The panel

Raymond Lim, 30, spokesman for an F&B group. Married to a Korean and father of one.	Manoj Kumar, 38, associate vice president in corporate broking. Dating a Singaporean.
Vasu Dave, 47, personal development trainer. Dating a Malaysian.	Daniel Ong, 34, freelance event host and narrator. Married to Fly Entertainment artiste Jaime Teo.
Kok Chuen Chiat, 38, an executive in the retail industry. He has worked in Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the US. He is married to a Singaporean.	Jonathan Ho, 30, editor. Single

As bosses and colleagues

• What do you think of us as colleagues?

RAYMOND Women here have their own stance. They’re not “yes” women who agree with everything the bosses say.
MANOJ I can really see the hunger in them. They’re not softies. They really go out there to fight for what they want.
DANIEL They’re level-headed and very intelligent. I love the sparring and ideas from them.
CHUEN Local women get the job done and deliver results. Many foreign executives out there can deliver a wonderful presentation, but are not able to follow through.
JONATHAN They can sometimes be too concerned with the microscopic details and miss the big picture. I’ve also noticed that single women are more competitive than the married ones.

• Do you think we are insecure about our status at work?

CHUEN No. Women here have carved a solid reputation for themselves. 
JONATHAN Local women will never admit their insecurities to a male colleague. My female colleagues might ask me if I think they’re doing a good job from time to time though. I think there’s a psychological need for women to prove themselves in a male-dominated work place. In an effort to assert themselves, local female superiors sometimes lose sight of advice or opinions a male subordinate gives – that becomes counter-productive.
RAYMOND To a certain extent. Those who are insecure about their position in the company are antagonised easily. They like to prove their point over e-mails. I once e-mailed my colleagues to say that we were meeting an important client for an appointment. Someone who wanted to show that she was important hit the “reply all” button and insisted that it was to her credit that the client was willing to meet us – although that wasn’t entirely true. I’m always thinking in terms of “we”, a team, while she’s always thinking about herself.

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