Good morning!
This morning I got up rather early, at 5 a.m. to be exact, due to the unusually warm weather.
I decided to find something to read and thus got into the web and reached an interesting article that caught my attention.
It was an article about the appointment of a Singaporean academician by the name of Dr. Shih Choon Fong, being appointed as president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia’s much anticipated US$10 billion university.
I was of course happy for Dr. Shih, but I was really pleased that this university select its people, especially the president, basing on competency rather than race, religion or political affiliation. As Malaysians, we have lived in an environment where race, religion and political affiliation have great influence in the selection of people for appointment in so many aspects of our lives. This is indeed most saddening and something that I have quietly campaign against in my own small ways.
I have always taught participants in my success seminars that to be truly successful, we must be able to transcend these mind-sets. We must be able to appreciate that competency has no race, no religion and no political affiliation. Competency is nothing else but competency!
Shih, who is president of the National University of Singapore, has proven himself by contributing significantly to the current high standards that NUS is known for. It is amongst the top universities in the world!
In the appointment of Dr. shih, credit must be accorded to Mr. Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s minister of petroleum and mineral resources, who is chairman of the university’s governing board. He has the vision and courage to appoint someone who can best fit the bill to deliver results because he is “the right person” to fulfill the vision for the new institution. Know our objective, know the people we require to achieve the objective and get them to do the job! Whatever his or her race, religion or political affiliation has no bearing on his ability to deliver.
This brings to mind remark by the late premier of China, Teng Shau Peng - "Whatever the color of the cat, be it black, white or brown, as long as it catches the most rats, its the right cat."
So focus on wisdom, character and competency instead of irrelevant attributes when choosing people to do the job.
Remember to choose the best to deliver the best result!
