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Quotas are an imperfect, but important first step because the change starts with the people we are surrounded with. However, without serious commitment and proper oversight, unconscious biases can easily break down any real effort at improving diversity within a company. The change will be an uncomfortable, even painful process, until you get used to it. That is because our unconscious biases affect more than our recruiting decisions, they affect our entire world view.

Diversity isn’t about winning. It’s about win-win.

It is a lesson that Singapore learnt over 50 years ago. Creating a unified Singapore was not about blending the black and white it into a single, homogenous grey. It was about respecting each group’s cultural identity, each culture’s approach to life. It was about seeing those differences as a heterogenous whole and maintaining balance.

What’s your unconscious bias?

Automation will allow us to do certain things much faster than before. What we need to work out is how we can do things better than we used to. We need to be smart with the data and challenge our assumptions to create better situations. Just as new technologies allow buildings to move beyond stone and steel and become living, breathing systems, these same technologies, if used creatively, can allow us to make the hiring process much more organic, personal and effective.

If you’ve ever endured the withering gazes of your colleagues while you punched out of the office promptly at 5 while the rest of them had to stay on to work late, then you know how much pressure a workplace culture can have on an individual.

In a culture where hard work is prized as a virtue this pressure can force workers to stay in the office much longer than they would like to, or need to despite their legal rights to do so. But there is more to this than simple social niceties. Failure to work equally long hours can be assessed as a mark of un-productivity despite actual results stating otherwise. It’s simply human nature. If an employee is not present at their desk, then it’s hard to think that they’re working.

By AJ Anderson In 2014, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that hosting duties for the Olympics could be shared between two countries. This led Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar—Prince Imran, as he is known in the West and president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia—to float the idea of a joint-bid by Singapore and Malaysia for the 2028 or 2032 […]

By Gemma Keogh-Peters Nothing happens in Singapore without a plan. At least that’s how things would appear. Planned growth began in the 1800’s when Sir Stamford Raffles first created the Raffles Town Plan intended to ensure that the physical growth of the city followed an orderly pattern. And if, like for most foreigners, your first view of the jewel of […]

I was delighted to be asked to lead a discussion co-sponsored by ULI as part of ANREV’s inaugural ‘Women in Property’ luncheon, held in Singapore this week. Joined by Alex Crossing from CBRE Investment Partners, a fellow champion of women in business, this was a fantastic launch pad and a great opportunity to reach out to the very talented women in real estate […]