I think life can really be challenging at times where what is exhilarating or exciting can slide into a threat. On a stress meter, it can be difficult to guage from being in the comfort zone one moment and then transit out to another stage of growth that feels exciting.
By going for training earlier this year I can see how I respond to stress and what gets me fearful or overwhelmed as the roller coaster goes through many twist and turns. The season of intellectual growth where I get to know more about fields I didn’t venture into is quite like taking a rollercoaster ride and experiencing the highs and lows of data analytics, design thinking, fundamentals of events management and stress management.
Finally, the season where the ride will come to an end. This is where I have to respond to a new VUCA world. Embarking on another level of growth where life transitions can feel scary and I do look forward to change despite how as humans we find changes uncomfortable. But this is where we live out our best possible selves by daring to venture into uncharted territory and surviving.
I used to go out on National Day to celebrate by visiting the sights and sounds of the city. This year I am more introspective as I felt that some solitude moments spent in reading will help me listen to my heart 💓 to know what my heartbeat for Singapore is.
I am glad that this year I was brave enough to start embarking on a road that is more colourful and interesting. By studying with a group of people I would never otherwise cross paths with through a Singapore United course.
I made friends through my Virtual Events and Production class and got to make many friends from different walks of life from special needs teacher to content creator, ex media specialist, dog trainers, bartender. They all form like mosaic of the Singapore story as I write a new chapter of my life story.
I would say that Training is really fun and exciting sometimes because we just have to go deep into the trenches and work with people with different worldviews and background while sharing a common ground in doing the same assessment using the same Learners Guide.
I am glad above all I learnt to be more Singaporean by understanding all the challenges the country face during the pandemic on the business sector. And how I believe we can make it as a country again with a strong resilient and united citizen.
A valuable experience trying to do a Capstone Project where I had to cultivate extreme patience in ensuring that we can create a short and impactful presentation with only five slides as a criteria for the second stage of the Capstone.
The key thing is ensuring that a summary of what our hybrid event is and get the message pitched across in the shortest time to a potential client. Quite an experience considering that it has to be done in a group of six over Zoom where we had to agree on what corporate logos to use, the keynote speakers to use.
My key takeaway is that it is not easy trying not to fall in love with the original prototype of previously worked on design. I have to change the design of my Canvas infographics close to four times to get the desired final version where I have to cultivate the virtues of taking feedback well and responding to the minute and fine details to ensure that the final prototype is aesthetically pleasing.
I conclude that it is not easy being in the events industry where we have to work on the intricate details behind the scenes and then have to ensure that the external audiences from speakers to physical attendees are happy. A very tough yet rewarding and exciting work that can appear glamorous and exciting on the outside. That is if you are willing to be meticulous and look into the finer more intricate details.
Almost half a year is gone and before we know it 2022 will come to an end. I think so far I have not felt any regret making this decision to pursue such an interesting class called Hybrid Events and Production. What fascinated me at the start in March when I enrolled for the class is that I will have to change my routines, develop new interest and do an inordinate amount of teamwork for the class. Basically, the thought of not having any control over whether you can do your own thing or do group projects and discussions scares me.
As a solo ranger for a long time, teamwork is a big hurdle I have to cross . I felt that I would not be able to survive so many group projects, pair work and discussions. But I was very surprised by the amount of growth. Precisely, teamwork is such a difficult thing to adapt to that I have grown a lot more the past 5 months than the past 5 years.
I was startled at how I am still in the midst of a Capstone Project and still intrigued by all the concepts from Clean Energy, Livestreaming, Augmented Reality and Design Thinking prototype. Theories, ideas and concepts takes a life on its own when there is lively discussions and people from various industries cross paths. I do change my perceptions about people and the environment after immersing myself in this course. Well, I do hope that I can finish the race well and believe in my ability to harness the power of team work where the “whole” is “better than the sum of it’s parts”.
During one of my course on Design Thinking, I suffered from a case of wanderlust where we have to do pair work for our assessment. Our assessment was to apply design thinking concepts to come with a prototype by asking the right questions. I was surprised that within an hour my course mate is able to come up with the requirements for the assessment and do a good 7 days plan for a trip to Alaska to see the Northern Lights. It is small things like this that makes the course so heartwarming too!
Ayesha: Moving from the pandemic to another huge mountain altogether which is the energy transition. Do you think countries are getting in a frame of mind where they will collaborate now? What are some of the advice that you are giving governments around the world on energy transitions?
Tony Blair: We come a long way which is the first thing. When I was first in government, I was part of the Kyoto negotiations and large number of countries didn’t sign up for it. The American Senate rejected it unanimously. Now there is an acceptance of the challenge of climate change but here’s the thing. You can’t deal with it other than through technology. That’s the only way you get countries to grow sustainably.
So, if you take the work we do say in Africa, you could say the same about Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and you get China and India. The Western world can’t say to these countries don’t develop. If I were to say this to the African leaders I work with, while I am afraid in the interest of climate, you can’t build this airport, that road or power station, you get chased out of town quickly.
So, they are going to grow and develop. So, the challenge for the world is, as the developed world’s images started to shrink. You can see this on the graph, the developed world’s emission start to shrink, the developing world start to grow. So that’s why the actual primary carbon energy production has barely shifted. You have masses of growth in the meantime so in one sense that’s good for the climate.
As I always say, the climate is different whether the emissions come from developing countries or not. The only solution is technology. There is a great example here which is around solar and renewable energy where you know in my day when I was in government, it a very open question as to whether it can be made commercially viable. But today, it is commercially viable. Now, that was only done because of incentives, because of the way there was the investment made in the technology and so on. And we got to do the same across the carbon capture storage, green hydrogen new off grid solutions. Probably new phones and nuclear even.
But the question for the world is how do you incentive development for that technology? That’s where unless you have mechanism to push the market in a particular direction, it won’t happen. In Indonesia, for example, they obviously got a lot of their energy from coal, they got an ambition of retiring 6.5 gigawatts of coal fire power and 10 to 15 years early. But they can’t do that without help. And this is where the developed world got to create the mechanism.
And here the biggest problem and I see this in the work I do around the world is creating the right financing framework for renewable projects. Because there is no shortage of liquidity in the world today. There’s lots of money. But you need to create the right financing mechanism so that it becomes in the interest of the country to build the right renewable project using gases in transition in certain circumstances rather than building a traditional coal fire, diesel power generation. So, the key to it is to get the right collaboration between the governments so that you create the market incentive for the energy developments of the future. Without that there is no solution to climate change.
Deputy Group Manager: Ah I see… Good luck in your new endeavour. Look forward to learn from your posts 💪😁
Lee Linah :Wow. Thanks for this encouragement. You seem like a high flyer and work with Ministers. Glad that you are so down to earth!
Deputy Group Manager: I won’t see myself as high flyer, but rather someone who grow steadily along the years. I worked in MNC, SME and now with semi government agency, so I have seen different environment.
Lee Linah: Wow. Glad to see that you can learn from a polar opposite from you as we come from entire different backgrounds in education and career. Good to know that you are into learning from diverse experiences and knowledge then!
Deputy Group Manager: I am the same avid learner as you. 😀 Jiayou
Lee Linah: Yeah. I used to be into Arts and Social Sciences and did a lot of philosophy writings, sociology and psychology. However, recently I do sense that I need to move pragmatically into the job market as demand for skills are still in the STEM area. I felt that I have to restructure my brain to pick up the logical side of things. Even in my Events and Production classes, it is taught by trainers who are come from electrical engineering background. A very steep learning curve at first.
Deputy Group Manager: I see. Unfortunately that’s the reality of SG where STEM has more job opportunities. But the complexity in studying social sciences topics should enable you to pick STEM topics as well should you have the interest. Yes the learning curve would be steep but it is really not that difficult once you could pick up the core ideas of the topics.
Lee Linah: Thank you for your well meaning advice. I kind of know that I can’t just write niche topics on Philosophy for a living. I will have to pick up data analytics as I heard that there is a great surge in demand due to massive digitalization
And people here do encourage me to pick it up if I can learn it
Deputy Group Manager: Yes indeed. I think there are also common roots of philosophy and data analytics which is the thirst for knowledge and insights. What you could pick up in data analytics courses are essential technical skills like coding and computer & data literacy, but what the top data analysts would always need the soft skills part: which is the framing of problem statement, examining the context and business value, eventual storytelling. I would assume you would have the upper hands compared to just people with just normal STEM background 😁
Deputy Group Manager: Not only the thirst for knowledge and insights, but also the skills in asking relevant questions. That’s what philopshers excel at right? Asking a question that is so hard to answer, and keep finding answers for it
Lee Linah : Yes, indeed. Philosophers question everything from the nature of reality to whether we can know things. I think it perplexes people by coming up with moral issues like in data science there is prescriptive analytics where we need to use data to guide decisions. This is where Machine learning or Artificial intelligence cannot learn morality. We have to understand Applied Ethics and Moral Philosophy by asking questions like is this morally right or wrong or is it ethical.
At heart I felt that as an idealist I belong to the social services world of helping the sick or the poor. However, from end 2021 to early 2022 I felt a fascination with all things new. Still, the emphasis on technology had not been anything new for me.
It could be that I had a sincere and heartfelt German professor who taught me all about Philosophy of Technology in my impressionable years before I started dealing with real people.
I thought it is clearly a good goal for the past decade to meet the real needs of people and impact real lives. However, I’d still be left feeling that I have not considered my real interest and delve into the luxury of wants even if it is perceived as impractical or not as useful. I still like professors, theories and ideas.
March 2022 I am glad that going back to school to study had been a win win situation where it is not all technical or all about working with machines.I am still put in the arena of social services where the real needs of some unfortunate classmates stirred up a meaningful side of the glamorous field of studying events and production.
Three months into the course, I am glad I could find meaning in all things #technology and even enjoy making lumen videos on the 10 emerging technologies. I am glad taking a break from #school helped me reposition myself to look forward to the future.
June 2022 Attending Asia Tech X conference for three days was very exciting as it forced me out of a comfortable domestic setting. A casual and predictable setting to one that was professional with high end tech like Quantum Computing that blew my mind away.
It is good to get out of my comfort zone of familiar classmates and meet unknown faces and ultimately come face to face with a king none other than ex Prime Minister of UK Tony Blair.
To continue from the inaugural comic series here are part 4 to 12. Enjoy the comic!
Life as a Hybrid Being Part 4Life as a Hybrid Being Part 5Life as a Hybrid Being Part 6Life as a Hybrid Being Part 6Life as a Hybrid Being Part 7Life as a Hybrid Being Part 8Life as a Hybrid Being Part 9Life as a Hybrid Being Part 9Life as a Hybrid Being Part 10Life as a Hybrid Being Part 11Life as a Hybrid Being Part 11Life as a Hybrid Being Part 12Life as a Hybrid Being Part 12
Life as a Hybrid Being: Introducing my first ever comic series What life is like behind the scenes of my SG United Virtual Events and Production class as a trainee.
What I I learnt during training: (1) It’s not the theory in the 148 page learners guide but relating to your fellow trainees. (2) The best way to defuse the tension when you are not sure if your trainer can pass the trainees.
The real life lesson to takeaway from this course is having a head knowledge of number 1 and practising number 2 by defusing the tension when your trainer comes into your zoom room.
Skills I mastered: How to defend your fellow trainees if your trainer knows that you love Harvard Training School and was mistakenly believed to be from Harvard University by a veteran commander. The best is to get your Trainer to come down to the trenches and know that if he can’t beat them into shape just join them.
Life as a Hybrid Being Part 1
Second part to my Life as a Hybrid Being comic after releasing the first part of my inaugural comic series last night.
Life as a Hybrid Being Part 2
Part 3 of Life as a Hybrid Being.
Artwork done by my fictional Lifestylelina Entertainment Pte Ltd company after launching my inaugural comic series. This is based on real life experience at my Hybrid events and production training programme bringing you some live entertainment.
As an INFP, I derive good dose of artistic fulfillment making comics out of everyday mundane training situations. A good way to destress during this tough mentally challenging season of life.
