Building People: Sunday Emails from a Chairman

QUOTES FROM LIEW MUN LEONG

"I believe you cannot do anything great or achieve much in life if you don′t have strong personal discipline. I have not come across a CEO who has no personal discipline."

"It′s good to have ideals but you have to be pragmatic. Pragmatism is about finding practical solutions to problems without blind adherence to doctrines, mantras, or ideologies, while not compromising on your values system."

"Choose your first job to develop your core competencies in order to build a solid foundation. Don′t think of immediate monetary incentives. They will come your way later."

"Contractors are our partners selected to work for the project; they are not thieves and we are not policemen."

"We adopted pragmatic solutions to our problems first and when they were successful we applied some financial theories to explain them. Application precedes theory in the true sense of the words!"

"As an individual, we should spend a small part of our daily life in complete privacy, alone and doing what we love best to do. I call it the ′third place′."

"Don′t ever think about touching money that is not yours. You will regret it for life."

"Leaders must be right in choosing the right people with the right values for the right mission."

"I′d rather have no one than the wrong one."

LIEW MUN LEONG is Chairman of Changi Airport Group, Surbana Jurong and Temasek Foundation Nurtures. He serves on the boards of Singapore Exchange Limited, National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School, Human Capital Leadership Institute, Chinese Development Assistance Council and Singapore China Foundation Ltd. Mun Leong is also pro bono Provost Chair Professor (Practice) at NUS Business School and the Faculty of Engineering, as well as Chair of the China Business Centre.

With over 45 years of experience in the construction and real estate industries (locally and overseas), Mun Leong was the Founding President and CEO of CapitaLand Group from November 2000 to 31 December 2012. He was also President of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) from 1997 to 1998. For his exceptional contributions to Singapore, Mun Leong was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the President of Singapore in 2011. And in 2016, Mun Leong was conferred France′s National Order of the Legion of Honour (Ordre national de la Légion d′honneur), with the rank of Knight.

Mun Leong also won numerous awards during his tenure in CapitaLand. In 2006, he was named "Outstanding CEO of the Year" in the Singapore Business Awards, and "CEO of the Year" in The Business Times′ Singapore Corporate Awards the following year. In 2008, he was named "Asia′s Best Executive of Singapore" by Asiamoney and "Best CEO in Asia (Property)" by Institutional Investor. In 2011, he was named one of the top 25 most powerful business people in Asia by Fortune Magazine, as well as "Best CEO in Singapore" by FinanceAsia.

A registered professional civil engineer and a graduate of the University of Singapore, Mun Leong has published four books titled "Building People: Sunday Emails from a CEO, Volumes I, II and III"; and "Up Close with Lee Kuan Yew".