Singapore

I was born in Singapore. I grew up in Sweden. At eighteen I moved back and joined the army three weeks later. Every other Singaporean my age had been prepared for this since childhood. Not me.

Three of thirty-four cadets made platoon sergeant. I was one of them. Over a hundred soldiers under my rank, in a Red Alert Force, a unit called up first if Singapore ever goes to war.

I was a Swedish kid commanding older Singaporean soldiers in a culture I was still learning. After one exercise, a friend turned to me and said, "Eugene, you suck as a leader, man." He was right.

I had been suppressing my Swedish side to fit into the system, and it was making me weaker. So I stopped. I went to the bunks between trainings. I trusted my soldiers on the ground more than they trusted themselves. I made punishment the exception, not the default. Transformational leadership is the textbook name for it. I just call it how you actually earn a room.

We became one of the strongest platoons in the battalion. The CO wrote me a letter of recognition. My soldiers kept calling me by my rank on weekends, which was a sign of respect. That's how I knew the effort paid off.

That is still how I lead teams today.

In the summer of 2022 I came back to Singapore to intern at AIA Financial Advisers, inside Advisors Alliance Group.

The founder, Tan Koon Chuan, built the company from thirty people to eight hundred. He is at retirement age and still shows up every day.

One afternoon he walked into the Sunset Lounge where I was working, sat down, and asked what I knew about Bitcoin. Twenty minutes in, he pulled a physical gold Bitcoin out of his jacket and said, "I built this company because I knew I could only build something great if I leverage on what other people know."

That is still how I build teams.

"You don't hire a smart person and start telling him what to do."

Singapore is my homebase. A comfort after travels.

Lee Kuan Yew is the operator I study most. A country with no natural resources, punching way above its weight class. The more I look at how it is run, the more I learn.

Singapore is where I rediscover my Chinese roots, spend more time with family, and build from stable ground.

I am proud to be Singaporean.