Daily Lessons from Life 16-18 January 2018 - SMRT in the news??

Was in Beijing since 16/1 night n now catching up on comments on news worthy news!!

"SMRT'schief spokesman quits; more management changes on the cards

SINGAPORE - SMRT's vice-president of corporate communications Patrick Nathan has resigned from the rail operator.

The Straits Times understands Mr Nathan, 56, is now serving out his notice, but has not told his team when his last day is and who will replace him.

In what is seen as a start of management changes at a company besieged with massive breakdowns, serious safety breaches and questionable work culture, Mr Nathan's resignation came amid other appointments in SMRT.

The former national security specialist joined SMRT in 2011 to head its security and emergency planning department following a vandalism case at its Bishan depot.

Two years later, he was picked to become SMRT chief spokesman after Ms Kalai Natarajan, a public relations veteran, quit the post suddenly after five months in the job.

The public's call for change at SMRT has become louder since the latest spate of incidents, which included a tunnel flooding that was traced to wilful negligence of maintenance.

Observers are expecting chief executive Desmond Kuek to step down as well."

At least this news has nothing to do with breakdowns of services!

While one want to be objective n not judged if a national security specialist can be good at Corp communication, the results showed not so good trend. So, it seems Mr Nathan has been asked to do a task that he is out of depth! Maybe his bosses disagree n believe he is doing well in communicating the Corp messages!!??

If so, it may indicate, again, poor mgt judgement n assignment of roles n responsibilities by senior leaders!!

Anyway, the current Group CEO can probably pack his bag n get ready for a promotion to another Temasek companies g8ven his past appointment as Chief of Defense Force!! Or maybe Temasek has learned to be more responsible to use taxpayer's money in hiring "best in class" mgt besides just taking care of ex-early retired armed forces type??

Majulah SMRT under the new leadership!!