15 Jun 2015   

ISCA Member Mrs Ng Gim Choo, founder of Eton House International shares her management wisdom.

People

In any business, you need two types of people – what I like to call the Paper Clips and the Teddy Bears. The Paper Clips are task-oriented and don’t take time to socialise. The Teddy Bears are service-oriented. You need both types of people to make the school run smoothly. For example, if both the principal and vice-principal are Paper Clips, then you can imagine that the teachers are not going to feel happy as they don’t have the emotional engagement and relationship building that Teddy Bears are good at.

Professional Development         

You need to learn to sharpen your tools. At EtonHouse, we invest a lot of resources on our teachers’ professional development. It’s something I learnt during my time as an auditor, where the firm spent a lot of resources on staff training.

Professonalism

During my time in a Big Four firm, we were always taught to do things professionally. Every document we presented had to be professional. Similarly at EtonHouse, our principals and teachers know that professional conduct is expected of them at all times.

Perseverance         

I am a firm believer in the value of Perseverance. That is how I have overcome many challenges in starting and growing EtonHouse.

Passion          

Always pursue your Passion. Do something you really enjoy. There will be difficulties and challenges no matter which path you take, but you need to have passion to be able to overcome these challenges. With passion, you will have the perseverance to keep going and overcome challenges.

This excerpt is adapted from “A Head for Business, A Heart for Education”, published in May 2015 of the IS Chartered Accountant journal.

 Mrs Ng is featured in the ISCA Members Leading the Way video.  Watch the video below.

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