One Sneak Peek Into the Man Who Saw Wealth in Waste

You wouldn’t expect a successful businessman to become obsessed with toilets. 

But for Jack Sim, the toilet agenda is his vocation. 

He flushed conventional thinking down the drain when he noticed this neglected problem.  

That led to the founding of the World Toilet Organisation and the creation of the UN World Toilet Day, 19 November. 

Before he started venturing into philanthropy and community work, Jack was an entrepreneur in the construction industry. 

He built and founded 16 companies before retiring at the age of 40 to focus on social work full-time.

Unlike others, he viewed the recession as a boon instead of a bane, as it spurred him on to do more good for the world. 

1. How to seek your passion

“It must be something you like. 

Some people like animals, so they help animals. It can be anything, as long as other people are not doing it. Some people are good at technology, while others like arts. Do it the way you like, and choose the thing that you like to solve. Or look at something that makes you so angry that you want to solve it. 

For example, the suicide rates of males are higher than that of females. You might want to find out why and help mitigate this issue. 

Mental illness in Singapore is getting worse and worse because of social media. We are currently living in a “false-eyelashes” society. Many feel the need to photoshop their pictures before they post. Thus, today’s society is much more stressful. We need to learn to be authentic and accept ourselves confidently. 

Choose a problem that is affecting a lot of people. Whether you are capable or not doesn’t matter. You can learn the capability later once you are sure that you want to solve the problem. 

Remember that you have a limited time within a lifespan and death is a certainty. Once you confront the inevitability of death, you will treasure your life and make the best of it. Since you are going to die, you become humbled because there is no need to be arrogant and no use quarreling with others. 

I am thinking of designing a watch that helps people to count down to their estimated time of death. The watch will be called “Lifetime”. It will tell you how many more days you have. Each day is one day less and we ought to cherish every moment.”

2. Leadership in Business

“It’s about letting people discover their talents and take ownership of the work. Whoever can take leadership and ownership of the work becomes a good staff and team member. Whoever cannot take ownership of the work, you have to fire them. If the whole team is good and can contribute to group efforts, then the team will be strong. Mediocre members need to be fired because they can make the rest feel less motivated. Only keep good people and help them to excel in their career.

The ones that come to work thinking that they are learning a lot, are the ones you can employ. A lot of graduates these days don’t believe in hard-work as they think that their bosses are exploiting them. The truth is that your boss employs you because you are able to make more money for him to pay you with. If you are an employee that pays the boss, he will know to treasure you. 

When working with people, always love them by default. If you trust, respect and love people by default, most relationships will turn out pleasant. If the person is nasty, just move away and continue to work with those you like.”

3. Continuous learning, even in adulthood

“Having not had a degree, I always somehow felt that I was uneducated. It was an inadequacy that I felt internally despite my successful career.

I was very frustrated with the local bureaucrats for always rejecting my good ideas. So at the age of 52, when my mother told me that none of her children actually graduated from university, I told her that I will get a degree at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. I graduated at the age of 56 with a Master in Public Administration and went on to become an Adjunct Associate Professor at NUS.”

4. How to seek business opportunities

“Look at the biggest problems around you. If it has not been solved, it is either a business opportunity or a social opportunity. When I saw that there was a bricks shortage, I set up a bricks company. When I saw there was no Australian school in Singapore, I set up the Australian International School. When I saw the roof tiles in Malaysia were made of concrete, I started a clay roof tile company in Malaysia, which did very well. 

Start looking for things for which there is a demand, but no supply. One example might be the aging population as many people don’t know what to do after retirement. 

Don’t say negative things like “I’m only a student”, “I’m not supposed to be clever at this age” and deprive yourself of the gumption that allows you to be who you want to be. Do not set limitations on yourself. Instead of asking yourself, ‘Can I solve this’, try asking yourself, ‘How can I solve this problem’, instead. The right question will bring you to the right answers. 

I went to ask a NUS professor his biggest wish for NUS students.

He said he wishes that the students could be more confident about their capabilities. No matter how clever they are, they need confidence to succeed in life. We are raised to seek permission and follow rules here in Singapore. To innovate, we need to challenge norms and invent better ways forward.” 

5. Advice for youths

“Secure yourself first, then you can secure others. When you feel calm and safe, you will have a better ability to help others. 

Success is about hard work and seizing opportunities. You have to really enjoy what you are doing. If you go to work everyday thinking that you are exploited, you will not do well. But if you go to work everyday thinking that you are doing well and that you are clever, life becomes so beautiful.” 

Want to know more about Jack and his experiences?

Check out his book, The Gumption of Mr Toilet! (Link below)

Connect with Jack here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-sim-75732313b/

Purchase Jack’s book: https://amzn.asia/d/apF0xSn

Follow our telegram channel: https://t.me/onesneakpeekinto

And that is all for today’s One Sneak Peek Into.

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.