The concept of “There is no second chance in life” appears to be quite deeply rooted in society. It is manifested in various ways. One of them was that if you as a young student went to one of Singapore’s Institutes Of Technical Education (ITE) then you’re done for. “It’s the end!” as some people would say. Who says so? Singapore’s ITEs have great campuses, facilities, curricula, you name it. The only thing that will hold an ITE student back is himself or herself, and the main challenge is to rise above the toxic student culture. There are already many examples of ITE students who have gone ahead and made waves for themselves in life. Yet we see instances of people belittling those with an ITE background, regardless of whether they are currently successful or not.

This is one of the lows of human nature and us leaders need to recognize it and deal with it effectively. We need to recognize and reward current excellent performance, not former scintillating pedigree. We need to put our money where our mouth is by meaning what we say when we say “Current Estimated Potential”. CEP is too often not really CEP as such, but rather “Certified Esteemed Pedigree”. We need to treat CEP as “Character Expression Potential” and look for consistent, current, maturity and growth. We need to understand that the phrase “Past performance is no indicator of future performance” is too often used as an inanity. It means nothing if we do not bother to track past performance and assess whether or not there have been changes in the subject’s life that might alter the subject’s current course. That altered course could very well take a turn for the better, or it could take a turn for the worse. This takes time and effort, and we as leaders must invest in that if we truly want to develop our people.

So, would you like to have a second chance? Do you believe in giving others a second chance? Do you understand that as long as you take steps to become better, there is always a second chance? Let us know your thoughts!