End of the Lee and Lee saga

Ms Lee has apologised publicly on Friday - so marks the end of the ping pong saga. Or did this mark the start of something new?

It was interesting to read today's article and how three other MPs (Dr Bala and two Teos) came in to assuage the public.

It reminded me of a story of the clam and the stork (or was it a mussel and a crane?). Anyway whatever species these two animals were from, the story went that the clam was happily sunbathing, soaking in the sunlight when a stork swopped in and grabbed hold of the clam's flesh to have a delicious snack. Instinctively, the clam clamped shut and as a result, started suffocating the stork.

The clam would not release its grip on the stork as it would mean its end; Likewise, the stork would not release the clam as it would be suffocated to death. So the hours dragged on and eventually a passing fisherman spotted the two exhausted animals, took them home and made a nice meal out of them.

Fishing, anyone?

A ping-pong story of Lee and Lee

Timing is everything, so a popular adage goes.

With Ms Lee's (now famous for her "unpopular and insensitive" sacking of Singapore's table tennis coach, Mr Lee.

Through this episode, what lessons in timing can we learn in terms of management? If your sales team had exceeded expectations for this year's target, would you dismiss the sales manager even if you'd decided on his "fate" before the results were announced?

Would you continue to implement what has been "decided beforehand" or is a re-evaluation necessary? If you did a reversal, what would be the potential impact of your reputation of being a decisive and determined leader? How do you decide? What are your priorities and criterion for decisions?

There was also another article on today's paper about pregnant mums on timing as well - on how to determine the right timing to inform employers of their pregnancy.

Perhaps the best time would be 3 months and 1 day, when the mandatory legal protection of pregnant moms kicks in?