The Second Foundation
“To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.”
Essays on building antifragile families, leaders and institutions in the age of AI.
The Eight Pillars of the Second Foundation
Faith
The foundation beneath everything else on this site.
Family
The first foundation. The one that outlasts everything that I build.
Finance
Compounding ideas and daily actions. The engine of wealth.
Fitness
Where antifragility becomes visible.
Learning
Mastering self. Reading in the age of AI - what still matters and what doesn’t.
Leadership
Making others greater. Building antifragile teams and institutions.
Nation
How Singapore navigates the next 30 years — and what each of us owes the pioneers who built it.
Artificial Intelligence
Living an antifragile life and leading as a human in the Age of AI.
At 32, I moved my family to a new country. At 40, I chose to become its citizen.
Most immigrants arrive hoping to belong. I arrived deciding to build. I am dreaming new dreams. I want to build my Second Foundation.
Since then:
Senior leadership of an APAC financial markets franchise.
Two children thriving in Singapore's schools.
Thirty kilograms gone. Metabolic age dropped from 50 to 32.
Two volumes published by Oxford University Press.
And the one that mattered most — I found a faith that changed how I lead, how I father, and how I think.
I am more complete at 40 than I was at 30.
None of this required perfect conditions. It required a decision and a mindset.
That is what antifragile means. Not a theory. Not a framework. A decision to build strength precisely where life applies pressure.
I am not done. I am just beginning to build what I actually came here to build.
This is written for the senior leader who senses there is a larger game to play. For the young man still searching for his direction. For the parent who wants to leave their children more than money. For the pioneer who refuses to believe their best work is behind them.
And one day — for my son and my daughter, when they ask: how did we get here?
This is the answer.
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