SMRT's new boss: 'My past military leadership experience will find its way to my new role'

CEO Demond Kuek highlights 4 key thrusts to chart SMRT a new start.

Name: Kuek Bak Chye Desmond
Company: SMRT
Job Title: Chief Executive Officer and President

SBR: What makes you excited about your new position?

This is an exciting time to be leading SMRT because of our challenges and the opportunities before us.
It will be an honour to work with the team of dedicated professionals in SMRT, who are committed to building a safe, efficient and reliable public transport service for Singapore. The company has an inspiring vision of "moving people, enhancing lives", which resonates with me and all our employees.

SBR: What three goals are you focused on?

My immediate priority is to strengthen our engineering, maintenance and operational capabilities so that readiness and reliability standards can be improved. We will also be looking at building the work processes and staff culture, for a stronger customer-centric focus that can make commuters’ experiences positive even during peak hour travels. There are also important people competencies to be addressed, in order to gear up for higher organisational capacity, business growth and public expectations.

SBR: What will you do differently in this position?

Beyond bottom lines, I am placing strong focus on people and culture issues. If we can engage our people well and build the right work culture, we will more surely achieve and sustain all other goals of higher performance standards, public confidence and stakeholder satisfaction.

SBR: What changes are you planning for?

The fundamentals and outlook in the company are strong, but we are currently studying our business model. Going forward, we will be initiating a campaign based on 4 key thrusts: Service, Unity, Responsibility, Excellence (SURE) because these are qualities vital to our success.

SMRT is fundamentally about Service - whether in transport, retail, media or commuter engagement.
Unity of purpose and effort are important teamwork qualities that help us collaborate across functional and organisational boundaries, to see beyond the self to a larger collective interest. Responsibility – to our mission, values and people - is critical to high performance and organisational well-being. And a mindset of striving for Excellence is what we need to embrace, in order to propel ourselves from good to great. These attributes will be key to building and sustaining growth and success in the company.

SBR: What are your key business philosophies?
Leadership is key. One should never let rank and title get in the way of effective leadership, and, at every level, it is about engaging leaders and managers across the organisation to take charge, walk the talk and own the outcome.

SBR: What previous positions prepared you for this one and how?
Everything that I have gained from my past leadership experience as Chief of the Singapore Armed Forces and Permanent Secretary of a Government Ministry will find its place and value in my new role as CEO in SMRT.

SBR: What should commuters expect?
SMRT has had a difficult year since the train disruptions in Dec 2011. There were many assumptions challenged, lessons learnt and improvements made. With the benefit of this experience, we are charting a fresh, new way forward for sustained service delivery and business growth into the future. We are not just in the business of transporting people to their destinations, we also believe in enhancing the quality of their lives through their experience with us.