Experiencing Life in Broad Strokes

For someone who teaches strategic management at university level, it might be surprising to discover that Gilbert Tan’s personal philosophy has always been to simply go with the flow. In fact, it’s the reason why he can’t quite come up with an answer when asked if he had a dream job while growing up.

Says the 59-year-old: “I allow myself to evolve. I plan, but my planning is not the detailed sort. It’s directional. I select a broad direction, then I let nature unfold, and I just evolve along the way. It keeps me open to all kinds of experiences.”

Even though he studied business administration back in school, his first job was in a completely unrelated role at the Singapore Police Force. At 23, he found himself with the responsibility of managing about 400 policemen, and it was from there that he picked up real-life problem-solving skills and developed a strong set of personal values such as discipline, fairness, and justice, that served as the foundation for the rest of his professional life.

Now, he is a full-time faculty member at the Singapore Management University (SMU) Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), where he is an associate professor of Strategic Management (Education), academic director of the Master of Science in Management (MiM), and course coordinator of Business Government and Society.

Professor Tan did his Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, USA - where he gained valuable experience from the American education system, and this still influences the way he imparts knowledge to his own students today.

He explains: “Our education in Singapore comes from the British, so it’s more traditional… I would say the focus is to control the content. But in the US, the focus is to empower students to learn, and this is very much in line with our SMU approach. What I’ve learned from the US is how to be more conscious of designing effective learning activities in class.”

For instance, if there’s a case study to be discussed, instead of simply analysing the information in front of them, Professor Tan would initiate a role-playing activity where students have to imagine themselves as the people in the case study.

Activities like that help students build self-awareness skills, which to him is one of the most important qualities that any manager or boss needs to have.

“They must have a very sober assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses, what they lack or don’t lack, and their working style. Very often, working with a team means we need to adjust to one another, and this is where a person with good self-awareness can help the team adjust and appreciate one another’s differences,” he says.

On top of his busy work schedule, Professor Tan also sets aside time for charity and community work, as well as personal hobbies. He picked up painting at the age of 50, and has completed over 30 pieces of artworks covering various subject matter such as landscapes, trees, and fish. Just last year, he also started learning to play the guzheng, and attends one-on-one lessons almost on a weekly basis.

Just like everything else in his life - the decision to pick up these two hobbies was also by chance, but Professor Tan appreciates the lessons from these experiences regardless.

“When it comes to painting, in order to produce a good piece of art we must first have a proper perspective. Once I have that, I need to get the broad strokes right to capture the essence. Only then do I go into the details… But guzheng has taught me another thing - music needs to be very precise. You may play the right notes, but timing is also important. These are all very related to management, and they complement each other in terms of my personal development,” he describes.