When I was in my mid 20s, I attended and completed Asiaworks Leadership Program. I was from LP22.

AsiaWorks was easily one of the most important personal development education for me. It was not cheap – I almost exhausted all my savings at that time, but on hindsight, it was money well invested.

A friend asked, how has AsiaWorks worked for me? This is what I can say with confidence:

(1) MADE ME SOFTER

I saw myself as a strong, logical, intelligent, and generally tough person. The thought of giving another human being a warm hug is very unthinkable for me.

Throught the whole AsiaWorks journey, I learnt to be softer. I started to appreciate the feeling of a warm hug. I was more at ease to talk about emotions, and to listen to people share their feelings, not just their logical thoughts.

The result of being softer was that I started to acknowledge my emotions.

(2) MADE ME VULNERABLE

For me, the AsiaWorks journey was an emotional one. During the first two nights, I already cried my eyes out in an exercise, when I talked about my regrets.

I also shared about my insecurities, irrational thoughts and feelings, and fears to my group. I realized there was great strength in being vulnerable.

I like myself better, when I dare to be vulnerable. It turned out that people did not shun me like I was a freak.

The result of being vulnerable was I felt safer around people.

(3) GAVE ME COURAGE TO TAKE RISKS

I was already feeling lost and quite jaded with my Engineering job when I attended the AsiaWorks course.

During the course, I saw how passionate many people were towards their work. I also saw how I was able to do things which I could not imagine myself doing, like connecting deeply with people, inspiring people to take action, being appreciated not for what I DO but for BEING myself, etc.

I also discovered that I enjoyed being with people and working with people, perhaps even more than I enjoy working with cold, hard logic and knowledge.

As a result, I gained the courage to do a drastic career switch, from Engineering to Insurance, and from being employed to being self-employed.

PS A side-effect of me attending this course, was that my behavior changed drastically during and immediately after the course. It was so noticeable and perhaps alarming that my good friends had to counsel me, in case I joined a cult. I was lucky to have concerned friends like them.

As the years go by, I do still revert to much of my old self, but I believe the experience had buried some seeds deep within me.

At critical moments in my life, I noticed that I saw things and thought about things quite differently than many of my peers.

I believe it is called a new self-awareness.