During the Eagles Leadership Conference 2019, Salt&Light spoke to the deputy chief executive of Mandai Park Development and former assistant chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, Lawrence Leong, on how to relate our faith to our work and how to manage uncertainty in our career:

How did you end up at Mandai Park Holdings?

Somebody offered me a job. I was retired, I was very happy, I was doing church work.

I was leading mission teams to three countries, principally Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

I knew this was what I could do with all my experience and expertise – to bring teams out to bless the people in Indochina.

I was doing that for almost 10 months and then there was this job offer.

How do you relate this job to your faith? 

I think everything you do relates to your faith, even though you may be doing church work, or non-church work, or in the marketplace. Every decision you make each day is an exercise of your faith. Every call you make is actually an exercise of your faith, which is the ability to trust God for an outcome that you will not know. 

Doing a job that you’re not familiar with is an exercise of your faith. Making a business deal that could potentially lose money is an exercise of your faith. So it’s not just a job but your interaction, your ability to trust God for the unknown, that is an exercise of your faith. 

Can you suggest some biblical principles to bring to work?

Joshua 1, to me, is a very good reference, when Moses had to hand over the reigns of leadership to Joshua, the new leader, to bring the Jewish people into the Promised Land. When they had to cross the river Jordan into a new environment, the key operating phrase was: “Be strong and courageous.”

How do you manage uncertainty, fear or anxiety?

You have to surrender it to God, then you know that you are trusting God. Because you know you can’t solve the problem, you know you don’t have the solution, so you surrender, and then you allow God to take control. Then that really means that you can be strong and courageous. Because God is going to take charge.

How do you know when that job ahead is from God?

You’ll never know with absolute certainty, but that’s again exercising your faith. It’s a daily journey. You can be absolutely wrong. But it is still a daily journey of trusting in God, knowing that it is ultimately your relationship.

You may be in the wrong job, God will pull you back, because God will want you to flourish. You may have made a mistake, but God will bring you back because God will want you to flourish.

So you just need to trust God. 

Leaders need commitment and courage, say speakers at opening of Eagles Leadership Conference