Barracks to Boardroom: Climbing The Greasy Pole

This book is a memoir of Liew Mun Leong’s five-decades-long career
in the public and private sectors. It describes the major events and
turning points in his long and varied career and offers useful management
and leadership lessons earned through his experiences in various
professional, management and leadership roles. Liew Mun Leong has
been a civil engineer, the head of statutory boards, a contractor, a real
estate investor and developer, an airport builder/operator and an urban 

and infrastructure consultant.

Beginning with his civil service career in the Ministry of Defence, building
military barracks, and eventually detailing how he led businesses in
a wide spectrum of industries, Barracks to Boardroom highlights the
different dynamics in corporate culture, environments and “bottom
line” motivation in both the civil service and the commercial world.

In crossing over from an “insider” in the public sector to an “outsider”
in the private sector, Liew Mun Leong sees clearly the need for a shift
of mindsets to bridge the two distinct operating systems and cultures.

He describes how he has often courageously broken ground but not
rules to get things done. The civil service ingrained in him integrity,
discipline and good governance while his commercial exposure enriched
his entrepreneurship and broadened his global perspectives.

The book covers various periods of his career, including:
• Working for Mindef
• Launching his engineering career at Paya Lebar Airport
• Working on Changi Airport
• Going from engineering to corporate leadership at SISIR
• Going through a baptism of fire in the private sector
• Entering real estate
• Founding CapitaLand and venturing overseas
• The Surbana Jurong story
• Corporatising Changi Airport

His insights on management and leadership make this book an interesting
read for future young leaders on both sides of the aisle.

LIEW MUN LEONG | AUTHOR
For more than 30 years, from the late 1980s, Liew Mun Leong has held
top leadership roles and responsibilities in a wide range of industries.
He has been the CEO of the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial
Research (SISIR) and also led the National Science and Technology
Board, L&M Group and Pidemco Land. He was the Founding Group
President and CEO of CapitaLand. Liew Mun Leong also chaired Changi
Airport Group, Surbana Jurong Pte Ltd, the Civil Aviation Authority of
Singapore and Temasek Foundation Nurtures. He has been the Registrar
of the Professional Engineers Board Singapore and the elected
President of the International Organization for Standardization from
1997 to 1998. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the
President of Singapore in 2011. He is the author of five other books, titled
Building People: Sunday Emails from a CEO/Chairman volume I, II, III, IV, V.

ISBN: 9789815081244
Size: 152 mm x 227 mm (portrait)
Page extent: 300 pp, soft cover with flaps
Estimated weight: 290 grams
Price: S$35.00 (excluding GST)
Publication: August 2025