic.”
“As a result of this project we have a selection of girls to lead Cedar successfully – and some of those girls will eventually be the leaders in all walks of life in Singapore.”
And this from Cory Hugo on the three-day camp approach to the leadership course at Katong Secondary School.
“This was the first time we have used this intensive approach and didn’t the students bond so well with us.”
“That they produced such outstanding work in such a short time was amazing. We were all amazed.”
If the number of emails received by our mentors is anything to go by, then they have made friends for life. And changed the way many people think.
The final word belongs to ‘G.T.’
“Some 2300 years from when Sun Tzu counselled the great emperors of China, he would be stoked that the present-day Singapore has so many worthy leaders in the making.”
The teachings of Sun Tzu are used extensively in business and management, the strongest section of his classic text being on the selection of leaders.