Blog Post 4: What is your legacy?

The end of the semester is here.

It has been an enriching journey in interpersonal skills and communications for me. Besides learning in theory, how to interact with friends from other cultural backgrounds, I get to put what I have learnt into practice by being in a classroom with classmates from diverse nationalities. I have also learnt to look out for the different facets of communications and interpret subconscious non-verbal communications clues when dealing with other people so that I may understand them better. The research proposal project has given me a chance to take a look into a problem that Singapore faces but is overlooked everyday and know about the unsung heroes tackling the problem of food waste.

However, the most inspiring lesson that I took away from this module came at the end, when Madam Radhika talked about building the brand 'you' and communicating that brand to the public and we can  build trust with the people we come into contact with. While many students may not see the need for doing that right now, but I do have aspirations to achieve more than just getting a degree during my time in NUS. I am aware of the full potential that human beings can achieve on one hand, and the multitude of challenges that humanity face on the other. More often than not, it takes great teamwork and tremendous fighting spirit of whole organisations to tackle the most pressing issues of our time, or to achieve the next breakthrough in technology. Such organised effort do not come by easily, and it does not come by naturally. If we examine the greatest civilisations in history and the greatest companies that are in existence today, it takes strong leadership to be able to set the direction and inspire action for thousands of people. For those who are being led, they must trust the leader to act in their best interests. Hence, it is important that we master the skills of communication, to be able to embody integrity, communicate intent, achieve credibility and deliver results. This goes towards building trust with our friends and partners. In the long term, being in a high trust network enables us to achieve more with less.

While communication is a very important skill set, it is useful to the extent that our intentions behind our words are well. It was highlighted in Stephen Covey's book, 7 habits of the highly effective person, that most of the literature on personal development today is on techniques, while much of the literature in the past was on character building. To draw an analogy, back in Socrates' time in Ancient Greece, there were two schools of thought. The sophists would deliver dramatic but empty speeches to manipulate the audience while Socrates would reason in cold but convincing logic. The students of the sophists wrangled power in Athenian politics while the students of Socrates blossomed to inspire Western thought and philosophy which we continue to benefit from till today. This reminds us that while having effective communication skills is important, we need to develop the strong character base in order to put these skills to good use.

I would like to leave readers with one thought. If you have the power to communicate effectively and persuade people to any cause, what would you stand up for? If you were to be lying on your deathbed many years from now, surrounded by your friends and family, what would you want to leave behind? What do you want to be remembered for?

Grab the chance to do something meaningful while there is still time.

Jerry Tan Si Kai