The Disruptive Leaders Program: Four Days, 80% Humidity, Endless Lessons
Arriving in Singapore last Monday afternoon, I must have looked every bit the classic fish out of water. Leaving the airport, I got a taste of the week I was in for as the wall of sticky humidity hit… my hair would not do well. But I was even more grateful for the aircon in the bus on the way to Ibis Singapore, ready for some food and a solid night of sleep before our program began.
Day one whisked us straight into the unknown, and not just because the quality of the hotel coffee didn’t quite live up to our Aussie caffeine standards. The morning kicked off with rousing introductions from all the staff from Common Purpose, the Scholars Foundation and Murdoch University Singapore. The day was titled “Set your COMPASS”, which soon had us mulling over what it even means to be a leader (spoiler: it's more than being able to point to north). A standout moment was the keynote from the Deputy High Commissioner to Singapore, Emily Follett, who made it abundantly clear that being ‘disruptive’ sometimes just means asking the questions nobody else is brave (or confused) enough to ask. The afternoon brought the Singapore Amazing Race, which involved far more speed walking (and singing for bonus points… literally) than I’d mentally prepared for.
Lesson learned: in equatorial heat and humidity, the real act of leadership is not letting normally mildly annoying things become truly frustrating things. By our welcome dinner, I think I’d figured out the keys in my leadership COMPASS: curiosity, openness, mindfulness, purpose, action, support, and self-awareness. Setting my COMPASS was not just literal direction finding (although being more skilled in that department would have been crucially helpful during the amazing race), but perhaps more importantly, developing my internal guide for what authentic disruptive leadership looks like across environments.
Waking up on day two, I reminded myself that a coffee shop excursion was probably necessary to enjoy my morning coffee before our business immersion. After a masterclass on active listening, we set off for our PayPal immersion. Over two surprisingly engaging hours (fintech tends to go completely over my head), I learned about the breadth of PayPal products. What stood out most was how incredible the communication schedules of our panel were… it felt like we were having a conversation with personalities including Aaron Wong, CEO of PayPal’s International HQ. Lunch was a networking affair during which I attempted to understand some of the company’s security structures, but ultimately ended up with the comforting knowledge that even PayPal International’s head of Security struggles with password management. Sometimes, its nice to know even the best technologists have the same mundane struggles as us. Back at HQ, we toyed with the future during a workshop titled “How Now Brown Cow?” , which regrettably involved no conversation about livestock. Instead, we tried to stretch our minds beyond next week. In fact, we were trying to think through the impacts of plausible events in 10 years… which is difficult when we’ve only been around for 20!
We had a free evening, anda group of us went on a memorable trip to the Mandai Night Safari, getting up close and personal with a White Rhino. Many of the animals were free-roaming or in open-air enclosures, and the wildlife park makes a huge effort to support conservation efforts, which was great to hear about. I will admit, though, we were keen to have perhaps had a liiitttlleee more between our tram and the hyenas!
By morning three, I resigned myself to perpetual humidity hair as we set off for SAP, feeling ready (and a little apprehensive) to tackle the real-world problem-solving exercise for the day. Eileen Chua’s keynote was truly engaging, and I think all the young female technologists found it incredibly encouraging to see a powerful woman in STEM doing amazing things at a well-known company. In our teams, we sweated (not literally, because the aircon was ice cold) through a fast-paced business challenge which involved more panic-fueled mind maps and excitement-bolstered scope creep than I care to admit.
Presenting our solution to actual SAP leaders had my heart hammering somewhere in the vicinity of my eyebrows. Today’s lesson? Sometimes leadership means just leaping in with feigned confidence and enthusiasm, and as the nervousness wears off they become just a bit more real. Our farewell dinner felt both too soon, and given my exhaustion at this point in the program, perfectly timed. The food was incredible, in a stunning dining room at the botanical gardens.
Watching the sunrise on the final day, it struck me how quickly these ‘strangers’ (we have met before over Zoom!) had become impromptu confidants and each other’s cheerleaders. The morning was a carousel of honest and personal conversations with local founders – Anders Tan, Freddy Yeo, and Dr Shawn Ee. Each of these open leaders reminded me that leadership is always about so much more than titles, but about the purpose and empathy that drive your actions. This was followed by a workshop where we worked individually, in our teams and as a whole group to decide on the 5 qualities of a leader we believe to be most important. By the time we graduated the program in a whirl of applause, I’d learned infinitely more than I’d expected and experienced more things than I thought possible in just 4 days.
And so, suitcase overfull of slightly damp clothes, I left Singapore with the kind of souvenirs you can’t pack: renewed resilience, new friendships, wild optimism and a new appreciation for the ease of finding gluten-free food back home. Turns out, when you lead with curiosity and a little bit of humour, even the sweatiest week can turn into lifetime memories.
(P.S.: If anyone finds a blue pen under a seat at Changi Airport… tell it I miss it.)
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