Interesting interview in the Straits Times with Willie Cheng, a former Accenture executive, who was apparently a whisleblower in a scandal surrounding the National Kidney Foundation Singapore. He has just launched a book called Doing Good Well.

Cheng praises Warren Buffett and draws the lesson for his rich friends that: “… if they want to get into charity, I ask them to get involved in ways that leverage their strengths as well as their interests. For professionals, that often means helping out with the capacity building side of charities – marketing, finance or just good governance and management.”

Cheng also talks about the legal environment in Singapore disadvantaging giving to causes overseas. He attributes this to a difference in values: “In Asia, we operate according to this order of loyalties: me, my family, my friends, my company or my clan, then my country. That’s how we’ve been brought up and taught here. In America, there is a strong individualistic streak but also a strong spirit of helping out. It’s me and my rights, then it’s other people. And other people could include those living far away, in another country.”  But he thinks change is coming: “We are a first world country. It’s time we are first world too in our attitudes towards charity.”

We’ll keep an eye out for Willie’s book and hope to review it when it comes out.

Tags: globalisation

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