This book is a memoir of Liew Mun Leongs five-decades-longcareer in the public and private sectors. It describes the major events andturning points in his long and varied career and offers useful management andleadership lessons earned through his experiences in various professional,management and leadership roles. Liew Mun Leong has been a civil engineer, thehead of statutory boards, a contractor, a real estate investor and developer,an airport builder/operator and an urban and infrastructure consultant.

Beginning with his civil service career in the Ministry of Defence, buildingmilitary barracks, and eventually detailing how he led businesses in a widespectrum of industries, Barracks to Boardroom highlights the different dynamicsin corporate culture, environments and bottom line motivation in both thecivil service and the commercial world.

In crossing over from an insider in the public sector to an outsider in theprivate sector, Liew Mun Leong sees clearly the need for a shift of mindsets tobridge the two distinct operating systems and cultures.

He describes how he has often courageously broken ground but not rules to getthings done. The civil service ingrained in him integrity, discipline and goodgovernance while his commercial exposure enriched his entrepreneurship andbroadened his global perspectives.

The book covers various periods of his career, including:
Working for Mindef
Launching his engineering career at Paya Lebar Airport
Working on Changi Airport
Going from engineering to corporate leadership at SISIR
Going through a baptism of fire in the private sector
Entering real estate
Founding CapitaLand and venturing overseas
The Surbana Jurong story
Corporatising Changi Airport

His insights on management and leadership make this book an interesting readfor future young leaders on both sides of the aisle.

About the Author

For more than 30 years, from the late 1980s,LiewMun Leonghas held top leadership roles and responsibilities in a widerange of industries. He has been the CEO of the Singapore Institute ofStandards and Industrial Research (SISIR) and also led the National Science andTechnology Board, L&M Group and Pidemco Land. He was the Founding GroupPresident and CEO of CapitaLand.

Liew Mun Leong also chaired Changi Airport Group, Surbana Jurong Pte Ltd, theCivil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Temasek Foundation Nurtures. He hasbeen the Registrar of the Professional Engineers Board Singapore and theelected President of the International Organisation for Standardization from1997 to 1998.

He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the President of Singapore in2011. He is the author of five other books, titled Building People: SundayEmails from a CEO/Chairman volume I, II, III, IV, V.