bosses, subordinates and peers. There is no
one fixed personality or style that creates an
absolute role model for me,” he says. “You
learn from examples and you learn from
things that have been great and things that
have not. For example, bad bosses. We have
all had a bad boss at some point in our
career, and I think I learn as much from
them as from the good ones. I learn what
not to do and come to understand why they
fail at being as great as my good boss.”
For Miguel, the idea is to become
like a sponge and retain certain qualities
from leaders you think you should keep.
“Absorb those things and reflect regularly.
I keep on changing myself over time,” he
muses. “I grew up in the American culture.
I lived there from age 16 until I was 30.
It was where I had a lot of my education
and my first few jobs. I learned their way
of doing business is far less hierarchical than
the Singapore culture, which is a lot more
“HSBC builds on the
longstanding relationship
with Ascendas–Singbridge
Group and is here to offer
support to our customers to
realise their ambition.” – Chow
Wan Thonh, Head of Global
Banking Singapore, HSBC
disciplined and the governance is very high.
So you can learn from all of that.”
The future plans for Ascendas-Singbridge
are to become bigger and better. “We need
to continue to grow in order to drive this
company,” Miguel asserts. “I would like the
company to become fully regionalised – if
not globalised – in the sense that we make
ourselves domestic companies in the markets
we operate in other than Singapore. I want
to see local CEOs in China, India, South
Korea and Australia. I’d like to see that
during my tenure. It’s an important target
we’ve set for ourselves.
“We’ll remain honest and truthful to
our roots and continue to play a part in
this infrastructure, urbanisation, and real
estate space going forward. We’ll grow the
company to become a well-developed,
competitive, real estate company in our key
markets, and we’ll seize new opportunities
along the way.”
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14 Kung Chong Road #08-01 Lum Chang Building Singapore 159150
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Interview | INSPIRE