A good read..
Excerpts from
No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS)
Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millenium
by Sim Wong Hoo


Introduction
Whats is NUTS? NUTS is when you want to do something and you seek
approval
of a higher authority. When there is no rule saying that you can do
such a
thing, then the standard answer is NO...
In the US, when there is no sign on the road, it means that you can
make a
U-turn. When the authority do not want people to make U-turns, they
will
put up signs to tell you not to make U-turns.
In Singapore, it is the reverse. When there is no sign on the road,
you are
not allowed to make U-turns. When the authority allow you to make
U-turns,
then they will put up signs to give you that right.
The two different systems serve the same purpose - to better manage
the
traffic. They may look quite similar, just coming from different
direction,
but the social repercussion is significant.
In Singapore, the no U-turn without sign culture has permeated every
level
of our thinking and every segment of our life. This no U-turn
hascreated
a way of life that is based on rules. When there is a U-turn sign or
when
there is a rule, we can U-turn. When there is no sign, we cannot
U-turn.


When there is no rule, we cannot do anything. We become paralyzed.
I call this "no-rule=no-do" phenomenon - the "No U-Turn Syndrome" or
NUTS.
Singapore has prospered under a rule-based system for many years. When
we
were at a lower level of development, we needed many multi-national
companies to come to Singapore to invest. What these MNCs needed were
a
very reliable group of managers and workers who could follow exactly
the
rules set by corporate headquarters overseas. Since they did not want
their
overseas subsidiaries to innovate anything, they wanted us to stick
closely
to the rules, no funny deals, no crazy ideas. They were here to teach
us,
not to listen to ideas from us.
The efficiency and no-nonsense style of the Singapore government is
well-known. It has brought us prosperity and a good life. A rule-based
system is essential here too to get everybody to toe the line.
But the world has changed. And it is changing faster and faster. So
fast
that the rules that were set yesterday are no longer valid and cannot
serve
our new needs. It is not a matter of setting new rules to meet the new
situation because by the time new rules are formulated, they would
already
be out ofdate. It is a matter of how to survive and prosper in
environments where they are no rules.It is a matter of how to live
with
ambiguity. Things are no more black or white, things are in shades of
gray.
How do we deal with them?
What is NUTS?
NUTS is when you want to do something and you seek the approval of a
higher
authority. When there is no rule saying that you can do such a thing,
then
the standard answer is NO.
What is wrong with this? There is nothing wrong if we choose to be
stuck in
the old world of our own where nothing changes.
To meet the challenge of the new world, to meet the challenge of
rising to
a knowledge-based economy, we have to innovate like mad. How can we
innovate when we need to obey rules to innovate? Innovate means to
create
things out of nothing, it means moving into uncharted territories
where
there are no rules.
How can you innovate when you have to get approval of somebody who
looks at
a rule-book first?
Such is the syndrome of NUTS. NUTS is everywhere in the society
including
schools, offices, hospitals, parks, factories and even in our homes.
Yes,
in Creative (Singapore) too. Here are some hilarious examples, they
make
you want to laugh and cry at the same time. I am sure you can tell me
more.


NUTS #2-"Creative Resource"-needed approval? When our corporate
headquarters were completed in 1997, we needed to give it a name. The
placeholder name was Creative Technology Centre. Made sense, but it
was a
boring name that everybody had. I wanted a special name, because we
are
"creative". So the usual names like, "Creative Building, Plaza,
Complex,
House..." were suggested on the name list. I rejected all of them.
Finally
we came out with a very good name, "Creative Resource" - the source of
all
creativity - and everybody loved it.
But wait, before we could go ahead, we had to submit the building name
for
approval. What! I was shocked. I needed somebody else"s approval for
the
name of my own building. By some faceless committee that I did not
even
know existed. Imagine having the name of your baby being approved by
somebody you do not know.
Hey, that is the regulation. OK, we submitted and no prize for
guessing the
right answer. The answer was NO. The reason given was that the name
was not
"Centre, Plaza, Building, Complex, House etc..." There was actually a
list
of approved names in the rulebook and we were only given the
impression
that we could name our own building.
I nearly jumped through the roof when I heard the answer. It was a
very
typical case of NUTS. "Resource" was not in their rule book, hence the
standard answer was NO. I was not going to give up on this right. So
we
fought back and wrote letters to appeal. Finally,after a long
process,our
name was approved. Whew!


NUTS #3 - Cannot sing Singapore songs!!
While we were preparing for the opening ceremony of Creative Resource,
we
wanted to have a lot of creative fun. We prepared a lot of
performances by
our own staff. We were very fortunate to have invited the Prime
Minister,
Mr Goh Chok Tong to grace the event. We wanted to show him the best
creativity in us.
The opening fanfare idea was to have a big group of kids running into
the
building, singing a medley of Patriotic Singapore Songs. It was going
to be
very delightful. After the songs were arranged and recorded, at the
last
moment, someone in the team decided that we actually needed to seek
approval from the authority because of copyright issues. The answer
came
back was of course a NO.


There was no rule to say that you could do a medley of Singapore
songs.
There was a rule that said we could sing the Singapore song in special
celebratory occasions like ours, so this was allowed.
Our people started to panic, because there was no time to change the
recordings. They sought my advice. They were thinking of canceling
this
delightful fanfare and disappointing the kids, from our Creative O
child-care centre, who had practiced so hard for this event.
I asked them why they had thought of seeking approval for a private
function especially when the answer could be a No. they were afraid
that
the TV stations were there filming and it might have constituted a
copyright infringement!
There were a few NUTS at work here. First it is my own staff who were
NUTS,
they were toeing the line so tightly that they felt the need to seek
approval for a private function that was not controversial at all. I
was
sure that the PM would give his 100% endorsement. Then we had the NUTS
at
the approval side who looked at the rule book and said No.
I asked them to go ahead and just do it, even violating the rejection
letter. Some of my NUTS staff must have freaked out. I told them I
would
bear the full responsibility. If I had to pay a $2000 fine, I would
pay it.
In the worst, worst case I might go to jail for it - that would be
interesting too.
In fact, the PM in his impromptu part of his speech also said, to move
forward, we would have to "just do it". It was a timely message.