IN THIS Internet age, the government is still ”experimenting” on the best way to lead and interact with Singaporeans, Foreign Minister George Yeo said on 22 January.

Leaders have to possess a certain “programmability”, he said, and know when to become students again so that they can pick up the right skills in areas such as social networking to connect with the people.

The world is very different from previous times, when information was less freely available, he noted.

Today, there are a multitude of sources available, as well as a variety of avenues such as Facebook and blogs, for people to get themselves heard.

“The fact now is that hierarchies are breaking down, dissolving into messy networks,” he said at the inaugural Fullerton-SJI Leadership Lectures.

Said Mr Yeo of the new environment:” It affects the relationship of teachers to students, of parents to their children, of employers to their employees, of ministers with ordinary citizens.”

Such relationships were going through a profound change, he said.

Leadership was no longer a one-way relationship, with the leader having the ideas planned out and others following like clone armies in the Star Wars film series.

“In this day and age, clone armies are weak armies,” said Mr Yeo.

Rather, leadership is now about chemistry among people, allowing them to draw energy from one another.

“Some will make the transition better than others. A Darwinian process is at work,” he said.

Asked how the Singapore Government would transform itself from the traditional hierarchical mould, he said:

“We’re all experimenting. We don’t quite know what is the optimal balance point.”

But, he added, it helped for leaders to be flexible, to be able to programme themselves to suit different situations and audiences.

They also had to be willing to learn.

For example, said Mr Yeo, when he put himself up on Facebook three years ago, he decided that he knew much less than the young people around him.

Added Mr Yeo:  “ Leadership means going into new areas.  It means causing discomfort to others and yourself, and persuading them that it’s all worthwhile.”