The Team matters more than who the next PM will be

Leadership is a responsibility to be borne, not a position to be sought, said Minister Chan Chun Sing in a dialogue with foreign correspondents on Oct 30 last year. 

It's a view shared by the 4G leaders. 

Since PM Lee Hsien Loong said during a CNBC interview in Oct 2017 that he was ready to step down in a couple of years and that his successor was 'very likely' already in the cabinet, speculation has increased over who the next PM will be. 

The pressure to name the next PM stepped up one notch when ESM Goh Chok Tong said in a facebook post on New Year's Eve that he hoped the 4G leaders would choose one amongst themselves to lead, and support him. He hoped that the 4G cohort would do so in six to nine months' time. 

The 4G leaders, comprising 16 office holders,  responded a few days later in a joint statement that they were conscious of their responsibility and would work together as a team to settle on a leader amongst them 'in good time'. 

Seen as a front runner, Minister Chan Chun Sing spoke at the inaugural SR Nathan Hard Seats Lecture organized by the Oxford & Cambridge Society of Singapore on Thursday 11 Jan 2018. 

Among the range of issues, Mr Chan spoke on the leadership traits that will take Singapore into the future successfully. 

It does not go without notice that in his speech, Mr Chan once again emphasized on the team. 

To quote him,

“If we want to remain successful, we need leadership teams that are just as committed, decisive in their actions and yet able to keep faith with our people,” he said.

While Mr Chan seems to have a higher public profile and is often not afraid to share his views on difficult policies, Mr Chan has not said anything at the lecture that left any room for people to assume that he would be shouldering greater responsibility eventually.

So we are none the wiser who the next PM will be. Guess we will still have to wait till the end of this year  to know who the next PM will be if we go by a 9-month wait.

Whoever our next PM, as Mr Chan had said, it is more important to look at the team than to look at the individuals. 

How so? 

This is because whatever policies that are in place are 'thought through by the team, carried by the team, and owned by the team', Mr Chan had said at the Foreign Correspondents Association Lunch last October.

Regardless of who the next PM will be, one thing is guaranteed, and that is 'continuity'. 

The focus on who the next PM will be is over intense. 

As ST editor Chua Mui Hoong said, no one person will define Singapore. An increasingly complex society like Singapore requires a group of leaders who are capable and honest and can pull together as a team. 

"To me, it matters less which individual will become PM, and more how the rest of the team will rally around him or her. The PM can be the captain, but he will need strikers, defenders, goalkeepers and midfielders - not to say a supportive audience - to nurture a winning team that can bring in the goals," she said.

Indeed!

So, to the team we say, "All the best!" And all the best to Singapore!