Barracks to Boardroom: Climbing The Greasy Pole

This book is a memoir of Liew Mun Leong’s five-decades-long career in the public and private sectors. It describes the major events and turning points in his long and varied career and offers useful management and leadership lessons earned through his experiences in various professional, management and leadership roles. Liew Mun Leong has been a civil engineer, the head of statutory boards, a contractor, a real estate investor and developer, an airport builder/operator and an urban and infrastructure consultant.

Beginning with his civil service career in the Ministry of Defence, building military barracks, and eventually detailing how he led businesses in a wide spectrum of industries, Barracks to Boardroom highlights the different dynamics in corporate culture, environments and “bottom line” motivation in both the civil service and the commercial world.

In crossing over from an “insider” in the public sector to an “outsider” in the private sector, Liew Mun Leong sees clearly the need for a shift of mindsets to bridge the two distinct operating systems and cultures.

He describes how he has often courageously broken ground but not rules to get things done. The civil service ingrained in him integrity, discipline and good governance while his commercial exposure enriched his entrepreneurship and broadened his global perspectives.

The book covers various periods of his career, including:
• Working for Mindef
• Launching his engineering career at Paya Lebar Airport
• Working on Changi Airport
• Going from engineering to corporate leadership at SISIR
• Going through a baptism of fire in the private sector
• Entering real estate
• Founding CapitaLand and venturing overseas
• The Surbana Jurong story
• Corporatising Changi Airport

His insights on management and leadership make this book an interesting read for future young leaders on both sides of the aisle.