Why should they take risk of losing millions if they have KPI that depend on results. Just achieve the result through proven standard ways to meet the KPI. Now you know why our system never reward innovation, they only reward what’s work. And now you know why our gahmen want you to innovate and take the risk ? Because the let you take the risk and they claim the credit. Is that relevation new to us ?

He did that and 3 of them failed. As he apologised to his boss, he was surprised to hear that it is ok to fail 3 out of 10, because if all 10 had passed, that would likely mean that he had only taken ‘safe’ ideas and was not creative and revolutionary enough.

However, if 6 out 10 failed, that would have meant that he was too daring.

Perhaps our ministers and bureaucrats should learn something from this. Without the dare to fail and learn, we will never discover new things.

I can’t say it is wrong as it is just human nature.

This wrath could come in several forms. It could be a rap for making a silly mistake, or more commonly, a rap for “not thinking through enough”. The latter is more common.

“Not thinking through” could be a result of being too idealistic, not pragmatic enough. That is the biggest black mark a Div 1 officer could have to his/her name, for it signals a lack of “helicopter vision”.

In any case, for most people, there is greater reward for not screwing up than for doing something out of the box.

We should fight the system that stifles our creativity and opportunity and I do not dispute that at all. But when we choose to fight against the system, we must be prepared to suffer the consequences and continue with our struggle. My grouse is that when the going gets tough, more than a handful of such ‘fighters’ tend to stop actually fighting and start whining and complaining instead.

Such criticism without offering solutions helps no one at all. One must either outwardly rebel against the system productively (not just for the sake of rebelling), fight from within the system objectively (not just be disgruntled), or actively seek to leave the system altogether (ie. migrate). Certainly, it might not be easy for the majority of Singaporeans to embark on any of these options, but then, success does not come easily to most anyway.

One of these options must be chosen and the difficult journey must be endured until success comes – or till death. That should eb the mentality. Otherwise, they should just live with the default chocie of being in this imperfect system – without complaining.

And why should the “fighting’ be skewed in favour of leaving the system alone and a negative connotative label being assigned to people trying to change the system for the better.

“Once we give up, we have no one to blame but ourselves and should just shut up, suck it up and live with it.”

Easier said if it is not your LIMITED resorces (could be your own personal money & long time involved) that are at stake. Certain groups live by taxing people by enforcing rules & regulations here & there which may already be outdated while certain groups have to risk huge sum of money & effort to test out their ideas.

Now tell me Ganga, who is doing the real value creation work and who is living by the creation work of others. You need both to moderate one another however you need to change moderating agent if it is not doing its job well.

Internet is really confusing – I never posted in your blog so far. You do have a lot of fans, it seems.

Now I know why everything here is about money because there is no FT holding minister’s post ! We should have FT in high position to come out creative solution instead of money solution. To our gahmen, money solve all our problems, of course, we know it better as it only applies to Singapore because the gahmen who hold absolute power and naiton’s wealth are so disconnected with reality.

Instead of solving problem creatively, they solve it using money over and over again. Not giving money but taking money from citizen in every opportunity they can.

I see that you are a innovator in Toilet, and hope some day you invent a toilet bowl that flush the ministers and the money-minded regime down the TOILET.

The purpose of my accolade to Mr Sim bore out of my long-held skepticism of the ‘toilet man’. I had dismissed his actions as mere gimmicks and this article has served to correct the erroneous perception I had of the man.

I agree fully that ‘stories coming from winners’ are certainly more heard out, and also with the notion that there must be fighters to complement the ‘quiet infiltrators’ (excellent analogy by the way).

However, if the fighters do not persevere and instead stop along the way to start whining and complaining, then they are no longer serving the larger purpose. Also, a person who ‘fights within the system’ needs specific skills, tactics and patience to achieve such a feat and therefore such efforts/accomplishments should not be callously dismissed.

Either fight directly or indirectly but don’t stand around watching the world go by and then blame everything under the sun – this is what I have learnt personally. I used to blame the system and then do nothing myself until recently.

How we ‘fight’ is immaterial, but the fact of the matter is we should never give up fighting – even if we know failure is unavoidable. Once we give up, we have no one to blame but ourselves and should just shut up, suck it up and live with it. The bigger crime is taking the easy way out and deflecting blame unto the system – and doing nothing else about it.

And to set the record straight, my unreserved appreciation of anyone or anything is extremely rare and is only forthcoming where I feel it is extremely due. As anyone who knows me will easily attest to – I do not cheaply throw compliments around.

Not a lot of people are like Mr. Sim. Sometimes, you need to fight the system for the system to change so that even more people like Mr. Sim can shine.

If you put nails across a 100 meter track, not a lot of people can safely make it. If you clear the track, almost all can make it. If the nails are the problem, try to take away the nails. Why have the nails there and still make it sound it is alright for the nails to be there and then pat people who are able to take the arduous & tedious route to reach the finish line.

What say you ? The flawed system is the problem or the people trying to change a flawed system is the problem. Somehow, Mr. Sim has stated his views albeit in a nice diplomatic manner.

“As we do not have a culture of creativity, foreign talents fill in the gap.”

But then, foreign talents may not have been be hindered by the same type of Bureau-crazy that we have.

“Will this article create repercussions for me? No. It’ll only make things better.”

Mr. Sim has made it, we have the good fortune to hear his story.

Other people who may have even better ideas could have been frustrated and may have to live with the fact they will never see their ideas bear fruition in their life. And they have similar stories to tell also. In life, the same story but told by a winner will somehow invite more accolades by people like Ganga.

Mr Jack Sim, sir, you are fighting within the system and working towards solutions rather than fight against the system and lose your motivation. You are truly an inspiration and I thank you for that…

That is to say, your school only moves up in rankings if you have helped a student in a tangible way (i.e. improvement in grades, increased activity in community service, early discovery of a documented talent, etc)

Why do our Chinese lose out to the Malaysian and Indonesian Chinese in terms of entrepreneurial ability. What about the Hongkies and China Chinese? Taiwanese too?

Singapore under PAP, has evolved into an efficient but dumb nation of people.