Chief Change Officer
#191 Pei Ling Tin: A Life-Altering Election for Singapore's Youngest Elected Parliamentarian - Part Two
Thu, 20 Feb 2025
Part Two. From psychology textbooks to political debates, Tin Pei Ling took an unexpected career turn—and not everyone was thrilled about it. Becoming Singapore’s youngest female parliamentarian meant facing criticism, age bias, and a whole lot of unsolicited advice. But instead of folding, she leaned into resilience, grassroots work, and a no-nonsense approach to leadership. She also dives into her approach to navigating change (spoiler: it involves a lot of adapting and zero standing still), her fight for women’s empowerment, and why she sees regret as a motivational tool rather than a roadblock. And yes, there’s even a Lee Kuan Yew wisdom drop in here. Key Highlights of Our Interview: The Three-Stage Change Model “Change begins with unfreezing—understanding the need and motivation to move forward. But it’s in the second stage, where you think like a social psychologist, that you navigate the hardest part: adapting yourself and your environment. And finally, in refreezing, you solidify the new behaviors and build a foundation for sustainable growth.” The Power of an MBA Journey “Pursuing an MBA at a young age gave me a platform to learn from peers with diverse experiences. It wasn’t just the coursework, but the exposure to different perspectives that built the momentum for lifelong learning and growth.” Advocating for Women’s Aspirations “Balancing multiple roles isn’t easy, especially for women. My journey as a working mother has inspired me to advocate for better support systems, so women can pursue their dreams without sacrificing their personal or professional growth.” Balancing Leadership and Motherhood “There’s no such thing as perfect balance—there are always trade-offs. As a mother, an elected member of parliament, and a full-time professional, I’ve faced moments of guilt, like missing my son’s rapid growth during a general election. But with an ecosystem of support, I’ve managed to fulfill my roles and give back to my community.” _________________________ Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Tin Pei Ling --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.12 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>140,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: What is the Three-Stage Change Model and how is it applied?
That's why we have part two, Before we dive in, let me share with you one golden rule of success in driving and sustaining change. Whatever change you try to make, lose weight, launch a new product, or even trying to stage a large-scale transformation project in your firm, this rule applies. This is a three-stage model of change proposed by the founding father of social psychology, Kurt Lewin.
According to him, in order to change, we need to first unfreeze, a stage where we understand the need and find the motivation to change. Second, change, the stage where you move towards a different behavior. Third, change, re-freeze, a stage where you solidify the change and establish that new behavior as the norm.
Chapter 2: How did Tin Pei Ling transition from psychology to politics?
In Pei Ling's case, in the first stage, unfreeze, if you recall in part one of our interview, I asked her specifically about the why, about the need and the motivation to change, from psychology to business consulting, from private individual to public officer. So the need and the motivation to change, figure it out. This stage is very personal. It's about you. You may not get 100% of the why yet.
80, 90%, that's already very good. Because in the next stage, when you're going through the process of change, you will get to know more about yourself. So you'll figure out more, but you do need to start with a good chunk of understanding of your need and the motivation to change at the early stage, as in Pei Ling's case. The second stage, change, is the hardest part.
We start with thinking of yourself, but then in the second stage, you have to go beyond yourself, go above yourself. You need to think like a social psychologist. Change behavior is a function of a person and a situation. In the first stage, you figure out yourself, the person, but what about the situation? What in that environment that helps you drive and sustain the change?
What factors affect your behavior? What are some of the negative reinforcement factors? Well, in Pei Ling's case, for example, attacks in person and social media. What are the positive reinforcement factors? In Pei Ling's case, she got the support from the political party. In your case, you work in a big firm. You got support from a boss, from a CEO, from a board of directors.
You are an entrepreneur. You got support from your investors. Good for you. But that's only one piece of the situation. In Penning's case... She went out there, exposed herself, faced the people, faced the challenges, trying to turn distrust into trust, to win the hearts and minds of people, get the buy-in in order to fit in. On top of that, she went for an MBA degree.
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Chapter 3: What role did an MBA play in Tin Pei Ling's career?
She tried to build up her knowledge base to become more business savvy. But it's not just the body of knowledge or the fame of the degree. A lot of people thinking of getting an MBA degree missed the point. It's the situation you got yourself in that makes a difference in your life and career. In Pei Ling's case, she was younger, had less business experiences, let alone international experiences.
But then, in those two years, she got direct exposure, direct interaction with people from all around the world, classmates who are more mature, more experienced from all walks of life, plus the professors. the deep knowledge in a lot of areas. Within two years, she built up not just the momentum of her growth, but the solid foundation for her to keep going on and on and on.
So that's the value of an MBA degree in her situation. not to mention about a very important ecosystem of support she has nurtured over time. When she refreezes as a competent woman leader to fight for the interests of her people, she got all of those elements in place. It's about her, but it's also about her. To recap, three-step model of change.
First, unfreeze, where you figure out yourself the need and the motivation to change. Second, Think like a social psychologist. Figure out your environment. Remember, change behavior is a function of a person and a situation. Figure out the strengthening and the weakening factors. Magnify the positive reinforcement factors. Downplay the negative reinforcement factors.
In some cases, the situation isn't just right for you, then get out of it. You don't have to get yourself stuck in that. Change your game. Get onto another stage for you to sing, to dance, to perform, and outperform. Third, solidify all of these change elements. They're self-reinforcing to each other, so you're essentially building yourself a wider and deeper foundation.
taking you from the older self to the future self in a much more sustainable and successful manner. There is no overnight success. That's just a myth. Any success, any sustainable success always takes patience, effort, and a deep process of change. Now, let's go back to Pei Ling's story. Let's look at her model of change, how she made her own law of change to play the long game.
I met you around 2013 when you started MBA. When I recall the statistics of our class, the average age was 37. You were among the youngest. What's the logic and psychology behind your decision to pursue an MBA degree after you got into politics?
How would you describe your two years experience studying with people who are from different walks of life and most of us are older, have different experience from you?
I think it was wonderful. Fantastic. I really enjoyed my time at Chicago Booth. I meet a lot of different people from different walks of life. I learn from them and make great friends, including you, Vinz. Yeah, of course, of course. Of course. 10 years and counting. Yes, yes. Yeah, so... Okay, first of all, I like meeting people, but I also love learning.
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Chapter 4: How does Tin Pei Ling balance her multiple roles?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, man. Heisinger. Professor Heisinger. I really liked him. He really drives us. He taught us how to look at trends, try to predict stuff using formulas. I know that some other, I shall not name other schools, but from my understanding, macroeconomics would be a little bit more intuitive in those causes. But for Chicago Booth, it was all formula-driven.
And then every week, no, every month we had an exam and in the week that we were together, every day there's a quiz. so it's quite crazy but I think it really trained us well placed us very well I think looking back it was a great experience but the question was why did I choose to do it As an elected member of parliament, I should constantly try to grow and learn.
As I mentioned earlier, my first term, I quit my job at Ernst & Young to focus on my constituency work. I think it was wonderful. After a while, when we get the hang of things, you build up experience, you establish processes, you establish the team. I start to have capacity. I felt that I needed to build new dimensions. I felt that I really needed to learn something.
When the Chicago Bulls opportunity came, I decided to just latch on and just go. It has been a wonderful two years.
Yeah, part of your growth process, you are always on call as a coach. elected member of the parliament, always community works, always on. And then you finish your MBA education, you move back to the real world, you got your private sector job, full-time job, you got this public duty, and you're a mother of two.
How do you balance, not just balancing your timetables, but also the roles you played? How do you balance all these different responsibilities and duties?
Yeah, I get asked this quite a bit and while we all wish we can balance all these different roles and that, and the assumption underlying this would be that we compromise nothing. But the reality is that there will always be trade off. Something has to give at some point when we focus on something else. So in this case,
Honestly, there's always a constant mother's guilt because I feel that being an elected member of parliament is absolutely sacred because so many people place their trust in me. They voted for me. To me, this is absolutely sacred. So I have to continue to do my best. to solve the problems, to listen, to represent them in parliament, to give voice, to do a lot of things.
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