In this document, “Scaling Deep”, I share examples of how leaders in the farmed animal movement have benefited from long-term one-to-one journeys with me.

“Scaling Deep” explores a different form of scale – one that enables leaders to dive deep within themselves and unleash their potential and allow that to exponentially ripple out to the many lives they touch. While this may appear less visible than programmatic expansion, this document shares how such work builds durable capacity. 

This visual makes explicit what the naked eye cannot see. This is not small-scale work. There is systems leverage here.

Within the document:

• Common perceptions such as the following are addressed. “This is small-scale, slow, high-cost work.” “Artificial Intelligence can do this work”.
• I share examples of shifts my clients have experienced.   For example, one client grew her organisational capacity and was freed to lead the organisation by focusing on the big picture and using her energising strengths. She shared:

“I felt empowered to lead the hiring process entirely by myself….(before I was too scared and overwhelmed to do this)…During this process, I used the strength based approach to look for the best qualities that would complement our team, and ended up with finding the amazing [deleted name of staff]. This work has freed up time for our team to focus our efforts to strategically best support the farm animal welfare community, and not be so limited in our capacity.

I spent a few months trying to develop a resource platform but due to my struggles with technology, I simply could not make much progress. After hiring our wonderful new operations specialist, she was able to create a functioning system in two days! We will be able to support so many people through developing this resource bank…“

• As I zoom in, Amruza Birdie of Reveal Impact zooms out and shares patterns and themes from coaching leaders in the movement as well. We hope this complementary take enables readers to get a fuller picture of what clients face and how they benefit.
• Reflection questions are included to support contemplation, discussion and meaningful action.  
• You will see photos and artwork by clients which capture their ways of seeing or being in the world as they have gone through their journeys of growth and transformation.

While all interested in social change (including outside this specific movement) can benefit from this document,  it could be particularly useful for funders, organisational leaders (all levels), board members, and servant leaders. Servant leaders do not always have a leadership title; they lead through their care for people.

These journeys are confidential. I am grateful to clients for granting permission for parts of their experience, artwork and photos to be shared in service of the movement and beyond. 

The photo montage above is by a client who has blossomed like a lotus. In Asia, all parts of a lotus can serve – the flower, stem, root, pod, seeds. Part of my work has been to put up a mirror to clients so they can recognise their leadership which has service at its heart.

Our work for the leaders in this movement is made possible by philanthropists. If you are in philanthropy and would like to learn more on bringing such support to leaders in the change-making space you support, feel free to get in touch. We work remotely and between 8am and 8pm Singapore time.

If you don’t need subsidised rates and are from the nonprofit, business or government sectors, and would like to explore such journeys for leaders in your organisation, contact us.

Read “Scaling Deep” here and if you find it useful, share it with those in philanthropy, social change or other decision-makers.

We introduced “care, serve, grow” as three values that inner billionaires embody at work. While these may sound simple, if we all practised these consistently, we would be living in a different world.

I shared excerpts from the letter I wrote the person who scammed me of money, and what that forgiveness and service did for me although I never heard back. And linked this back to growing through the tests the audience may face through their work.

I shared about Olivia, a taxi driver whose presence lit up her taxi and served me in a profound way.  And used this to introduce the concept of having a calling orientation to work where you focus on meaningfully making a difference to others and creating a better society.

I spoke about what people who are dying have discovered, and how that aligns with inner wealth –  people like the late Singaporean millionaire, Dr Richard Teo who, upon his cancer diagnosis, went through a transformation and realised the power of kindness, service and relationships.

I invited them into a minute of silence to appreciate themselves for how they already show care and service to stakeholders, and reflect on a time when this brought them most joy and fulfilment. During this silence, I said I would sweep the room with my appreciation of them. This was a powerful moment for me – to hold silence and send beams of appreciation from my heart to the audience during a speech.

I then interviewed my team-member, Daphne Yuan her on how she had lived out “care, serve and grow” when she was a civil servant. Her inspiring journey and examples brought our message home to their context.

From our resource list, we highlighted “The Rookie”, a Netflix show with inner billionaire characters at work, so they could continue the learning journey.

We got people thinking of wealth and the term “billionaire” in new ways.  We reminded all that “inner billionaire” isn’t an exclusive group of perfect people.  It is in all of us to develop.

How are you already bringing your inner billionaire to work everyday? Appreciate yourself.
How can you step into this more this year?
Enjoy the wonderful sense of meaning and purpose you experience as you do this.

It felt synchronous to do this for the public service exactly five months after my dad died.  It felt like he was walking with me through this.

“Well-being is never just personal, there’re always structural elements.”

And leaders play a very important role in creating the culture in organisations for people to flourish and do inspired work.

We were wholly human together. Lots of tears and laughter. Based on our conversations on the first day, I introduced them to a song on the second day – an anthem on empowerment and speaking your truth bravely. We even sang it together. Liberating.

These were other words they left with:

“…the depths of transformations that I never experienced in other workshops.”
“enlightenment and reset”
“hopeful and deep”
“collective healing”
“Grateful and life-affirming”

Gratitude to Animal Alliance Asia for trusting and co-creating with us, and to our funders for being our catalytic partners.

One participant came up with the powerful term “self-abandonment” – where one’s own needs and wellbeing have been abandoned as they focus on the animals.

One said that her favourite image on our slide deck was the one showing how leaders play an important role in creating the work culture which then impacts work performance and animals. This vital link is often under-appreciated.

With vulnerability and authenticity, Anbu shared her journey on wellbeing as a leader and long-time advocate.  It was pure joy and flow working with her. When values align,  strengths are complementary, and the bond is deep, collaboration truly feels light and effortless.

Everyone received an evidence-based wellbeing poster and an inspirational pop-up card with different messages on the theme of Hope. Some said it was just what they needed to hear. And we gave access to a list of pro-social leadership resources and more.

When I bumped into some participants during the Summit, they expressed appreciation for the highly interactive nature of the session.

Some continued the conversation with raw honesty on their personal journey or the movement’s wellbeing challenges  – on burnout culture, that the message for leaders was important, that those who need to learn on this topic the most may not do so etc. Listening to such voices from the ground helps me reflect on what more could be done.

Huge gratitude to the organisers for making space for this topic, to Anbu for being a fabulous project-partner, to our wonderful participants and to our visionary funders for believing in our work.

“Inner billionaire” doesn’t refer to an exclusive group of perfect people. We all have an inner billionaire within us. It’s a humbling journey to discover and grow ourselves and realise this potential within.

I had an enjoyable, flow-filled conversation with Lisa Partridge of The SIXCOMMS Podcast on this very topic.

To set the context for the importance of inner wealth, I started my sharing with reflections by the late millionaire Singaporean doctor, Dr Richard Teo after he was diagnosed with cancer. He lived a more material life before that:

“…it was just a job…patients were just a source of income, we become so lost that we serve nobody else but ourselves..

…Don’t let society tell you how to live. Don’t let the media tell you what you’re supposed to do. Those things happened to me. And I led this life thinking that these are going to bring me happiness.…

you have to decide whether you want to serve yourself, whether you are going to make a difference in somebody else’s life. Because true happiness doesn’t come from serving yourself….”

And with Lisa’s beautiful questions, we spoke about how inner wealth affects daily life, including work life and communication habits for a more meaningful and transformative dialogue.

Lisa is a consummate podcast host – still, deep, connected listener who holds space naturally for an easeful conversation. Outside the podcast too, every conversation I’ve had with Lisa – kind, giving, reflective, down-to-earth – has been deep, magical, expansive and peppered with laughter that makes the stomach hurt.

If you find the podcast meaningful, please join me in sharing it so we can jointly expand our definition of wealth to heal and transform ourselves and our planet.

What worked well was our shared vision for a world in which people experience the workplace in a much more life-giving way; both of us doing in-depth interviews so we could both use our direct understanding of people’s experiences and perspectives to enrich our writing: using our complementary strengths in analysing, organising and then ideating ways forward. It was intense, fun and resulted in something we were fulfilled with.

We did literature research as well as interviews with 17 respondents.

Here are some excerpts:

“Our ability to feel – emotionally, physically, intuitively – sets us apart from any software, hardware or code built by humans (... )we need to get back to basics and relearn some of the human ‘powers’ we relinquished as we increased technology’s stranglehold on our lives.” – General Manager of a PR Company

A senior vice president of a media company said:

  “Private sector companies…have the ability to set trends, begin movements, set a transformation into motion,…impact more companies in that sector, educate and influence opinion leaders and when scaled they can impact governments.” 

When asked which aspects and needs of humans respondents feel are under-recognised in workplaces across Asia today, our respondents summarised a range of opinions, formed through years of working in the region.

Appreciation, empathy, willingness to help the underdog, and demonstrating genuine care for others in the organization. – Executive Coach

Spirituality, agency and power, socio-emotional selves – The Programme Manager at an Educational Institution

One of our interviewees was Shirley Woon, a counsellor whose clientele included young working adults in Singapore and she said:

“the amount of work that is thrown to (young adults) is just enormous…they are not able to manage. So they end up working long hours and it takes a toll on them mentally “. 

We finally honed it down to empathy as a foundation for the workplace of the future for both human and business survival:-

• Innovation  – Without understanding the needs of others, we cannot come up with ideas that solve problems in fresh ways. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, has said, “The source of innovation comes from having a deep sense of empathy” (reported by Tan, 2019 in Marketing-Interactive.com).  He was featured in Fast Company magazine (McCracken, 2017) for having used empathy and collaboration to engineer a USD$250 billion turnaround there.
• Collaboration – This is going to be increasingly important in an age of innovation and complex change. And empathy is key to ensuring diverse parties understand and respect each other’s differences as well as similarities, for optimal synergy. 
• Customer and Employee Experience – To attract and retain both these groups, organisations need to intimately understand what they need and serve those needs. 

Our respondent, a Trends & Futures consultant said:

“The role of empathy will be absolutely critical – it guides growth of talent and the creation of people-centric brand experiences and solutions. …The diversity of the region and growing income gaps makes empathy even more valuable – to both understand people as employees and as customers.”

The SVP of a Media company identified that empathy is what underlies many of the issues organisations must look at when dealing with people issues:

“In solving issues, conflicts, managing people, mental health, diversity, inclusion, providing work-life balance, equal opportunities – all these issues will need empathy to recognise, manage, solve and lead.” 

We offered the idea of the workplace as a community of transformation and wellbeing and a 5-point plan to expedite change:

• Build on existing communities of authentic Asia-based leaders who are standing up and shaping change.
• Mean better business with more meaningful metrics.
• Transformational Leadership Development 
• From Human Resources to Business Wellness Advisors 
• The Asian Workplace as a crucible for mindful learning, wellness and evolution 

You can read our report here. It seems even more relevant now, although it was published a few years ago.

My wonderful co-author, Hilary’s current work can be found at Sundial Studios.

I currently offer a two-day programme on Empathy at Work through the Singapore Management University. Contact us to learn more about the programme’s fit with your needs and we’ll connect you with SMU if you’re keen to proceed.  We need a minimum of 10 confirmed participants in a class.  More information can be found here. 

These are the 360 feedback snapshots of a client at the beginning and end of our journey. (A 360 exercise enables one to receive feedback from stakeholders around them.) 

The Results – All self-reported (in red) and observer-reported scores improved. Her innate, POWERFUL, deeper self emerged. Extraordinary to witness. 

The Client – Head of a non-profit who was highly motivated towards self-transformation. Extremely courageous in stepping on new ground, facing her shadows, speaking up for what she believed in. 

A Few Touchpoints

– One-to-one work. The client called it “heart coaching”. I call it “catalysing”. https://innerwealth.global/catalysing/

– Deep therapeutic work through a collaborator. She worked on her trauma and inner blocks. Such deep work unleashes pure gold buried at our core. 

– We supported her and her staff to use a meeting approach which research has shown to reduce burnout and increase morale, collaboration, trust, productivity and goal accomplishment. This was a game-changer. 85% of her staff said this enabled them and the manager to make progress on work together. 

The Tool – The i360 by the iOpener Institute for People and Performance. It’s based on the science of happiness at work. So the leader’s growth supports employee happiness, which in itself is meaningful for employees and also enables excellence in work.

Client Feedback – Excerpts

Q: What have you discovered about yourself that has been most valuable?

A: That I can choose and experience happiness at work, without feeling guilty of not being enough and enjoy watching my team members grow too. The freedom of choice seemed unreachable before as we are bound by templates of functioning a certain way where personal joy and fulfillment is secondary and suffering is a norm, until I consciously started choosing what me and my team wants to experience while serving…

How was your experience of leadership before and how is it now?

Before this journey, my experience of leadership was to be strong externally, instinctive, often lacking clarity on boundaries, when to apply values or what even are our values or lean on to a long-term strategy. Now, I would say it is more intentional. There is self-awareness and confidence with grounding. I have always held myself accountable for all failures, due to lack of delegation, empowerment – now with tools, I not only empower my team members, but also aware of when to hold someone accountable, and for both outcomes.

In addition to the pointers above on managing the team members and their resignations, the tools taught during this journey have shaped the recruitment process too. Laying down the values, work culture, expectations and identifying and understanding their strengths allowed me to make informed decisions to hire a person into the team, or not confirming probation.

During the organisational action planning process, we had consciously and collectively taken effort as a team, to be mindful of doing projects that we can implement, learn from it, drive a deeper and longer lasting impact and not just continue to do everything that was done in the past. I have also started to appreciate the importance and strengths of my team members, which I was blind to before. This allowed me to introduce two rounds of feedback from the staff during the action planning process, with guiding questions on values alignment, resource availability and impact quality. Grateful to a very responsive team, who have also grown alongside me, being open, honest and responsive. To me, this shed light on the fact that leadership is actually a shared journey.

The Personal Management Interviews (PMI) training for the team members and myself was one of my most memorable lessons. It not only provided the tools such as a template and reminders, but opened up a beautiful process of commitment to allocate time, preparation and holding ourselves accountable for follow-ups. We committed to this, making monthly 1-1 chats very productive. This led to the emergence of something very crucial for humans – TRUST….

They were absolutely wonderful sessions, to hear from them, witness them being prepared, eager to share, eager to trouble-shoot and collaborate, sharing positive remarks about other staff and more…That mutual trust we have built is precious in an organisation, not only for a positive team dynamic but also for the humans of the organisation to form a rhythm of connection, to be heard, to connect and create a healthy space to support each other. 

What feels more possible now?  How have your inner capacities and potential been impacted?

Working with people even though this sounds like a basic thing for a leader to be capable of, but societal definitions of “managing or working” with people was very different before – it did not include active listening, understanding their needs or navigating conflict situations mindfully. I was terrified of having to do these before, because it “takes” away time from actually serving the animals, the “purpose”. Now, I strongly believe in working with humans, not only to serve the animals, but inspire change, kindness to each other and create a breathing, feeling team that is more than being functional or efficient. 

You have used the word “liberation” to describe an outcome of this journey. In what ways have you liberated yourself?

This journey allowed me to understand myself to say no to those that are preventing me from saying yes to others that are important for the organisation, the cause and to myself. This is a form of liberation of my energy, space and time to do things that  are more impactful, things that allow people around me to grow too, and to feel fulfilled. 

What is the most significant change you have experienced during this journey?

It is the ability to transform and access my compassion and wisdom to communicate feedback to my team members constructively & mindfully and to listen to them actively and take action. 

What have been your key takeaways and insights from this journey?

This project was an invitation to understand my strengths, my team members’ strengths and with openness receive information about areas to improve and potentials to tap on, which was done through the strengths assessment, the two 360 reports, monthly 1-1 sessions with the staff and monthly 1-1 coaching sessions. It was not immediately visible, but the final 360 spotlighted the areas of growth. The takeaway for me from that was to (i) To take time for growth in a charity which is often caught in a typical rat race and deliver, deliver, deliver only; (ii) to take a step back to reflect, but continue showing up and consciously put in efforts and trust the process.

What were three common feelings you experienced before this journey started and now?

Before: Appreciative, depleted and lost; After: Empowered, encouraged and clear headed/equanimity (during crisis) 

Which part of you has grown that has been especially surprising and enriching for you?

Welcoming positivity by speaking and choosing the truth and moral courage, and facing the outcomes with moral courage.

What have you discovered about yourself that has been most valuable?

That I can choose and experience happiness at work, without feeling guilty of not being enough and enjoy watching my team members grow too. The freedom of choice seemed unreachable before as we are bound by templates of functioning a certain way where personal joy and fulfillment is secondary and suffering is a norm, until I consciously started choosing what me and my team wants to experience while serving the animals. 

What have you let go that has been supportive to you?

Being busy made me feel useful before; Tolerating behaviours made me feel kind before. I have let go of both of my behaviours.

What is your relationship with discomfort now?

I have just started having a relationship with discomfort, so much that I am willing to “sit” with our dear discomfort. I visualise discomfort as a mirror, who I can look at, ask questions and find the answers. It blows my mind that we are not taught to do what sounds simple and straightforward. Now that I have begun, it feels like coming home to my true self.

In what ways do you find yourself engaging with life more fully or differently?

I have also made space and time to express how I feel, through art, music, spending time in nature and being still. I will take effort to continue doing these, because it resets my system allowing me to return to work re-charged with more space, clarity and compassion to hold things and people whom I am responsible for.  

My understanding and perception of life, in particular a fulfilling life, has also shifted. It is now less of striving, and more about being. Recently, when playing a deck of cards with a close friend, I was asked to describe myself in three words: I said “gentle, kind and integrity”. My friend responded with, “Present, courage and kind”. She pointed out to me that I am always present at the moment. That was a beautiful compliment, a petal to add to my definition of life as a flower. Being present, being aligned/in tune matters to me the most. Slowness and depth are the most appealing aspects of experiencing life to me now, versus in the past when I had measured fulfilment on how useful I can be or how much I can serve.  Now I realise usefulness/worth will automatically follow a “being” life. 

So, these changes (some in progress) have strengthened the way I respond to stress, by checking within. The depleting and draining feeling has left my system, and I feel more resourced, and look forward to continuing accessing them in the future. 

How has your ability to reflect on complex issues evolved? In what ways have you noticed a change in your critical thinking or problem-solving skills?

My intention has always been to zoom out and address the root cause in the past. Many distractions and draining problems that I chose to shoulder in the past were my blinders. The coaching and practices allowed me to drop those blinders, sit straight and have a view with clarity that I had yearned for years. Tools and practices allowed me to navigate work-related challenges objectively and mindfully, and even take action.

What value do you see in our work especially for the farmed animal movement given its goals and challenges?

The movement faces burnouts amidst the urgency, because of the scale of the issue and massive suffering. This is on top of having to confront systemic cruelty on a daily basis. We have no space for grounding, reflecting or healing. We have no time for check-ins and clarity, because we will get eaten by guilt. Your contribution is so invaluable, because of the inner work it catalyses. Basically, you help us to reconnect with the “why” and why “how”s matter too.

This transformation is exactly what we want to see in the animals – we rescue a chicken caught in the productivity race in crammed conditions – barely living, and definitely not thriving. Then she transforms with sunlight, love, company, space and soft grass to walk on. She lives longer, she gives love and has a full life.

We are the chickens in a factory farm, needing that transformation, waking our inner power. Your regenerative approach asking us to ‘water our garden’ proves that that inner work is a required detour, and has a beautiful impact on humans, and will have an amazing effect on the movement.  

What’s the Impact on Change-Making for Animals?

Heartivism is a concept that I was introduced to, by the coach during this journey. Even though I understood the principles in the beginning, only by practice did I learn to unlearn a lot of old beliefs on activism – which is very results-driven and only the outcomes mattered. Now, the approach and the journey matter too. I now have a deeper understanding of how to hold difficult conversations, or even build relationships with the most unlikely allies, and growing conscious on when to stop. I approach this work not as a moral battle, but invite people to collaborate, reimagine our relationship with animals and connection with nature.

What makes our work unique based on your experience?

Experience and understanding of animal advocacy landscape, values alignment for the animals. (By default, the charity/organisation feels seen, feels heard, to other consultants, we have to explain ourselves a lot about our work, the landscape, the funding and team dynamics)

What three qualities did we bring that supported you most? Authenticity, Clarity and the coaching skills itself. Vadivu was like a lighthouse…

PS: As we witness global chaos, we can stay empowered by being and making the change we wish to see in our own sphere of influence. The cause this leader served and her conscious leadership contribute to the more loving, just and wiser world I wish to be part of nurturing.  

PPS: This transformation was made possible by a sponsor. If there’s a nonprofit leader you’d like to support in this way, book a call to explore. More here.

—–

My mum, in her 70s, was asked to stand on one foot on a stool while taking an x-ray. She did so, staggered and hit her head on a structure on the wall. 

She was in pain and traumatised. The staff asked her to sit on a chair (without any handrails). She was then asked to do the x-ray again. This time, the staff gave her a grab-bar which should have been given before. 

My mum was still in bad pain and shock as she staggered out of the room, and the staff said in a flat tone, “If anything, go to A&E (Accident & Emergency) or any hospital”. 

My mum coincidentally met someone she knows who saw her looking disoriented in the corridor. She comforted her, made her rest in a comfortable place, drink water and find her orientation again. 

The doctor she saw the next day was concerned that there may be internal bleeding. A CT scan thankfully showed none. 

My mum submitted a feedback form to the hospital relating what had happened and asking for them to look into this to prevent future accidents. 

That was in October. She has not been contacted with an apology, to find out how she is or to say that they have investigated the incident. 

Like many hospitals, compassion is an organisational value on the hospital’s website. 

I offer these for self-reflection or collective enquiry in your leadership teams:

• If something like this happened in your institution, how would you find out?

• Would your staff be sensitive and aware enough to understand the severity of such an incident? Would there be enough psychological safety for them to raise such an incident internally? Would they have the heart and space to do so or are they so overwhelmed, stressed and tired that such an incident would get lost in the busy days?

• How would such a piece of customer feedback be handled? Do you read some customer feedback notes regularly, and ensure the most serious ones reach you? However senior you are, I encourage you to. It keeps you connected to the people you serve.  Their voices need to reach your heart for your heart is the most influential generator for real transformation in the organisation.  

• How do you learn about and take meaningful action on your employees’ struggles that may prevent them from doing the right thing by customers? 

• How do you hire for organisational values, role-model and take care of the wellbeing and growth of your staff so they embody your organisation’s values? 

• Enabling staff to connect to meaning and purpose in their daily interactions can make a huge difference to them as well as customers. How do you facilitate this?

• How might you feel if this happened to your parent or child? 

• How do you stay connected to your heart amidst all you deal with? Who holds space for you to do this? 

That’s the crux of our report, “Flourishing for All”. 

The first part of the report brings to light candid views of seven senior leaders in the farmed animal movement in Asia on stress and burnout. 

The second part is a vision and potential strategy for the global movement to facilitate flourishing for next-level, transformative impact. 

While targeted at supporting the movement which reduces suffering for billions of farmed animals, it could also serve funders, nonprofit leaders and board members from other causes. 

Look at our world.

It is in great need of compassion, wisdom and justice.

And people have dedicated their daily lives to nurturing these values through their work.

If we seek to transform our world, we need to transform the way we support this group. 

Report and More Resources

At https://tinyurl.com/FlourishingForAll, you will find

• Report – “Flourishing for All: A Call for Compassion Congruence and Stronger, Sustainable Impact in the Farmed Animal Movement through Advocate Wellbeing”.
• Slide-show which you can use as a teaser to encourage your community to read the report.
• Discussion Guide which has questions you can use to facilitate discussions around the report in your community. It can also be used for individual reflection.
• Resource List is extracted from the Report for your easier use. It is extensive and covers many facts of wellbeing.
• Social Media – images and suggested text you can use to promote the report through your social media networks.
• Feedback form for you to share impact of the report on you or your organisation.
• Funder Reflection Guide that can be used by funders to reflect on the role they can play.

Watch our slide-show below. Turn on audio for music.

February 2026 Update: Since the publishing of this report, we have written an Opinion piece for Alliance magazine for philanthropy and social investment worldwide on what funders can do to nurture change-makers’ wellbeing and a report on our one-to-one leadership journeys for leaders in the farmed animal movement in Asia. These have relevance to leaders in change-making and those in philanthropy beyond this specific movement.

Organisations need to look at leadership and systemic issues such as heavy workloads

Imagine a workplace that has various mental wellbeing programmes. Now imagine being an employee, giving those programmes a try – and realising that your wellbeing has hardly changed. 

That’s apparently the reality for many in the UK, according to a study published by the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre in 2024. It is believed to be the largest of its kind, involving more than 46,000 workers from over 200 organisations there. 

The study found no evidence of improved workplace wellbeing, despite organisations using 11 popular individual-level mental health interventions. These included wellbeing and sleep apps, mindfulness classes, resilience, energy or stress management programmes, workload or time management training and well-being coaching.

Study author Dr William Fleming said: “There’s growing consensus that organisations have to change the workplace and not just the worker.”

The UK situation holds lessons for Singapore. 

Going to the root cause

Nearly half – 47 per cent – of workers in Singapore feel mentally or physically exhausted by their work, according to a recent survey by health technology provider Telus Health. Exhaustion is one sign of burnout. In the poll of 1,000 workers across a range of industries, having too much work was cited as the top reason for burnout.

In such a situation, it is not just about helping individuals cope better. There is a need to review the employee’s workload, timelines, outside-work communications and other systemic stressors. The Mindful Business Charter, a framework to promote better mental health and well-being at the workplace, has practical guidelines to reduce unnecessary workplace stress.

Individual-level interventions can indeed show results. For example, when people practise mindfulness consistently and over a long term, this can lead to sustainable well-being. However, employees need to be supported to reduce factors in working conditions that prevent them practising such interventions regularly, as noted in the Work Wellbeing Playbook by the World Wellbeing Movement. 

Individual effort, however, is not a replacement for addressing systemic problems. It is useful to blend interventions at the individual, group and organisational levels for optimal impact. 

This means the problem of better addressing workplace mental well-being requires senior leadership transformation and commitment. And to achieve this requires examining  the values held by an organisation and society. 

Wealth also means well-being

If good leadership means getting results at all costs, and wealth is seen mainly in monetary terms and success is measured by how much money, status and power one has, then it is easy for collective wellbeing to be compromised.

The old English word for wealth is “weal”, which means well-being. Letting money drive decision-making hasn’t brought us true well-being. This involves the idea of inner wealth which includes dimensions such as care, compassion, service and growing in wisdom.

If we prioritise such values, it means well-being is not approached in a piecemeal manner but rather, integrated into an organisation’s core.

Well-being needs to be part of the organisational DNA. By this, I mean it is a strong thread that is pulled through all aspects – leadership selection and development, goals, policies, metrics, financials, accountability, job design, decision-making, communications –  impacting all.

For example, what are expectations on workplace communications outside working hours? When something is urgent, employee flexibility is needed. But if almost everything is perceived as urgent and workplace communication is often expected during employees’ rest time, then the leaders may need to review the organisation’s policies and their own example, expectations and communications to managers. 

How are employee voices heard? How is employee wellbeing measured? It is important to communicate how employees’ ideas, concerns and needs feed into change and decisions. 

Employers also need to factor in or even prioritise pro-social behaviours – which show concern for the welfare of others – and emotional intelligence when it comes to hiring, promotion and human development.  Then employees can co-create collective wellbeing through how they care for, appreciate, support and positively connect with colleagues. And they learn that those who live out such qualities are recognised as leaders.

Leaders being the change

It is vital for senior leaders to be the change to lead such transformation. 

This means they embody well-being. And it can be seen by how fully present and kind they are with people, for instance. 

Being the change also means senior leaders lead with care, compassion and wisdom. Managers will learn, by having a felt experience, what it means to be led this way. They can then do the same, and well-being will cascade out more naturally to employees, customers, families of all and others. 

Leaders teach leadership through their example. My conversation with a restaurant chain CEO on this subject was enlightening.

Mr Fu Yong Hong from Green Dot said he used to work every day and rarely took a break. Despite business success, he was unhappy. It took time to feel he did not have to prove his worth. He now makes time for his loved ones, and himself through exercise, yoga and meditation.  

When giving a work deadline, he asks staff if it is unrealistic. He believes his empathy and vulnerability make it safer for them to respond honestly. His office staff usually keep office hours and he is open to requests for flexible work arrangements.

“The biggest change comes when you learn what is toxic about yourself and remove that. The best way to champion mental health is to lead by example,” he said.

Go beyond the business case

Some may think alot of this seems impractical in the competitive world we live in, where companies must make a profit to survive. 

But anxiety and depression could be costing Singapore 2.9 per cent of its gross domestic product each year, according to a study by Duke-NUS Medical School and the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). This is due to  absenteeism, less productivity and healthcare utilisation. 

And how about the immeasurable cost and painful impact on one’s health and family relationships?

The iOpener Institute for People and Performance has the longest-running, largest database of happiness at work-related global data. It has found that the happiest employees, compared with their least happy colleagues, are twice as productive, intend to stay in their job twice as long and take one-tenth the amount of sick leave. 

We need more leaders who emphasise the triple bottom-line – people, planet and profit/performance.  I say planet, as climate change has shown us how a narrow focus on profits has threatened all life. It is all connected. 

Let’s go beyond the business case and remember the deeper meaning of being human. That is, we are here to widen our circle of care, contribute to collective wellbeing, and grow in wisdom.

Vadivu Govind is the founding director of Inner Wealth, a consultancy that supports organisations in nurturing wellbeing.

This commentary was first published in The Straits Times on 11 September 2024.

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