Volume 5 Issue 2: Creativity and Kiasuism

The Singaporean spirit of survival as a small country breeds creativity – “necessity is the mother of invention” and in many ways, kiasuism is about survival.

Singapore’s transformation into the thriving metropolis and global trade hub it is today proves that some aspects of kiasuism – like persistence and a spirit of self-reliance – can lead to creative solutions in pursuit of excellence.

After independence, we industrialised, then pivoted to a knowledge-based economy as labour costs rose. We flexed our “little C” muscles along the way, dreaming up innovative solutions to Singaporean problems, including reclamation and vertical living for land scarcity and NEWater, reservoirs and desalination for fresh drinking water. Today, we continue to future-proof the country, investing in local deep tech start-ups centred around moonshot innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.

Kiasuism leads to an overemphasis on results over process.

While kiasuism has benefited us at a national level, it can narrow our thinking. To ace exams, we drill questions in our Ten Year Series assessment books until we have them down to rote memory, not realising that we’ve lost our curiosity for learning along the way. This isn’t due to kiasuism alone – empirically, even placing prizes in competitions have been shown to hamper children’s creativity.

The solution – remove the prize and the pressure to perform. Students in Singapore now face fewer major exams, which are held only later in their school life. Meanwhile, top scorers are no longer announced for the Primary School Leaving Examination, with results distributed at the classroom level. With time, this can help us shift away from results-oriented learning.

Even the negative aspects of kiasuism can foster creativity within a wider ecosystem.

Singapore’s exemplary creativity scores on the global stage are no fluke. The pragmatism and community focus of our education system teach us to focus on incremental, practical innovations that contribute to a social good.

In other words, we’re great at “little C” creativity – also known as constructive or everyday creativity, as expressed through daily problem solving, experimentation and critical thinking – but not as good when it comes to mooting individualistic and socially disruptive changes, like the kind you’d see from “big C” creatives.

However, a paralysing fear of failure is holding many of us back from venturing into uncharted waters.

Just as Singaporeans score exceptionally high on creativity, we’ve also been top performers internationally when it comes to fear of failure. Our kiasu instincts lead us away from less certain paths.

These range from avoiding fields deemed less aligned to success, including the arts and the social sciences, to the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship. Less than one in five youths here want to start their own business, and those who do sometimes take the safer route, retreading familiar ground and focusing on short-term gains. Fear narrows the range of what’s possible in the first place.

We are more creative than we think – just look at the Singaporeans thriving in creative spaces.

Though we often take it for granted, research has shown that multicultural environments like cosmopolitan Singapore are fertile ground for creativity. We are constantly bombarded with new ideas, practices and perspectives, arming us with ample fodder to inspire individual creativity.

There are numerous examples of Singaporeans flying our creative flag high around the world. We have internationally recognised musicians like JJ Lin, Sezairi Sezali, Yung Raja and Shye, as well as international thespians Fann Wong, Ng Chin Han and Nathania Ong. We also have homegrown companies which have established themselves in the global marketplace, including Creative Technology, Razer and Secretlab.

At its worst, kiasuism contributes to the “fixed-pie” mindset.

In its most extreme forms, the kiasu-driven mind focuses on preventing losses, rather than seeking gains. We become convinced that there is only a fixed amount of resources for too many people, leading to mindless competition and selfishness.

The kiasu person refuses to share tips, ideas or resources, hoarding them for themselves not just for their potential benefit, but to prevent others from having it. Overtime, this limits the collective potential for creativity as individuals might spend more time and energy keeping others down than raising themselves up. Creative contributions rarely come in a vacuum – they often require a vibrant culture of collaboration, support and yes, even some competitiveness, to truly flourish.