Having worked in some sixteen countries I have been asked “What is my favourite and why was that my choice?”.

         I have carried out ten jobs and visits to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – lived in Thailand for eighteen months and Samoa for seven months.

         After some consideration I said Singapore.

         Let me tell you how I came to visit Singapore – the first of 50 visits.

         While working in Samoa, at the University of the South Pacific, I put my lecture notes together and published them as a book called “Survival Skills For New Managers”.

         The Singapore Institute of Management published this book. They wrote to me and asked if I could make it into a three-day workshop. I did this and flew up to Singapore thirty-two times to run this workshop for them.

         Singapore is a tiny country with a greater population than New Zealand – it’s about the size of Lake Taupo, one of our North Island lakes.

         Why do I like Singapore?

         I enjoyed working in Singapore. They look after their visitors.

         It is a safe clean country with plenty of trees and flowers.

         They expected you to work hard – as they do. They have good food yet they have limited resources.

         They invest heavily in education, training, and research, especially medical and technological research.

         They invest wisely in huge industrial estates in neighboring countries.

         They own one of the World’s leading Aero companies.

         All males from the age of eighteen undergo military training. This teaches discipline and skills suitable for civilian work.

         One day I arrived in Singapore in the early hours of the morning. I was very tired and when I arrived at the hotel counter I was shocked to find I had left my wallet containing all my money and documents in the taxi.

         Within an hour the taxi driver found my wallet and returned it to the hotel.  Now this says something about a country!

         I gave up working in Singapore when I was eight-two. It was not because of the work it was the stress of flying from New Zealand to Singapore and arriving on time for my workshops.

         I miss you Singapore.

Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)

“A rolling stone gathers no moss.”