Well, when you have been headhunted to lead in various industries, your experiences and
successes can be very different from other folks.
You can narrow it down to a methodology, but if you have the talent, go for it.
TC Lai is one such talent. Tested to be equally technical and artistic, he has been able to take up senior positions in industries ranging from consumer electronics R&D to PR to Advertising.
It helps that he loves a fast-pace work life - reason why he started in Consumer Electronics R&D - the first batch of engineers encouraged by the S'pore government to go into that field. The rapid rise of consumer goods sales in the region was behind the thinking, no doubt spurred on by the immense success of Japanese CE giants like Sony, Toshiba or National Panasonic. Presently the Japanese have been eclipsed by the Koreans. The CE industry is now also eclipsed by products such as the mobile phone and tablet and the digital camera, not to mention the smart/fitness watches - even as "white" goods such as fridges and washing machines remain essential items in any household.
The CE industry has always been characterized by speed: the ability to churn out new products every quarter or so. - New products that come with ever greater and newer features. So the testing and quality care in manufacturing has to be there. You work fast but you also cannot afford to miss out on quality. Like the recent Samsung Note 7 flame-up issue illustrated, even with the best of intentions, a top-notch product can still go wrong. All aspects of quality must be looked into to ensure safety: device parts homologation; product environment testing, user acceptance tests, etc., etc. Over time in the CE industry, you gain experience to build things that are "cheap and good". Why? The CE industry in general thrives on disposal income. And folks expect their TVs and washing machines to last; not throwaway like mobile phones.
Whether in a factory or R&D or PR/ad agency, TC's work has been characterized by projects. Often he would be running three projects at once, projects that may even span different cities. Hence, being good at project management is important. Knowing what is required, learning to seek the cooperation of others, and adding value to get the best result.
TC loves a complex project and nowhere near is a telecoms project more difficult or complex. The network roll-out, real estate negotiations (for the base stations and antenna), handset availability, various system integration, the subscriber and billing systems, etc. TC currently holds a certificate in Project Management in Scheduling and Budgeting in Telecoms, trained by famed PM guru, Dan Ono, from At&T.
Another complex project type can be found in advertising. From recommending which medium to use to the appropriate messages that has to be crafted (and approved), not to mention the artwork as well. - All these add to a very trying length of time in brainstorming, incubation and birthing. An example is his involvement in the first credit card for a bank launched in Singapore some time ago.
TC has also achieved much in PR.
No matter which job, which task... good project management skill is key. It requires both hard and soft skills. The ability to sprint as well as the ability to pace. Learning along the way is also a big part. It's a humbling process!
Thus far, TC has also done project management in Product Development, Product Manufacture, and Product sales. He has been in Engineering, Journalism, PR, Advertising, Marcoms at both corporate and start-up levels. He has also contributed much to educational institutions crafting and realizing workshops to bring out the inventive best of the younger generation. He can turn a green-screen studio into a $$$ making one and where kids can learn to interview science luminaries and make "cheem" science topics relatable.)
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TC began his career in RF engineering responsible for the company's first chip-based video modulator. He then joined the 2800-strong VCR factory's New Product Department to build an extreme time-saving test bed that was nominated for a national technology award. His duties at NPD included all manner of new product testing and design; and he was also a member of the company's Quality Leadership Steering Committee and oversaw the creation of a QL Resource Center at the factory's premises.
With a penchant for Communications, TC later became Senior Engineer at a local product design firm tasked with training, technical publications and in general, helping to manage the development process as well. Six product manuals he wrote and illustrated in double-quick time still remains a talking point in the company. He also wrote out the company's first manual on shipboard comms.
TC then spent a short-stint in a professional conference company producing the region's first ISDN Broadband Conference. It involved top super-information-highway experts from China, Europe and also the Asia Pacific. Through this program, TC learned much about digital and analog telecom systems. And why operators were at the time interested in switching to a more packetised network platform. As producer, TC researched and drafted the conference program and speaker list. He was also involved in its marketing.
In 1995, TC became a well-read writer of ITAsia - a regional paper on enterprise computing and use. Beside user stories he also helmed a popular column on IT technologies and their development. After obtaining his Master in Technology he was promoted to Editor and Research Manager tasked with creating a portfolio of paid-for market research.
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From Newscom Pte Ltd publishing house, TC was headhunted to join an international PR agency as Senior Consultant for its Technology Practice. Because of his knowledge and background, TC spearheaded PR efforts for companies like Ericsson (mobilecomms/Future Lab), Skybridge (a French/US company in satcoms), Microsoft (to market their Development tools), etc. And because of his consumer-tech background, he also helped out in projects that launched contact lenses, shopping centers, etc., to name a few. He proved to be very versatile at the PR agency and an excellent event organizer. Eventually he was seconded to Ericsson's office in Sweden to help organize a '3G Blue Sky' advanced event and also to co-lead its International Marketing Directors Messaging Workshop to help define Ericsson's then new internet strategy.
From PR, TC was again headhunted to join an advertising firm. He was given the title Assoc Group Biz Director and tasked to expand on its Technology practice. During his tenure, TC helped launched events, websites, products for companies like Accenture, HP (Business and Personal Computing divisions) and several banks. He helped much in continuing business of the "Big 4" local banks that saw the launch of OCBC's first credit card. He also created the bank's first electronic banking handbook. At this agency, TC also launched a new biz targeted at the corporate rebranding of the nation's top 50 SME enterprises.
In an era of start-ups and entrepreneurs, TC then joined a new start-up to help market a a new radio modulator made famous by Mr Marconi of Italy. The new approach was very fast, very accurate and surprisingly, using very common components (that cost less than a dollar).
As head of Marcoms, he brought the new technology worldwide acclaim, i.e. known from Asia to the South Americas (altogether 75 countires). Importantly, he made the company stand out in a crowded event such as CeBit in Hannover, Germany. The Cellonics technology was angel-financed by 17 high profile, government-linked individuals. It was ultrawideband technology that promised blindingly fast and high bandwidth networks. But as Sept 11 took its toll on investor confidence (and UWB being long ways in achieving any consensus in the industry), TC decided to join a regional marketing company as Vice President responsible for advertising, marketing and channel partner revenues. The company was HQ-ed in New Delhi, India and a lead player in the South-east Asian market.
TC's experience brought a new level of sophistication and quality to the company. Clients included tech giants such HP, Hitachi, IBM, etc. He also helped to craft strategies to help clients gain short-term quarterly gains (to meet forecasts).
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TC Lai has also worked as Technology Manager at the future engineering lab of ST Engineering Pte Ltd in charge of seeking out new technologies in defence and the military. One such technology concerned the linking of relationships between known and yet-unknown terrorists. Others looked at smart dust, autonomous robots and UAVs and the emerging energy weapons sector.
During his time there, he also organised the parent company's very successful 'Engineers Retreat' that involved folks from seven subsidiaries, numbering over 300. The event ran for 3 days and was rated 4/5 in all categories of satisfaction. At this unit, TC had also much chance to attend many defence technology conferences, just as he did as a journalist and conference organizer attending various professional IEEE conferences and many industry standard pow-wow sessions that involved The ATM Forum, Gigabit Ethernet, UWB, GSM-CDMA, etc! Those were very exciting times indeed!
As a person, TC is personable, forward thinking and has a good sense of humor. Such traits were developed from an early interest in things psychiatry and counselling, science and tech and Punchline comics. His current interests include biking, design, sci-tech, architecture, 'fooding' and travel. He enjoys reading up on the latest in science and technology especially in new insights as well as particle physics. He was past-president of the Science Fiction Association of Singapore (SFAS), now a Google group. He is also a big advocate for the game of petanque.
In 2006, TC also took up case-study writing for the prestigious Lee Kuan School of Public Policy. He was trained as a case-study trainer and writer first by the Griffith University's Business Graduate faculty and then by the Harvard School of Government. In the time leading to those years, TC has helmed newsletters about cars, retail, tourism, and shopping.
For nearly a decade, he was a contributing sci-tech correspondent to Innovation, a magazine put out by the National University of Singapore on various R&D works. He wrote topical articles and also interviewed preeminent scientists about their cutting-edge work in biology, dentistry, physics, nano-tech and quantum mechanics.
TC has also worked at a popular public institution giving talks on recent inventions, innovations, photography, and conducted workshops on stop-motion animation and movie-making. He also started a studio program to interview visiting scientists and technologists.
In his spare time TC volunteers as a Memory Corp ambassador with the National Library to interview senior folks about their life stories. He has also trained secondary and JC students to be future memory "recordists" so they could help preserve the legacies of those near and dear to them. Including their own school and alma mater.
TC looks forward to bringing his rich knowledge of Communications, Marketing, Editorial, Design and Technology, Event Management and Case Training to the benefit of any organisation who wishes to engage him. As noted by one headhunter, a person of his experience and caliber is rather rare and complete.
To date, TC has done projects in China, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, India, Sweden, Germany and the USA.
For more info, TC may be contacted at:
HP: 92379773; Email: monaco.lai@gmail.com; Some of his portfolio may be viewed here.
Last updated: 14 Feb 2016.
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| Designed hardware and wrote control software for this extreme time-saving test setup that involved RF, A/V and multi-signal generators. It was nominated for a National Technology Award, probably a first in Sg for an engineer. |
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| Awarded this for distinction for outstanding brochure design. Love it when good design is paired with great copy! |
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| Crafting of technology philosophy for a local company to go international! |
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