LIFE2 Story: From Wall flower to Leader
“I had always felt that I was not good with words, and was even told to improve my fluency in speaking. I saw it as a defining weakness, compared to other high potential leaders who have the “charisma”. Through LIFE2 and mentorship from Huijin Kong and others, I found the courage not to see it as my weakness, not stop me from sharing my views and showing my leadership.”

Susan benefited significantly from the Management Communication course LinHart Group launched for NUS Business School, as part of her part-Time MBA. She learned about the importance of self-leadership and building trustworthy relationships, and diligently practiced speaking up more and being more influential. Her initial hard work paid off. She was picked to be part of a high potential leaders’ program in her company, an industrial multinational company.
Soon, though, she felt another bottleneck in her career. She had been promoted three times at her company, but her career advancement was slowing down. Susan found it hard to position herself for the bigger regional role due to her shyness, under-developed verbal leadership and her challenges balancing work and family as a mother of a young child. As much as she was “showing up more”, she knew it was inconsistent in quantity and quality.
Susan wanted more. She felt deep in herself that there were better things she could do and more she could achieve personally and professionally. But the possibilities and steps to move forward was far from clear. She needed more help to accelerate herself. That was when a Susan lunged at the opportunity to attend LinHart’s LIFE2 program.
Susan has taken advantage of every opportunity to develop herself, and accelerate her career. She has made up for lost time with a vengeance. The thirst with which she sought out mentors and and help others is unparalleled even among LinHart’s community of faculty and facilitators. Her reward is not only personal satisfaction, but also far great capacity to share from the heart and mind at all times. The wall flower has taken center stage.
How LIFE2 helped Susan
1. From Reacting to Life to Steering her life
Susan first worked on her personal vision, and made it clear to herself what she wanted to achieve as an individual: in her work, family and causes she cared about.
Before LIFE2, she did not have a proper appreciation of the importance of an inner personal vision. Susan was busy with all her day-to-day responsibilities, and lacked a longer term vision with which she could steer her life in the direction she most wanted.
Though the vision wasn’t so crystal clear at her LIFE2, the implications were: she finds meaningful both her work sales on the business side, but in a bigger regional role, and helping those with special needs on the corporate social responsibility side. The latter she acted in immediately, volunteering to lead a CSR initiative.
2. From feeling stuck to Seeing New possibilities
Before LIFE2, Susan was extremely focused and attached to her then company. She struggled to see how she could move, and lacked the confidence another company would see more in her. Susan needed external feedback and inputs on the many other plausible paths that she could take. At LIFE2, Susan was among a small group of participants who opened up deeply about their challenges and present contexts. Together they reflected, gave each other feedback and mapped out their strengths and gaps, passions and where to go next. This helped Susan realize that moving to another industry and/or company was not such an insurmountable challenge.
Susan remembers the group experience in LIFE2 fondly. “LIFE2 provides this safe environment of high challenge and high support among like-minded peers and advisors. It is a place of quietness for people to step away from their busy routine. It is a sanctuary where people with the same objectives come together, without judgement and incentives, to bring clarity to things that one is not able to see for themselves.”
3. From Staying in Safe Harbour to Departing for open seas
With a clear inner vision that anchored her and courage to try on other paths, Susan was ready for the open seas. After LIFE2, she moved to an adjacent industry with a new organisation. This step involved great risk and uncertainty but she aced it – quickly filling in her learning gaps, and build new relationships and networks.
Susan attributes making this bold move to how LIFE2 has empowered her. LIFE2 showed her how she could either stay and wait for things to turn out better, or take control of her situation and seize other opportunities. LIFE2 has taught her to own her voice and her journey. Equally importantly, it equipped her to repot successfully to a new environment.
This really paid off when she moved to the new company, where she assumed a bigger regional role. “I had to gain traction fast and count on new relationships for support. I did this by communicating that I’m new and willing to learn. I had to take a chance with everyone. For people to trust me and show me the ropes, I had to first open up and reach out. When I went for my first on-boarding training session, I showed my passion to drive ideas differently and left a great impression on seniors. It does not matter if you’re 100% spot on, or new. It is most important to show the essential qualities of being a fast learner and drive results.”
Susan is now leading her teams positively and focusing on their development by sharing what she has learnt. We congratulate her imminent move to an executive role.
Susan’s advice for MBA alumni and other early executives
Leadership from the inside – sorting out yourself, internalizing, owning your journey, taking action on feedback – is essential for others to follow you as a leader.
Leadership is about giving clarity to yourself and others, and having the courage to chart new and better directions. Change and transition are difficult and the outcome uncertain – but we need to make that call and let go. No experience or relationship is wasted or gone, even in a new industry, because you are what makes the difference.
I encourage everyone to look for this clarity within yourself first, especially if you feel under appreciated or dissatisfied. Though nothing guarantees you will get the answers, the journey guarantee that you will open yourself up to new and difficult possibilities, with contradictory and different perspectives. Make sure you get strong feedback and support from people who have no vested interest and biases and only care about you as a person.