Today, our guest is no stranger to managing complex issues and to holding himself to the highest standards of governance. We are very honoured to welcome Mr Patrick Tay to our podcast. Mr Tay is a lawyer by training, and has spent the better part of the last three decades volunteering at grassroots level in his community, and championing workers’ rights. Mr Tay is currently the Assistant Secretary-General in Singapore’s National Trades Union Congress, an organization uniting many trade unions and associations, social enterprises and other partners in creating better lives for workers in Singapore.  He is also a member of Parliament, and brings his experience and passion for improving the lives of his constituents.

Today’s topic is on Governance. Governance refers to the overarching concept of controls and standards to govern relationships in a system. In the business world, we hear about “corporate governance”, which refers to the principles, practices, rules and processes by which a corporate entity is run, whether it is a company, a partnership, a nonprofit organization or a government body.
When we say that a corporate entity has good corporate governance, generally we mean that the organisation has a culture of accountability and transparency, where the board and management give credence to the rights of different stakeholders. Who are the stakeholders? These are usually the shareholders, the employees, the customers and suppliers of the company, and the community in which the company has its presence. A good organization looks after and balances the interests of these different stakeholders. Oftentimes, in business, as in life, managing different interests and relationships can be tough, and consideration of complex issues take much time and discussion, before the leadership can make a decision.

ethBeats is a podcast of the ⁠ethBe ⁠platform, supported by RHT GRACE Institute, a nonprofit organisation. We welcome you to be part of the ethBe community here: ⁠https://ethbe.org⁠. If you’d like to be a guest or to nominate someone on our podcast, please do contact us at ethbeats.podcast@gmail.com

Until the next time, stay healthy, stay positive.