A ‘worthwhile endeavour’, thanks to input from wife

Singapore — When a headhunter approached Mr Tony Tan See-Boon in February to be the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (Minds), he dismissed the idea because he was unfamiliar with the social service sector.

“To be honest, social service organisations were not in my frame of reference for my career. It was not something I was thinking about,” the former CEO of NTUC Link admitted.

It was his wife, a former social worker with Minds, who convinced him to reconsider.

He said: “The more I read, studied and Googled, the more I got to understand what social service organisations and Minds, in particular, did, the more interested I got — and the more I felt that this is a worthwhile endeavour.”

It took him two months before he officially accepted the job offer.

During this time, Mr Tan, who has two sons aged in their early 20s, often turned to his wife for advice, and she became his “consultant at home”.

His wife worked for Minds after graduating from the National University of Singapore’s Departments of Social Work and Sociology.

Following her post-graduation studies in special education and psychology, she became a school psychologist at Minds Towner Gardens School. Now, she is an art therapist at DaySpring New Life Centre.

Although this is Mr Tan’s first time working directly with the special-needs community, he said he has learnt a lot from observing his wife’s work in this space.

“I get direct as well as vicarious experiences … (and for many years), we have always had a sensitive spot for persons with intellectual disabilities,” he added.

It was through conversations with his wife that he developed the direction that Minds would take under his leadership, which is to provide continuous support and services to its clients throughout their lives.

“One of the key areas was (that the talks) helped me to conceptualise and understand the whole life-cycle needs (of persons with intellectual disabilities). So I think that those were very important conversations (to have), because they framed how we can service and help the client,” he said.

His family is fully behind his decision to join Minds.

His sons, both doing their undergraduate studies in the United States, showed their support with just these few words: “Way to go, dad”. SIAU MING EN