Singapore Poly visit to Silicon Valley
I have been looking forward to the visit from Singapore Polytechnic. There were 41 of them, business students. I knew the main purpose of the trip was mainly for fun. And we were given the opportunity to share our experiences in Silicon Valley with these young, funky and extremely cheeky students.
“Why are you here today?” They were asked as they gave a round of introduction.
“I came here for Disneyland and Universal Studios”
“I came here to shop”
“I came here to experience the US culture.”
Honesty. The value that I respect most.
Shiyun, Brian and Mohan shared with them their internship experience, why they chose NOC, and how they perceived Silicon Valley. The presentations were peppered with words of advice as the students listened intently.
“In Silicon Valley you have a tremendous amount of freedom. With that freedom came responsibility. Step out of your comfort zone, you’d learn so much more.” – Shiyun
“The unique differentiator of my company, New Deal Design, is teamwork. We all share information openly and we value team spirit a lot. Let us all find ways to collaborate between different organizations and build something great in Singapore!” – Brian
Mohan shared his rationale behind coming to Silicon Valley and had a wonderful connection with the students by sharing stories of his young and recalcitrant days, and how the same spirit of being different helped shape him into who he is today, and brought him here to Silicon Valley.
These students, having no prior knowledge whatsoever of what Silicon Valley was, were truly confounded by the existence of such a program. As we broke off into groups, they showed deep interest in the program and asked very discerning comments like “Silicon Valley seems to be all good. But there must be some flaws in the system, right?”
It was a question I was unable to answer. (Anyone like to share what they think about this question?)
Before we broke off into groups, I shared with these young\nminds what I thought about students from Polytechnics.
I’ve always respected students from Polytechnics. These people are put into an environment where they are trained to think out of the box, solve difficult problems and have a good understanding of the changing\nworld. Whenever I meet a person from Polytechnic, I see creativity and passion. These people need opportunities and support, and I have great faith that the institutions are doing a great job in providing them. In fact, Singapore Polytechnic is introducing an entrepreneurship program to promote entrepreneurship within the institution.
And what I truly truly wanted to share was this.
My friends, if you are reading this now, I wanted to tell you that
1) Know your strengths, and seek ways to collaborate with people who are different from you.
2) Do not be a prisoner to the expectations of society and do something you dislike. Know where you passion lies, and pursue that passion with all your heart.
3) If you have the slightest flame in you to create something, or to start company, try to find your way to Silicon Valley. Because this place will unleash your potential, build your character, and you will find people who will help you along the way.
4) Always look for people to plant virtuous seeds, seeds of courage and righteousness. Skills are easy to learn. Your character and principles take a lifetime to build, they’d take you far.
5) Entrepreneurship will be taking off in Singapore. It needs the help and support of every layer of society. It needs a paradigm shift. One by one, slowly and steadily, we can build a society that promotes risk taking, accepts failure, cultivates trust and inculcate the spirit of helping one another. Join us in our journey to promote entrepreneurship.
6) Stay true to who you are, as you did, you guys rocked my world last night! (Towards the end I was truly feeling much better from my flu and younger just by hanging around you)
7) Stay in touch and take care!
September 29th, 2006 at 6:58 am
Get them interested in E27!