I saw on the news yesterday that the health of one of Asia’s most prominent leaders, Lee Kuan Yew, is sadly worsening, As the founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew is an absolutely remarkable man. With a political career spanning more than 40 years, he transformed Singapore from a colonial trading post to a leading financial center.  Keeping in mind that Singapore had no natural resources to speak off, a small land mass, limited population and a strong dependency on its Malaysian neighbor for trade and especially fresh water, Lee Kuan Yew made Singapore into one of the safest, richest, and most modern city states in the world.

No leader with a track record like him could have achieved this without upsetting numerous people. He is being accused of being autocratic, stifling the media, bullying his opposition, enforcing cultural dogma’s and his Margaret Thatcher like stubbornness on things he thinks he is right on. However his legacy by far overshadows the collateral damage that has been left behind.

Lee Kuan Yew was an outstanding leader with many qualities but the ones that stand out for me are:

1. Servant Leader

According to Richard Greenleaf who coined the term, a servant-leader is:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.”

Lee Kuan Yew was all about first serving the people from Singapore. He had a commitment to not only improve the economic, health and educational conditions of the Singaporeans but also to create a cultural identity which can be seen as the hallmark of his reign as leader.

2. Integrity

You can’t be a servant leader without having an unwavering commitment to doing it the right way. In a time and place where cronyism and corruption was common place, Lee’s beliefs and subsequent policies created a safe-haven for investors and visitors alike. One of my favorite policies was where in the ’90’s he increased the salaries of the top government officials to be at par with senior executives in the corporate world since he wanted to make sure he was able to attract and retain the best talent.

At the same time he took away the argument that’s heard in many other developing economies: government officials are taking bribes to supplement their income. In one stroke Lew transformed the public system, Singaporeans could expect the best performance from their top dollar paid to public servants and government officials had loads to lose if they didn’t live up to expectations or worse looked for unofficial income streams.

3.Digging Deep

You can’t transform a country without being smart. Neither can you do it without getting the best out of other people. Lew was able to do both. The disciplined clarity of his thought and expression was one of the primary sources of the influence he wielded. He was very incisive and to the point. He always drilled deep to get to the bottom on things. As Education Minister Heng Swee Keat recalls in an Asia One news article:

“Lee’s favourite question is, ‘So?’. If you update him on something, he will invariably reply with, ‘So?’. You reply and think you have answered him, but again he asks, ‘So?’.

This ‘So?’ question forces you to get to the core of the issue and draw out the implications of each fact. His instinct is to cut through the clutter, drill to the core of the issue, and identify the vital points. And he does this with an economy of effort.”

Next week I’ll draw a close on the Asian Leaders series with a portrait of Rashid Al Mahktoum, the founder of Dubai. If you’re interested in other Asian Leaders do check out Kublai Khan – a leader far ahead of his time or Ho Chi Minh – a leader only interested in his people. As always I’m interested in your views, just leave them in the comments below. Until next time!

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Paul Keijzer is the CEO and Founder of Engage Consulting and the co-Founder of The Talent Games, which aims to transform HR by digitising talent processes and creating more engaging and productive workplaces through gamification and mobile technology. As a global HR and Leadership Management expert, Paul knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.

Image Credit: www.news.gov.sg