Leadership through the ages

将者，智信仁勇严。
A general (a leader of men) should have knowledge, integrity, compassion, courage and discipline.

I am always amazed by this simple phrase by Sun-tzu. It was written more than 2000 years ago, yet it continues to be applicable today. In a simple phrase, it encapsulates what a leader should be, the qualities that allows a person to assume a leadership position and effectively lead people. Five words that survived the test of time, that spans cultures and continues to ring true even in this modern age so different from the circumstances when it was written.

A leader needs to know his stuff. Else he cannot lead his charges. How to lead, when he doesn't know what to do? He needs integrity, to keep to his word, so that people know that he means what he says. He is thus sincere yet strict. He must have compassion, for it is people he is leading and not machines. He needs to be able to feel what they feel so that his people feels understood. He must be courageous, else no one will follow him into danger. He must be willing to stand up for what is correct, and not take the short cut to avoid trouble. He must hold himself to high standards in order to inspire others to those same standards, and to do so he needs to have discipline.

A leader leads by the example he sets, and it is not in doing the things that he tells others to do, but in the things that he himself does.

All in the genes

Research has shown that infidelity is hereditary. That must be the best excuse for playing the field. If I cheat on my partner, it is not because I want to cheat, but because it is hardwired into me from the genes passed down from my father, my grandfather and those before him.

In a way, it sounds correct... after all, men who can afford several partners (in the past) must be capable providers, and thus it makes sense to pass those genes down to future generations. But in the present time and age, with lawsuits and alimony, it only makes sense to stick to one partner. Having more than one partner gets you into trouble with lawsuits and ends up incurring huge costs (lawyers, alimony) and if evolution has any sense, it will be better to pass on the genes of those who stick to one.

Exercise RIMPAC 2010

Exercise RIMPAC 2010 is currently taking place in the waters of Hawaii. It is the world's largest maritime exercise, taking place once every two years.

And Singapore is represented in the exercise as well!

Official RIMPAC page
Singapore's RIMPAC page
RIMPAC 2010 Facebook page
RIMPAC 2010 Flickr album

What a shot!

What a shot! RSS SUPREME fired off an Aster missile during Ex RIMPAC 2010. History in the making! Making Singapore proud!

Many choices

Yet another post on choice.

When you have more choices, the harder is it to choose. Choice can seem so good but, sometimes it can be so evil, forcing you to choose from options all valuable. Yet you can only choose one and forgo the rest. How do we go about choosing in such a situation? What should we forgo? How to make the choice? Decision-making then becomes a pain, since the criteria for deciding must now be decided upon first even before the final decision is made.

Choice forces us to think, to re-examine what we value, to rank/prioritise what we value, since now, we can't have them all. Choice is a mean of self-understanding. Every time we make a choice, we understand that much more about ourselves.

Along the path of self-discovery, what must we forgo?

Thanks and looking forward to more

Thanks for 6 years and looking forward to more years ahead!

The gift of choice

I think the greatest gift a parent can give to a child is the gift of choice. To allow the child to choose what he or she wants. For example, by providing an environment in which the child can pick up a variety of skills, so that in the future, he can choose a profession to enter, rather than being limited in his career choices because of the lack of his abilities. Like exposing him to various circles of people, so that he can choose the people he wants to hang out with.

The power to choose is great. It is what free will is all about. And with great power comes great responsibility. A parent must thus also impart this sense of responsibility in the child when giving him the gift of choice. Otherwise, it is just irresponsible parenting.

Guam 2010

Ever been to Guam? I was there for a few days.

Take a look at the streets here... full of expensive boutiques.

June is not the busy period since it is outside summer vacation... but still, there were many tourists around, most of them from Japan and Korea.

An overview of Tumon Bay, one of the popular tourist beaches at Guam.

Look at the nice sand at Tumon Beach!

And here's the late afternoon sun, hanging over the Pacific Ocean as it slowly sinks down to the horizon.

Homesick... Not!

Have you ever been away from home for long? Do you feel homesick?

I wonder why people feel homesick. It is usually something quite foreign to me. Maybe because I am used to being away from home. And having a wife who can take care of herself and the family helps. I know things back home are in good hands and thus I am not worried. It frees me to go and focus on the job at hand, and to enjoy whatever little free time is left (after all that work).

Yes, of course I miss the family and friends, but I have also accepted the fact that I am away from home, and rather than dwell in misery, I choose to enjoy life instead, to live to the fullest. Dwell not in what you have lost, but bask in the enjoyment of what you can achieve. After all, the separation is but temporary, and absence does make the heart grow fonder.

More sunrise sunset

Rising sun over the Pacific Ocean... really like the Japanese ensign.

Sun setting over Akashi Bridge in the Japanese Inland Sea.

Sun setting over Selat Makassar.

Life at MOCS

Here's a glimpse of life at MOCS, where I was about 7 to 8 years ago.

Pictures of my bed. It is kept in this condition every day. 7 days a week, for about 16 to 18 hours a day (the time in which I am not sleeping on it...)

That's life at MOCS. Discipline, attention to details, being neat and tidy at all times.

Sunrise sunset

I love to take photos of sunrise and sunset at sea. So here's sharing some of them.

Rising sun outside Suva, Fiji.

Setting sun, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Setting sun in the Pacific, somewhere near Midway Island, just before a memorial service.

Hawaii 2003

Some photos of Hawaii (Oahu) when I was there in May 2003.

Pictures of Hanauma Bay, where you can snorkel. Really good place to snorkel, since it is not as crowded as Waikiki Beach.

Talking about Waikiki Beach, here is how it looked like.

And this is how clear and blue the water is... not like what we have in Singapore!

Fedora 13

Fedora 13 is out! And I have managed to install it on my laptop.

The upgrade killed the previous installation of Fedora 12... so I had to do a clean install. But good thing the settings could be preserved by copying back my home directory.

Navy Open House 2010

Have you been there yet?

We managed to squeeze in a visit under the hot weather to see what the open house is all about. The weather was hot hot hot, but good thing the display tents are air-conditioned.

At the open house, you will find ships on display, which you can actually go onboard and walk around to see the inside (and not just look from outside). In fact, one of the frigates, RSS STEADFAST, offers guided tours (but you must ballot for it). Talk about balloting, you can ballot for rides onboard navy ships too. The missile corvettes, patrol vessels and mine countermeasure vessels offers a short cruise outside of Changi Naval Base, tickets available via balloting at the information booth. So if you have never sailed onboard a navy ship, this is the chance to do so!

The display tents showcase what the navy does on a day-to-day basis (naval operations), the people in the navy, and the navy's capabilities (aka ships and other assets like maritime patrol aircraft and unmanned surface vehicles).

Here's our budding next generation USV controller.

And here he is again, learning how to be the officer of the watch of a LST.