This woman with white hair and a kind face is not simple. Behind her inconspicuous appearance, there is a jaw-dropping identity and ability. On her own, she managed to turn Temasek around and place herself as a singaporean corporate leader. It is also the legendary lady who has been in the business sea for decades and left countless legends and stories. She is the head of Singapore Temasek and the first lady of Singapore, Ho Jing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > to turn the tide and save the Temasek Group</h1>
In 2002, when He Jing became the executive director and president of Temasek, Temasek already had a feeling of sunset, the overall operating situation was not good, and the return rate to shareholders for 10 consecutive years was much lower than the average level of the world's top 500 companies in the same period. What confronts Ho Jing is definitely a big problem, but she didn't back down and took office to work non-stop to reform Temasek's internal problems.
The first step was to move the company out of the towering Temasek Mansion to an unremarkable, ordinary office building, as if to hint at starting all over again.
The second step is to transform the company's business, no longer stick to the original business areas, and begin to develop in an all-round way, including real estate, engineering projects, aviation and even the military.
The third step is to reform the governance structure within the companies, on the one hand, Temasek needs to help the other companies in their development, on the other hand, not to interfere in the day-to-day operations of these companies, and only to establish CEO evaluation and succession procedures.
For He Jing's reform measures, in fact, all the management of the company did not approve, but He Jing was not affected in any way, in the face of great pressure, she tried to implement these measures one by one. And it turned out that her decision was right.
In just one year, Temasek's earnings have grown dramatically, even 30 times the previous year's profits, and shareholder returns have instantly increased from 3% to 46%. In an instant, Temasek's entire operation was reversed, and in the following years, He Jing led Temasek back to the position of domestic business leader.
Temasek can have today's achievements, and He Jing's efforts are inseparable, but at the same time, it has a great relationship with Tanabanan. At that time, due to the impact of the world economic downturn, Temasek's operation deteriorated, and Tanabanan, who was the chairman of Temasek at the time, thought of He Jing.
Earlier, Ms. Ho worked for Temasek's Singapore Technology Company, an unlisted company owned by Temasek, which is mainly responsible for engineering, technology, real estate and other businesses. When she first joined the company, He Jing served as the deputy director of engineering, and the company's operation was not good at that time, but under the leadership of He Jing, she helped it create nearly 1.5 billion US dollars in revenue, and she also relied on her excellent business acumen and talent to step by step from deputy director to president and CEO. Therefore, after the problems in Temasek's operation, the first thing that Tanabanan thought of was Ho Jing, who believed that with Ho Jing's wisdom he could save Temasek.
However, at first, when faced with the invitation of Danabanan, He Jing was hesitant because her identity was more awkward at that time. Temasek is a state-owned group wholly controlled by the Singapore government, and Ho Ching's husband Lee Hsien Loong happened to be the deputy prime minister and finance minister, if she took the position at this time, it would be difficult not to arouse criticism from others, even Lee Hsien Loong was not very supportive of her appointment as president of Temasek. However, at the repeated invitation of Danabanan, He Jing still agreed.
Today's Temasek, almost all industries in Singapore, telecommunications, aviation, banking, subway, electricity, hotels, engineering, etc., has been estimated by the media, Temasek holding shares accounted for about 47% of the entire Singapore stock market, with an absolute advantage to become the leading boss in the enterprise, but also control the economic lifeblood of Singapore. And He Jingneng has today's achievements, in fact, has a great relationship with her family.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > He Jing's life experience</h1>
Born in Singapore in 1953, her father was in business, she was the eldest daughter in the family, and her parents had high expectations of her. However, her parents did not have too much demand for her studies, paying more attention to He Jing's own choices, and He Jing did not disappoint her parents, and she had excellent academic performance from an early age. Not only did she complete pre-e-college education at the National Junior College, but she also received the Student of the Year Award and the President's Scholarship.
The scholarship is Singapore's highest honor academic scholarship and requires the recipient to not only achieve excellent results in the Cambridge Advanced Level Examination, but also to have outstanding leadership skills. Moreover, the candidates who participate in the competition need to pass the interview of the selection committee, since its inception, after 56 years, there are only 200 winners, which shows the gold content of the scholarship and can also prove He Jing's excellence from the side.
After graduating from high school, Ho Ching was successfully admitted to the National University of Singapore to study electrical engineering, and won a master's degree in engineering with first class honors. After graduating from university, He Jing did not follow in her father's footsteps and step into the commercial sea, but entered the Singapore Ministry of National Defense to modify and develop weapons systems in the defense laboratory.
In the process of work, He Jing felt that his knowledge reserves were too small and he had to continue to work hard, so in 1980, He Jing chose to study abroad and obtained a master's degree in science from Stanford University in the United States. After several years of hard study, He Jing graduated from Stanford University with honors and was promoted to deputy director of the Defense Laboratory after returning to China.
From a young girl with a flourishing style to a mature and stable new-age woman, He Jing dedicated the most important time of her life to the Singapore Ministry of National Defense, and in 1987, He Jing left this job that had sprinkled all the sweat of youth and entered the Singapore technology company instead, in another way, to contribute to the country. Because of the influence of her father since childhood, He Jing has her own unique views on Shanghai, coupled with her daring to fight and dare to break through, so that she quickly created her own world in it.
With the change of the times, Singapore's economy is also undergoing great changes, and Ho Jing, who is deep in the center of the whirlpool, has a personal feeling. In order to make the company get better development, she has set her sights on overseas markets, and India, Malaysia and other countries are her development goals.
The Chinese market, which has developed extremely rapidly in recent years, has naturally become a market that He Jing cannot give up. At present, Temasek's investment in China has involved a variety of sectors, such as finance, real estate, transportation, etc., and is the largest foreign investment institution in China. From 2004 to 2020, Temasek's net portfolio value rose from S$90 billion to S$306 billion. It is a full percentage point higher than the world's number one sovereign fund, the Norwegian State Sovereign Fund, in terms of investment returns over the same period. It can be said that Temasek can have today's glory, inseparable from He Jing's efforts.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > First Lady of Singapore</h1>
In 2007, He Jing ranked third in the world's top 100 authoritative women list published by the business magazine Forbes, and ranked in the top ten for three consecutive years. In 2015, it was also listed by Fortune Asia Pacific's 25 Most Influential Business Women. In her career, Ho Ching is alone and has become an object of worship for others, and in life, she also has the reputation of singapore's first lady.
In 2004, her husband, Lee Hsien Loong, became Singapore's third prime minister, and since then Ho has been frequently involved in major political activities. Although Lee Hsien Loong is now the prime minister of Singapore, the marriage between the two was hailed as He Jing's "next marriage" in that year.
The two married in 1985, when Lee Hsien Loong was far from Singapore's political center and had just retired from the military as brigadier general, while Ho Was also serving in Singapore's Ministry of National Defence. And Lee Hsien Loong also had a marriage, with two children, one is a "yellow flower girl" who has never been married, and the other is a married and fertile "middle-aged uncle", how to look at this marriage is He Jing's "loss", but it turns out that in the matter of choosing a husband, her vision is as "poisonous" as business.
Now 68 years old, He Jing, due to her age and other reasons, decided to retire and resign as Temasek's chief executive officer and executive director, and Di Lan will take over the baton. From then on, He Jing will retire from the "jianghu", but the legend about her on the "jianghu" has always endured. Such a strange woman is not only a model for all women, but also worthy of the admiration of all future generations!