Give to gain: the leadership investment with the highest returns

GIVE to gain – this year’s International Women’s Day theme is far more profound than a campaign slogan.

It is the most honest definition of mentorship I have encountered in over two decades of leading and building organisations and – perhaps most meaningfully – watching people grow into the leaders they did not yet know they could become.

Over the years, what I have learnt, unequivocally, is that the returns on mentorship are not linear. They compound. And the case for giving generously, early and consistently is a strategic one.

Real mentorship is not pure altruism. It is an investment – and a high-returning one. When you give your time, network and hard-won perspective to someone at a critical juncture in their career or life, what you receive is a multiplier.

The mentees go on to build things, lead better teams, make more considered decisions, and invest in the next generation in turn. The tide rises for everyone. But only if we keep choosing to raise it together.

Mentorship as architecture

When the Singapore Business Federation set out to establish the Young Business Leaders Network in 2018, the conviction was simple: the country’s future business leadership cannot be grown in a single sector, school or social circle.

It was deliberately industry-agnostic and inclusive, bringing together emerging leaders from different sectors because the most valuable leadership development happens at intersections, instead of within silos.

The programme’s cross-sector architecture was intentional, pairing emerging business leaders with senior executives across industries. A technology leader mentored by a veteran from the built environment sees problems differently. A healthcare professional guided by a financial services leader asks questions their peers never think to ask.

That productive discomfort – the willingness to be challenged by an unfamiliar lens – is where real leadership development lives.

The principles are identical to what I have experienced mentoring others through the Young Women’s Leadership Connection community: the most powerful investment is not the answer you give, but the question you ask. It is the permission you extend for someone to believe in a larger version of themselves.

What mentees are really asking

Mentees do not arrive with a single profile or a single question. They come from every industry and life stage: with different ambitions; asking about shaping a business; navigating a difficult board; or carving more meaning out of a 24-hour day.

But the underlying question is the same: does someone who has walked further down this road believe in me? The answer, if you are paying attention, is almost always yes. And saying so – clearly, specifically, at the right moment – can change the trajectory of a career.

As Maya Angelou observed, people will forget what you said and did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Rather than titles or milestones, my proudest moments are when mentees reflect that a conversation gave them permission to believe in a brighter version of themselves. That is when the investment lands. It is the only measure that matters.

What this means for every CEO and board member in Singapore

We are navigating a confluence of pressures: a tight labour market, accelerating disruption across every sector, and succession pipelines that – across many organisations – remain underdeveloped.

The leaders who will navigate the next decade are not fully formed yet. They are in your organisations right now, looking for senior leaders who will engage with them seriously, honestly and consistently.

Every time a leader chooses to show up for that conversation – to give time and perspective – they are building the leadership bench that Singapore’s economy depends on.

The most common misconception about mentorship is that you begin when you have arrived – with enough seniority, enough certainty. That moment never quite comes when expected. And budding leaders cannot afford to wait.

Give early. Give generously. Give before you feel ready. If sharing the road I have travelled – the reinventions, pivots, moments of doubt – helps even one person move forward with more clarity and confidence, then the investment has already paid for itself many times over.

The writer is vice-chair of the Singapore Business Federation and founding chair of the Young Business Leaders Network. For the last nine years, she has mentored young women leaders through the Young Business Leaders Network and Young Women’s Leadership Connection mentorship programme.