One Sneak Peek Into Thoughts of a Young Leader

Meet my friend, Kee Zhen Xian.

He’s a student mentor, community builder, passionate volunteer, and most importantly, a servant leader I truly look up to.

Best of all, he’s only 20 years old!

Zhen Xian started his venture into community service after a group of students from his secondary school requested him to plan a homecoming event to bond the alumni.

Which he did but took it a step further. His batch did not have the luxury of having a prom due to the pandemic. He didn’t want such a good opportunity to unite the alumni to be one-off.

This initiative grew into a platform where alumni members could repay the favour to their “mother school” (a Chinese term for alma mater), by sharing their experiences with the juniors.

Soon, talks on leadership, career and education by the seniors to the current students ensued.

Realising his talents in volunteer management and community building, Zhen Xian then created the Youth Empowerment Association Singapore (YEAS).

It is a student-led ground-up group of semi-autonomous initiatives dedicated to fostering equity within the education system by extending opportunities to a wide range of schools.

Under him are approximately 100 students from different schools, all working on projects with other members.

I find this fascinating, and I thought there must be some learning points that we can all take away from his experiences in community service.

1. Pick your teammates carefully. Very carefully.

“I want teammates that are receptive to suggestions and that understand the pain points of our partners so they can effectively communicate with them.

I think having the right motivation is very important, the youths might be here for their personal beliefs or even to build their school portfolio, but as long as they are willing to work, I’m fine.”

Even amongst volunteers who are already motivated, some may be too busy and as a result, their attention is very divided. As a mentor, he often has to oversee their volunteering work, and also give them advice about their private lives.

“For those who are clearly over-committed, it goes against my personal values to continue keeping them in YEA for my own purpose. 

Always best to pick the most suitable people from the start than have to deal with conflicts down the road.”

2. Communication is very important.

“For the youths who are only here for portfolio, there is always a risk that you cannot give them what they want or precisely when they want it. This might lead them to lose their purpose and blame you for things not going well. “

Usually when there are issues within his team, Zhen Xian will talk to the person who is unhappy and understand his point-of-view, before speaking to his fellow excos and coming up with a way to resolve this issue together.

“We need to accept that every single youth is different. They have differing values, perspectives… We cannot mold everyone to what we want, so compromising is important.”

3. Care about the dignity of your beneficiaries

“I once visited Montford Care to help seniors, and I found their concept very unique.

When we volunteer, we always think of what we can provide for this person. Perhaps your beneficiary also wants to contribute? Everyone wants to be respected…

There, the elderly teach the youths skills like making coffee and cooking.

We shouldn’t always give give give, but also develop the abilities of those we help to give back to society and help them find their passions and values in life. “

Connect with Zhen Xian here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keezhenxian/

And that is it 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.