The Story Of My (Working) Life

If you have read this somewhere before, read it again.

Last December, my company celebrated its 40th Anniversary in Singapore (since 1973). It was just a small office with a Representative and his secretary. Those days, most businesses were represented by general agencies. I came on board when the company was fully incorporated eight years later and naturally I have inadvertently became a pioneer not just in the organization but also in the industry. We have now grown into several companies in the group employing hundreds of people. Just wondering if I'll get a "Pioneer Package".

I was invited to give my two cents worth about my views and to share my experience with colleagues in our special newsletter. What they did not know was they were inviting a monster to write as I could practically write non-stop especially to tell a complete story - the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I wanted to share a story that could be simple and yet interesting because in days gone by, life was more simple but the environment was really harsh. I wanted to show that in that world, there were no computers or at least limited in use and were being used in certain areas only. I hope that at least there will be some parts that could be inspirational and other parts humorous. I wanted younger people especially Singaporeans to learn patience and perseverance.

It was a world where we had to do everything, think on our feet, zero spoon feeding, swim or sink and if you could swim, you'd be swimming with sharks and if you swam with sharks, it's either the shark has his buffet or you eat shark's fins. You get bullied for being young and a novice even among the peers or those above you. You get threatened and trampled on but you get to see what was inside a container and smell a warehouse unlike today where most just stare a a computer screen. That is a world of difference.

You must understand that only famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou could have done a better job than me when he squeezed 5,000 years of Chinese history into 4 hours for the Olympics opening ceremony. Mine was just to simply compressed 32 years into at first 4 small pages and finally reduced to 2. The editorial team liked it so much they wanted to print all but have to split into two issues which meant six months but I told them that you need to sustain interest at one go.  If by chance you have read this before, you should read it again the latest version. Without further ado, this is the story of my working life (with a bit of necessary modification): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-TE_Ys4iwM (Story Of My Life - One Direction)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPQk9OHrH_8 (Life Story - Dick Lee)

In The Beginning

1681 - that was not a 4-D number that you craved for or the year Christopher Columbus or Admiral Zheng He set sail. It was Circa 1 June 1981, that was the day I set sail and the day the company was incorporated in Singapore. There were only twelve of us. There are currently only two other persons still working in the company from the class of 81. Here was yours truly getting ready for work in the 80s, where dinosaurs once roamed Shenton Way. If you dug things up a bit you may find some fossils because it was so long ago.

















When I reported for work, Shenton Way, Robinson Road and Cecil Street were bright lights big city to me. The days of innocence was over as I joined the rat race. They say that at the end of the rat race you are still a rat. I was a nervous rat. When I first contributed to my CPF I was wondering if I may get to see it, touch it and smell it. I am still wondering. If you are like me then we are all "wondering spirits". 

When we started there were just twelve of us. We had to do everything and as the work was overwhelming we were often helping one another. There were no boundaries and we were like family. Sometimes, I have to even be the delivery boy - dispatching and collecting documents. As a junior clerical staff I was posted to start a terminal office next to the port. I got to make many friends to learn what the works entailed. You get bullied by some who see you as a novice. The learning curve was indeed steep. 

The work including the physical aspects were tough without today's technology and I hardly saw sunlight as I got to work before sunrise and returned home way past sunset often falling asleep in the bus till the uncle woke me up at the end of the journey only to take another bus back from the opposite side. We should be thankful we can now do our jobs at the click of a mouse. I get beyond amusement when people say "oh, that person is only a clerical staff, what do you expect". Wrong dictum to me and not acceptable. I was doing things with bigger responsibilities but with  a small title. No, with no title. Today, when you browse through all the name cards, you see all kinds of fancy titles. I mean Vice President could be a president in charge of vice or Senior Executive Janitor is still in part a toilet cleaner with no disrespect. The point is what you can do is more important than any other title.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fC5YYxsGKY (TED)

A hospital janitor ignored his supervisor and management order to mop the floor when he knew an elderly would need to walk for his therapy. Another cleaner was supposed to vacuum an area and also ignored the duty because there was a family resting there and catching up with much needed sleep while waiting on a patient. This is moral wisdom.

Been There Done That

I got to see containers moving in and out, hear the sound of trucks going past weigh bridges and got a constant whiff of cargo smell at warehouses or inside of containers, boarding vessels, meeting ships crew and captains, dealing with workers around the port. 

I have also started our first Customer Service department and later set up the Transhipment department before moving on to Sales and within Sales I would move to different trade and services every few years and were also regularly involved in Conference matters where I would meet other members of the shipping community and sometimes took the chair of the associations. Those days, such meetings sometimes turned confrontational, aggressive with some spoiling for a fight.  (First couple of Christmas parties at the old office with a bit of a bad-ass rock star outlook).

Landmarks and Milestones

There were many landmarks and milestones crossed as you can imagine. I handled our very first global tenders. In 1997, in the midst of the severe currency crisis in Asia, we commenced our Asia Car Carrier / RoRo service. There were only two of us when we started. It has since grown to our present day size and success!

In 2000, when a major global corporate customer set up their Asia Pacific HQ here, I handled the project for ten years. In the three years where awards were dished out, we won two Best Carrier Awards. I was given the opportunity to meet the managers in the customer's HQ and visited their historic and legendary car manufacturing factory. What an eye opener it was to observe their unique way. So I learned about the “Genchi Genbutsu” way which literally means in order to truly understand a situation you need to go to the real place where the work is done.

In many countries and companies, managers are specialized in one area, a certain trade or mode of transportation. I was involved in three at any one time for a good period of time that could stretched for ten years.  When they met me, they often asked me how I could cope. The truth is I could not but there was no time to ask questions like that. You have to push on, swim or sink. It is always about the commitment. Let me borrow quote from Josh Billing: "Consider the postage stamp, its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there."

A Singaporean Trait

Allow me to further borrow inspirational quotes from Singapore’s most famous person – Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and I hope they represent our Singaporean traits, for that matter, they are all great human traits.

“I am the captain of the team. Whether we score a resounding success does not depend on the captain alone. Each member of the team has a decisive role to play and no team ever wins without good teamwork.”

“I think you are a born leader or you are not a leader. You can teach a person to be a manager but not a leader. They must have the extra drive, intellectual verve, an extra tenacity and the will to overcome.”

“Do not try to impress by using big words; impress by the clarity of your ideas. I speak as a practitioner. If I had not been able to reduce complex ideas into simple words or project them vividly for mass understanding, I would not be here.”

“I put myself down as determined, consistent and persistent. I set out to do something; I keep on chasing it until it succeeds.”

“I am not saying that everything I did was right but everything I did was for an honorable purpose.”

These are words and deeds I feel should be the ‘Singaporean Spirit” and the human spirit for us to be persons of courage, commitment and with conviction and last but not least compassion.

Journey

You would have read often that life is a journey not a destination. There were times I thought that this life resembles Indiana Jones where in the middle of a bridge he was faced with enemies at both ends. Problems are like that. You have to come up with a solution. So I read Thomas Huxley who said: “Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not”. In other words, do the “right things” whatever the circumstances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFzkN7iH59I (Indiana Jones - Temple of Doom)

First Born

As I pulled my pillow high up before I sleep some nights, I reflected and found that I have become a product and a graduate of two universities - The University of Hard Knocks and the University of Life. In this journey, there were often times I felt like I am a gynecologist. I know a baby is coming and I have to deliver it as I was entrusted with a life and to bring it out safely to the joy of the parents. It is my baby, my responsibility. In fact, a gynecologist job is better and easier as once delivered, it is no longer his baby. As for me, I would still have to be the nanny, to see to it that the baby grows up strong and healthy.

More than that, I think it resembles the “Life of Pi” as it became one great adventure as I would like to call it. You remember that tiger called Richard Parker? It was wrongly mixed up with the name of the hunter. Richard Parker or the tiger was a problem that Pi has to live with. Was it just a figment of his imagination? What Pi probably learned from Richard Parker (the tiger) was how to engage the real and physical world beyond survival. Richard Parker represented all of Pi’s fears. He needed to tame his fears and only by conquering all his greatest fears and acknowledging his weaknesses could he gain strength and survive incredible odds. He was alive as a result of it for no man is an island. The life of Pi was a test of faith. Skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dszr_0E5ADk (Life of Pi)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aee2cbOh5kk (Life of Pi)

Pride and Passion

The years flew by. They say time flies. Fast forward from the time I have to draft a telex for the manager to vet through till this day where one does his or her work at the flick of a finger and a click of the computer mouse, certain things do not change. I am talking about pride of work. I take great pride in my work because everything that I do or say, every email or report that I send and every piece of my work bears my name and not just my name but also my family name. Everything that comes from me must be able to withstand scrutiny, must be up to scratch and has to be of a certain standard.

I liken my work, especially in sales like that to a country’s ambassador. We are the faces of the company. It is a heavy responsibility. Therefore, for every person in our global organization, every customer that comes into contact with me, I have to earn their respect and trust without which nothing is possible or good enough. Every carrier has ships but it is the people that will make the difference.

Longevity

Why am I writing all these? Because I have been requested to share what is the “secret of my longevity”? There is no secret. There are people who work in many different organizations doing the same thing but I work in the same organization doing many different things. Though I am in the same place I am not. The challenges have been relentless, breathtaking at times, the opportunities given me to learn and grow as a person immense. Sometimes I have to even sell ice to Eskimos. Other times, I become a diplomat as I may have to tell people to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip. These are life skills.

Where on earth do you get to experience so many things and meet so many people locally and around the world and made so many friends sharing many historical moments? Even right now I have to learn how to do a “selfie” to keep up with the times. You should never stop learning.

Think of it this way - Manchester United soccer legend Ryan Giggs was a one club man. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is a one club man. Sir Alex Ferguson was a manager at Old Trafford for 27 years. We are the last of the Mohicans. This is what I have been through and where I have been. I am appreciative and grateful for the opportunities given me. It has been Ah Boyz To Men journey for me. The learning process is priceless! I no longer tell anyone how long I have been here. I just say I was born here.

Happy Anniversary!

Through it all, I have seen several severe recessions, turmoil, tumultuous changes. I am grateful to be part of the company that plays a global role and also in Singapore's history since the infant stage. It was never a smooth ride but it was a fulfilling and challenging one. Ships are safe in harbour but it was not what they were built for.

After delivering many first born babies, one cannot help but feel humbled by it all. Also true is the fact that before a baby is born, there will be labor and birth pains. I have just traveled back in time compressing 32 years into an article.

If you are still reading it now, I hope that you have enjoyed it. There will be more labour and birth pains to come I am sure. I hope that the coming years for the Maritime Industry will be that of a Merry Time Industry for the company, for Singapore and our people around the world would be thriving and up to the challenges ahead. It is my sincere wish this Christmas that your family and you will be blessed with good health, success and happiness!

May we prosper with great success in the coming years and many years to come! This is your humble servant Geoffrey Ng at your service.