CROSSROADSRotary Club of Singapore Vol. 48 / 38

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23rd

Apr

il 20

12

“How to design innovative solutions?”SPEAKER: Ms. So-Young Kang, Catalyst, Founder & CEO of Awaken Group

Lunch meeting of the 18th April 2012

Find your bulletin on the Facebook page of “Rotary Club of Singapore”

Joke of the week !“Opportunist : a person who starts to take a bath if he falls into a river.” From the book of Humour compiled by Rewa MirpuriHAVE MANY LAUGHS AND HELP THE NEEDYhttp://www.rotary.org.sg/bookofhumour.html

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Introductory remarks

President Tapan Rao opened the meeting with a warm welcome to the Club’s Honorary Member, His Excellency (HE), Mr. Syed Hasan Javed, High Commissioner of Pakistan and to the Deputy High Commissioner, Madam Farhat Ayesha and Madam Samina Waqar, who is the Commission’s Press Counsellor. President Tapan also welcomed the Speaker, Ms. So-Young Kang who is Catalyst, Founder and CEO of Awaken Group.

Toast

As there were no overseas visiting Rotarians and in honour of the presence of High Commissioner HE Mr. Syed Hasan Javed, Toastmaster, Rtn. Dr. Ekkehard Wiek, called on members to join him in raising a toast to the Rotary Clubs in Pakistan coupled with the toast to Rotary International.

Happy Birthday !

President Tapan invited birthday celebrants who were present at the meeting - Sergeant-at-Arms, Rtn. Robert Craiu and Rtn. Dr. Kevin Chua to cut the birthday cake.

Welcome of visiting Rotarians and guests

Rtn. Ronald Wong welcomed our guests and visiting Rotarians

- Guests :Madam Farhat AyeshaMadam Samina WaqarMs. So-Young KangMr. Neo Hwee Yew

Visiting Rotarians :Hon. Member HE Mr. Syed Hasan JavedFrederic Gauthier – Marina City

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Speaker of the week

Rtn. Uttam Kripalani was pleased to introduce the guest speaker, Ms. So-Young Kang, whom he had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago at the debate cum panel discussion. He added that whilst the panel session was initially dominated by men, this changed when the attractive Ms. Kang spoke and then, she completely over-shadowed the men! Ms. Kang has been leading cultural transformations, coaching, training and maximizing performances of organisations for nearly 15 years, starting from her experience as a change agent at Citibank to her most recent experiences at McKinsey where she was a global expert in designing and implementing value-based performance management systems through cultural transformation, coaching and Experience Design.Ms. Kang gave a brief outline her company’s creative collaboration with the architecture firm of Ong & Ong, and introduced the concept of “design thinking” - the ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs, drive business success and make a difference. She explained how this process of design thinking could be used to resolve issues

and provide innovative solutions by designing great experiences encompassing the environment, communications and processes grounded in values pointed towards vision that serve users’ needs. Ms. Kang shared two examples of these processes for an overseas client as well as a local client, HDB, in their redesign of a new branch office. The Club’s vote of thanks to Ms. Kang was extended by Rtn. Laveen Daryani, who agreed with her comments on design experience, citing his reasons for purchasing his “Angry Bird” cup!

VisitRtn. Joseph reminded members of the visit to the Heritage Kampung at the Bottle Tree Park, Yishun on Sunday, April 22nd at 11.30am, followed by lunch at 12.30pm.

ADDRESS BY THE HIGH COMMISSIONER

President Tapan invited HE Mr. Syed Hasan Javed to address the Club. HE Mr. Syed was pleased to see the wonderful work being done by Rotary Clubs in making the world a better place through better understanding between peoples, different sections of populations, groups of cultural diversity and to accept such people from diverse backgrounds and thought processes to achieve the objectives of Rotary. He added that becoming a Rotary member gave him great satisfaction and he was ready to contribute to be part of the Rotary family, to do his bit to achieve Rotary’s objectives in Singapore as well as at the international level. HE Mr. Syed stated that he moved from one country to another, such was the duty of diplomatic service and to act as a bridge and to celebrate the differences and cultural diversity. He added that Singapore offered many such lessons particularly to the Pacific Asia region, and he felt a double happiness to be in Singapore and a member of the Club. HE Mr. Syed presented to President Tapan a gift of Pakistan’s highest grade of basmati rice.President Tapan warmly thanked HE Mr. Syed for the gift and reciprocated with a Rotary pin and a Club banner. He added that together with the Pakistan Association, the Club planned to provide MIR equipment to a hospital in Pakistan and upon completion of this project, would call upon HE Mr. Syed to facilitate a visit.

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MAJOR PROJECT FOR 2011/2012:

Major Project Chairman, Rtn. Joseph Chia informed members of the good work undertaken by Boys’ Town. He stated the example that the current Executive Director, Mr. Roland Yeow was once himself, a boy from Boys’ Town, which highlighted the benefits of this organization. He added that the buildings were old and about S$5 million was needed to renovate and refurbish the premises. Rtn. Joseph informed members that the family of our member, the late PP Leow Jwee Meng, donated a library to Boys’ Town. He added that for a donation of $100,000, the Club would be given the naming rights for the new Boys' Town Gym. Rtn. Joseph advised that there were two partners who agreed to join the Club in our Major Project this year. One was the Patrick Hernon Fund which was started with a $20,000 donation by Mrs Rosaline Hernon, wife of the late Rtn Patrick Hernon. Rtn. Joseph added that that Fund now stood at about $27,500 and that Mrs. Hernon, whom he met recently, had confirmed that the funds could be donated to Boys’ Town.

He further added that through the assistance of Rtn. Dr. Mark Eger, the other partner was Alliance Reinsurance Asia Pacific, has pledged to donate $20,000 towards the Major Project.Rtn. Joseph stated that contribution towards the Major Project was the obligation of every Rotarian, and was the Club’s our face in Singapore’s society. He called on members to donate generously towards the Major Project.

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The Guide to Daily LivingBefore doing the things we want to do, consider first, the precept of the guide. Ask ourselves these 4 questions and act upon them:First: Have I spent some time in self-examination?Second: Have I spent quality time with my family?Third: Have I given my best to my work?Fourth: Have I given some time to someone near and far?The Guide, in fact, encompasses the 4 parts of the Object of Rotary.

MARK YOUR DIARYBirthday celebrantsRC wishes Happy Birthday to celebrants this week:April 24 – Dinesh SharmaApril 26 – PDG Dr. Robert LohApril 29 – David Ong

Anniversary CelebrantsRC sends best wishes to Wedding Anniversary celebrants this weekApril 25– Haider & Kalindi Nawaz

This weekApril 25th 2012

Reception Desk duty: Willi Hess, Perlita Tiro

Sunshine Box duty: Kavita Singh, Zahidi Abd Rahman

Speaker: Mr. Simon KahnCMO of Marketing, Asia Pacific, GoogleTopic: ‘Transition from traditional to digital marketing”

Next week May 2nd 2012

Reception Desk duty: PP Sajjad Akhtar, Dinesh Sharma

Sunshine Box duty: PP Philip Leong, David Tai

K S Mehta Award Presentation

COMING ROTARY EVENTS AprilMagazine Month

MayCommunity Service Month

May 6th – 9th Rotary International Convention in Bangkok

JuneRotary Fellowships Month

June 30th Installation Dinner

Queries, comments and articles request can be sent toJean-Philippe Lionnetbulletin@rotary.org.sg

The Four-Way TestOf the Things we think, say or do:* Is it the truth?* Is it fair to all concerned?* Will it build goodwill and better friendship?* Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Committee Meetings

There are no Committee Meetings for the month of April in view of the final Club Assembly held on April 12th 2012