THE IMPLEMENTER PROFILE

What challenges are you looking to solve with innovation right now?

I am building a training and connectivity platform for young and growing businesses across Asia. It is a platform for synergistic collaboration. Our vision is to be a major economic force for sustainable growth and opportunity creation in Asia. We foresee a trend in working professionals moving out of corporate life to set up their own businesses, others are looking at how they can scale and grow the companies that they have already created, across the region. We aim to be a catalyst for positive change.

Looking at your Six ‘I’s^® results, you’re an implementer. How does this knowledge impact or change the way you work?

It helps me to see the big picture of any project as well as the micro components that need to be woven together to make it happen. I am able to break the vision down into sizeable chunks and prioritise them into what needs to be done so that we can build something that will be sustainable. It is like seeing the whole jigsaw puzzle in the mind first and then putting each individual piece together. I can visualise how each part can contribute to the whole.

How do you play to your strengths? What advice would you give other people who want to get better at implementing?

You need to have the end goal in mind. The only way you get good at implementing is to have a go at it, to get experience. A lot of people will not try, as they fear failure. I would encourage others to test out their idea and learn from the mistakes. It is about being a risk taker and seeking constant improvement. If you do not have your own idea to work on, where you can acquire first-hand learning, see if you can join a group that is launching a new initiative and get experience by working with them and learning from joint collaboration. Experience gives you expertise and expertise gives you confidence. Dare to try, as this will give you courage to do it for yourself. Be humble, take in feedback from others and learn from them by seeing what they do and how they do it. Collaborate, as this will allow you to focus your strengths, as any person’s time and energy is finite. Focus and discipline are two keys for successful implementation.

What steps, if any, would you take to improve the areas where you are not so strong, or that are important to you and how?

I try to adapt my skills to the different situations that I am in. If I need to be stronger at igniting new ideas, then I consciously shift my mindset towards this. I continually ask for feedback from people that I have deep respect for and seek out mentors to guide me. I try to hold myself back from implementing too quickly by investigating ideas first to see if they will work – focus groups, discussions with customers, stakeholders, colleagues, mentors. I ask others who know how to do something that I cannot do, how they did it and how they can help me. This way I can continuously learn.

How has The Six ‘I’s^® helped you and your teams/business? What examples, if any, can you share?

It has given me a new level of self-awareness about my innovation strengths. It is a practical tool and something that I can bring into my everyday work and daily life as well. The Six ‘I’s^® has helped me to understand my strengths and my team members better. It has also helped me take a more integrative team approach to managing the successful delivery of projects in all areas of my life. I am currently an advisor to a group of young people who are launching a book about entrepreneurship in Singapore called https://whyyoushouldfail.com/, which is about how to build a profitable company that will last. Being more aware of The Six ‘I’s^®, I could guide them to play to their strengths. This helped to create greater work synergy.

Have you produced something you would consider innovative?

In launching several mega projects in the past, I have learnt that, after planning, it is about hard work and determination. With regards to The Entre Club, to implement the vision of what we want to create requires great connections, particularly with senior mentors across the region who can coach and advise our potential members – it is truly about leaders multiplying leaders and creating success and legacy. The success pillars include resourcing, commercialisation, execution and delivery. Building the right team and resource network is critical to our expansion so that we can help others to unlock their potential and grow their entrepreneurial ventures. I have also approached my life with a mindset of reinvention – life is a state of constant innovation. I started my career as a secretary and I am now a CEO, but it is still a work in progress. I feel I am still evolving and reinventing myself to deal with life’s changing circumstances. The ability to reinvent oneself, no matter where you are in life, is going to be increasingly critical in a world that is in constant flux, if one is to future-proof success and sustainability.