That SMRT CEO Desmond Kuek is stepping down is no surprise given that he has been ineffective in addressing our train system’s safety and reliability issues. But what is surprising is that his successor seems to be someone cut from the same cloth as Mr Kuek. Following a global search, SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming gave reasons for the choice of former general Neo Kian Hong as successor, including his appreciation of interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as his vision and experience in leveraging new technologies for public service. Unfortunately, none of these address directly the deep-seated cultural issues with SMRT’s workforce that Mr Kuek failed to fix after 5 1/2 years on the job. A good engineer from another industry would be stymied as well, as the engineering challenges in train systems are complex. So that begs the question of why the SMRT board did not take this opportunity to pick someone who has direct experience with running a train system to be its new CEO.... Continue Reading