Hard Truths - Lee Kuan Yew

This was a very fascinating book to read. And it was surprisingly also easy to digest. Lee Kuan Yew (or the scribes) had this ability to distil complex ideas into bite-sized concepts that are easy to comprehend.

I will divide my learning points into three parts: policy/political, personal development and relationship.

From the policy and political angle, I think LKY had very perceptive and accurate understanding of the world (as proven by history and our progress). A key theme that appeared many times in the book is the dearth of talent in a small country like Singapore, and the key role it plays in a nation's development. This even include the running of large companies - hence the limit to which Singapore can privatise our linked enterprises. This was a theme that fundamentally changed the way I look at many of the policies that are in place today, and it also affected the way I perceive talents - I think the ones that LKY is looking at to make a significant difference to Singapore is pegged at a very very high level. Not sure how many of the people I know today will pass LKY's muster, even though I think many of them are already very smart and capable. [Not covering other policy/political learning pts here as there are too many to cite. Other ones that struck me deeply were ones about nation-building, LKY's views about other countries and the changing landscape in Singapore politics.]

From the personal development angle, he highlighted several qualities that determined talents (whether in government or private sector): IQ, EQ, leadership, stamina, determination, resourcefulness, energy, drive, ability to interact with people, to get people to work in a team, etc. This set of qualities corroborate strongly with the qualities that I've observed in some of the leaders that I've come across. Stamina and energy are very key traits that allow people to work much harder than everyone else and scale higher peaks. To LKY, nurture plays a relatively less role in life - it's all in the genes. (That runs a little contrarian to my beliefs that hard work can surmount everything.) Other things that I picked up: he jogs regularly, 20 min each time. And he also meditate frequently too, after having been taught by a Buddhist Dr. He is so intensely focused that he almost doesn't read anything that contributes to his work (like Sherlock Holmes) and he hardly watches film. He respects De Gaulle, Deng Xiaoping and Churchill. Perhaps I should spend some time reading their biographies. He appears to be agnostic and doesn't think too much about the afterlife.

Relationship-wise, I like what he said about an Indian Minister who was matched-make and saying that he learnt to love his wife, while in America, people start out loving and learnt to unlove each other. I think sometimes putting the commitment first (and setting the constraints) can beget more love in a relationship than one where an individual merely watches the love ebb and flow passively, and decides where to peg his/her commitment. It is also very clear that LKY loved his wife deeply - it was very touching reading about their relationship, and I can only hope to be able to have a similar love story in the future.