So, how did my journey start?
It was about one year ago when the serious thought of changing career crossed my mind. After
a relatively exciting and rewarding 11+ years in the Fleet and sailing all over the world, I was getting restless after one year into my deskbound job in headquarters. The thought of a 'forced' career change in another 8 years, at a relatively difficult age of 45 , to probably the civil service or a defence company did not appeal at all to me and finally prompted me to resign in early 2008. I wanted new challenges, do something different, have new experience. I left the Republic of Singapore Navy on 1 Sep 2008.What to do next after leaving the Navy was not quite clear at that point. What I do know is that I want to run a business. I want to be an entrepreneur. Creativity and innovation (and rebellious) were in my blood - major reasons for wanting to seek a new experience. Therefore, a major gap I needed to plug was knowledge about running a business, and to build a completely new professional network. So I decided to go to business school, where I am now at London Business School undertaking the Sloan Fellowship Programme.
While applying to the Sloan programme, I had to answer an essay question on my career plans after graduation. I wrote about eventually running a business, but I also had to think hard about a business that I will be passionate in. Coincidentally at that time, Al Gore and the IPCC had just been awarded the Nobel Prize and after reading about their work, I got interested in
climate change. Watching and reading Gore's work, "The Inconvenient Truth", got me angry ... and worried - I was worried not for myself, but for world that my two young children will potentially live in. But there is hope that if we start taking the right actions now, global warming can be reversed. So, with engineering training in my blood, I wrote passionately about wanting to work in renewable energy in my essay.Attending the Sloan programme has turned out to be a life-changing experience. The array of networking events and company presentations threw me into a confusing matrix of career options and considerations during my first term. Then, Lehman Brothers collapsed 5 months ago and the global recession started - which turned out to be a good thing for me personally. As the job market turned increasingly tough, I had to be more focused. After some reflections during the Christmas break, I was no longer confused and made a firm decision to pursue a career in clean technology and sustainable development.
The first few months at LBS has signficantly expanded my knowledge horizon about sustainable
development, beyond renewable energy. My international business project on 'Water Sustainability' has exposed me to the challenges of providing clean water in both developed and developing countries in the future - climate change partly has to do with this but the way we consume, pollute and mismanage water supply is also a major factor. I learned about sustainable building design and construction from the Responsible Business and Energy Clubs events and networks. I also started learning about the entire array of clean technology, but has focused on solar technology, energy efficiency and green buidling, which I believed have the greatest potential to either replace conventional fossil fuel or abate carbon in the atmosphere.I have taken small steps to start my new career. On 15 Jan 09, I passed
the US Green Building Council's LEED AP exam and have since joined several global networks of sustainable building professionals. And just this week, I have just agreed to undertake a research project for Solar-Aid, a non-profit organisation with several microsolar and macrosolar projects in Africa and South America.And so, my exciting journey...from blue (navy) to green...has just started.
