From Faith to Boardroom: The Chairman's Story

Introduction

Here, we learn from our Chairman and distinguished alumnus, Prof. Neo Boon Siong, diving into his journey as a Navigator alumnus who exemplifies the vision of marketplace labourers leading integrated, gospel-centered lives. As a leader among his peers, Prof. Neo humbly shares how marketplace labourers can authentically live as salt and light among those who have yet to encounter the hope of Christ, creating natural pathways for the gospel and the Kingdom of Jesus to impact the marketplace and the world. Fragrant with humility and the aroma of Christ, he has lived out his faith in workplaces and witnessed the gospel grow naturally over time—whether through mentoring students or collaborating with teams in organisations. With a heart for The Navigators mission, Prof. Neo shares his wisdom and insights into governance and vision for The Navigators, Singapore. 

Can you share how you came to know the Lord and got involved with the Navigators?

The Lord sovereignly used my teachers and my mom to expose me to the gospel at a young age and to come to faith in Him. I first learnt about Jesus Christ through Bible stories shared by my upper primary school form teacher who taught us for three years.

In secondary school, my mom engaged a tuition teacher to help me in my studies because I had been struggling with my school examinations. He shared the gospel with me during one tuition session and I prayed to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. 

He followed up with me in a local church and I was taught how to have Quiet Time, memorize verses, share my testimony and use the Bridge to Life Illustration for personal witnessing. I was part of a follow-up group that met weekly where we learnt the principles of the Wheel Life, the Word Hand, and the Prayer Hand. We learned how to follow-up young believers and help them grow spiritually. We went through the Studies in Christian Living series and later did Bible studies using the Search The Scriptures approach. Through these materials, I learned about the work of the Navigators.

When the local church leaders brought us to attend the Navigator Congress, which was held annually at the St. Andrews School, I saw what it meant to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission and the vision of disciplemaking. I became very interested in the ministry of the Navigators and wanted to be involved. I approached David Lee, who was then leading The Navteens (TNT). He agreed to meet me regularly for Bible studies and I started attending TNT rallies and camps.

Prof. Neo pictured (seated second from the left) with
David Lee (seated fourth from the left) and the TNT team in 1975
 

During my National Service, I joined the Military Navigators. In university, I was involved with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Navigators and led a team to reach out to students in the Schools of Accountancy, Business, Architecture, Building and Estate Management. After graduation, I spent some time in the community ministry before focusing on local church ministry after getting married.

I reconnected with the Singapore Navigators around 2013 and joined the Director Circle in 2014. I was elected to the Board of Governance when it was formed in 2020. 

Prof. Neo (first from the left) overseas on a mission trip to Southeast Asia
during his time with the Military Navigators in 1977

What inspired you to focus your career on public administration, corporate governance and business strategy? 

I was trained as an Accountant and later specialized in Information Systems for my PhD. I was a university professor and taught at both NUS and NTU in different phases of my career, and twice served as Dean of the NTU business school.

The Lord sovereignly opened doors for me to work with business corporations and government agencies and later, to serve as Director on corporate boards. Although I was not looking for additional work, I received requests from business corporations to teach in-house seminars and work on projects that applied information technologies for business transformation. Similar requests also came from government agencies. 

These projects enabled me to utilise and deepen my professional competencies. Over time, I was invited to work on projects that reviewed and redesigned strategies and processes for organisational change in both public administration and business corporations.

I had expected to focus my career on teaching and research at the university when I first returned to Singapore after completing my PhD. I did not have any formal training in public administration, corporate governance and business strategy, and would never have imagined these areas becoming such a significant part of my work.  It was only after some years that I realised that the demand from organisations for management workshops and consulting projects converged in these areas.

Personal reflection, along with feedback from clients, confirmed that these were areas where my input and involvement had been helpful and appreciated. Each project provided opportunities to learn and contribute. It became clear that the Lord was using my involvement in these projects to improve the implementation of policies and programs that better served people.

God opened doors for me to work in a variety of commercial and industry sectors in which I had no prior experience. Likewise, I have been engaged in the work of many major government agencies in Singapore despite not having any formal public administration background. I later learnt that my clients appreciated my objective views and my approach to working with their people and solving problems. 

My involvement in projects in Singapore corporations and government agencies eventually opened doors for similar work in developing countries seeking to learn from the Singapore experience in economic and social development.


What has been your experience of discipleship and labouring like in the marketplace? 

Psalms 89:14 tells us that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne and kingdom, and Proverbs 21:3 reminds us that “to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

A familiar verse we often quote is Matthew 6:33 where Jesus asked us to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” But we often forget that Jesus gave that command in the context of work, earning money and providing food, clothing and shelter.

The application of this scripture for me is to seek His kingdom and righteousness through the outputs of my work and the way I interact with the people in the course of my work. In today’s society, government agencies and business organizations have the capacity to do what is morally right for their citizens, customers and clients, and to protect the vulnerable and disadvantaged in their communities. If my work can enhance their organizational capacity to serve their communities, I believe I am also contributing to the foundations of the kingdom of God.

Being missional in the marketplace requires credibility and competency in our professional work so that people respect what we say and do. This respect can potentially open doors for conversations about the reason for the hope we have in Christ (1 Peter 3:15).

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.

— 1 Peter 3:15
 

Labouring in the marketplace is a lifelong ministry, not a semester or an annual event. It is not only the Christian activities that we do outside work or on weekends; our work itself is also a part of our ministry.

We must be willing and ready to do more planting and sowing of the seeds of the gospel, watering what others have planted, and allowing God to make it grow in its time (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

— 1 Corinthians 3:6-9

I am thankful to the Lord for giving me opportunities to serve Him through my professional work and career. As a university professor, I teach and prepare my students to do well in their studies and in their careers after they graduate. My leadership roles in academia enabled me to work with colleagues to design curricula and programs that have developed students to be professionals and leaders. 

I share personal examples and testimonies with colleagues and students where appropriate, to motivate them to use their knowledge and skills to serve others. Several of my students have kept in touch after they graduated and I have had opportunities to mentor them and share my Christian testimony and life experiences with them. Recently a former student, who had been part of a project group I supervised when she was an undergraduate, came to faith in Jesus—30 years after she graduated and 3 years after I reconnected with her project group.

When working with organisations on projects, I typically work with internal teams to analyse issues and develop possible strategies for change. The process of working together has provided many opportunities for me to know and mentor the team members in their development and has often opened doors to conversations about their career and life directions.

Even as I sow the seeds and water them during our conversations, I trust the Lord to make them grow. The analyses and recommendations of the projects also provided opportunities to influence leadership decision-making and choices that improved both business and community outcomes.  

In the complex society that we now live in, it is difficult for any one person to single-handedly see through and achieve direct positive impacts on people’s lives. We need to use our gifts and talents to collectively influence outcomes within the scope of our limited roles and responsibilities.

Our intentionality and commitment to serving the Lord is important. We need to recognize how our limited roles can still have a meaningful impact on a larger social-economic ecosystem. Therefore, praying and trusting God to use our contributions to serve His larger Kingdom purposes is imperative. 

I did not start out to do such a ministry. Even if I wanted to, I had neither the training, personality, resources, connections nor competencies to make it work. But the Lord sovereignly opened doors for me to work with leaders in both the public and private sectors. As I began to see the pattern of what God was enabling me to do, I responded more intentionally to the doors He was opening.

Many of the opportunities were unexpected and involved working in areas I had no prior experience in, especially in countries beyond Singapore. My work in the marketplace serves the Lord (Colossians 3:23) by influencing organisational decisions and choices for greater righteousness and justice in the communities and societies where He has placed me.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

— Colossians 3:23 

What role do leadership, strategy and governance play in stewarding the Navigators Calling?

The Navigators Calling to make disciples and raise labourers is both an individual and a collective calling. When the work requires more than the commitment of a single individual, leadership becomes essential to ensure that a group of committed people work collaboratively with resources mobilised and organised effectively to fulfill our collective calling.

The National Director (ND) and National Executive Team (NET) of The Navigators provide the leadership for the national ministry and international missions of Singapore while individual ministry leaders do the same for each of the students, campuses and community ministries in which the Navigators operate. 

Leaders set the direction, goals, priorities and plans needed to achieve what God has called us to do. Ministry leaders develop strategies so that team leaders in each ministry can work together to achieve desired outcomes for each campus and each community disciplemaking ministry. The ND and NET set the national strategy so that our campus and community ministries work synergistically to achieve our national ministry goals. 

Governance complements the work of leaders and provides oversight to ensure that the overall mission and purpose of an organisation are achieved. Governance becomes important when an organisation obtains significant resources from others (such as donors, investors, or the community) who lack the capacity individually or collectively to ensure that the organisation uses the resources for the purposes for which they have been provided.

The Navigators Singapore Board was formed to oversee the leadership and management of the organisation and to set policies to ensure that resources (financial and people) are appropriately used to fulfill the Navigator Mission and Calling. The Board is comprised predominantly of members not involved in the typical operations of the organisation so that it can make decisions objectively and independently.

These Board members have previously been involved in the Navigators ministries and understand its uniqueness and vision. This enables the Board to not only discuss issues with a considerable understanding of the ministry but also with objectivity in assessing what is best for the mission and calling, both now and in the longer term.

We work collaboratively with the ND and NET to support their efforts to achieve the national ministry goals and strategies. We sometimes would challenge their preferences in order to protect the ministry from major risks and achieve a better overall impact. 


What do you like about the Navigators? What are your hopes, visions or aspirations for The Singapore Navigators?

The Navigator ministry focuses on helping individuals grow in Christian discipleship by committing to the Lordship of Christ, obeying His Word, and growing in a relationship with the Lord through basics such as Quiet Time, Bible study, fellowship with other believers and personal evangelism. When someone comes to faith in Jesus through our testimony and witness, we follow up to help the new believer grow in discipleship through the same process.

The focus on life-on-life disciplemaking and equipping labourers is the essence of the Navigators ministry. Although it is simple in concept, keeping our focus on it is challenging, especially in trusting the Lord to multiply the ministry so that “the little one shall become a thousand and the smallest one a mighty nation” (Isaiah 60:22). 

During my service in the local church and other Christian ministries, I saw how difficult it was in my own life and the lives of the local community of believers to practice Christian discipleship consistently and to have impactful outreach while making disciples in the marketplace.

When I reconnected with the Navigators, I was very encouraged to see a group of committed staff and labourers practising what I had been taught in my earlier years of involvement in the Navigators ministry. Their zeal and commitment to disciplemaking and raising labourers remain as strong as ever.

I saw God continues to bless and enable our campus ministries to reap fruit through new faith decisions and the development of new labourers. In my interactions with our younger staff, I saw their depth of commitment to the Lord and the Navigators vision and calling. Our Navigators campus staff members are active on campus almost daily to reach out to students and disciple them. The faith and energy of these staff is truly infectious.

Our community ministries are experimenting with creative approaches to equip lay labourers in full-time careers to grow and lead disciplemaking communities and networks around the island. They are breaking new ground in discipling and equipping people to be lifelong labourers in the marketplace and their communities.

We are also more intentionally curating short-term and mid-term missions with a view to longer-term missions beyond Singapore.

Though the Navigators may have been ministering in Singapore for more than 60 years, I see a new pioneering spirit among the staff and labourers. I believe the Lord is doing a new work in, among and through the Navigators (Isaiah 43:19). 

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  
 
— Isaiah 43:19

What we are seeing on the campus, community ministries and international missions is just the beginning. The Holy Spirit can and will enable the Navigators to have a greater impact in Singapore and beyond, impacting even more lives than we have in the past. 

About Neo Boon Siong

Professor Neo Boon Siong has served on many boards in private and non-profit institutes and organisations. He retired from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) as Canon Chair Professor of Business and has served twice as Dean of the Nanyang Business School. He taught at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore from 2006 to 2010 and was a Fellow of the Civil Service College, the Centre for Liveable Cities and the Healthcare Leadership College.

Professor Neo was the founder Director of the Information Management Research Centre at NTU, and the Asia Competitiveness Institute at NUS. He is a Certified Public Accountant (Singapore) and holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) from the National University of Singapore, and MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He received a Public Administration Medal (Silver) from the President of the Republic of Singapore in the 1999 National Day Honours Awards. He is the lead author of the book: “Dynamic Governance: Embedding Culture, Capabilities and Change” which was launched by Singapore’s President SR Nathan in July 2007.

Professor Neo was elected to the Board of Governance of The Navigators Singapore when it was formed in 2020 and has been Chairman since then.