The 7 Tasks that Cannot Be Delegated

Following my article on 22 April 2014 about the 7 Truths in Management, the part on Delegation attracted the most comments. In our management training, we often emphasized 7 children: the 7 Tasks that Cannot Be Delegated. They are like your 7 children, if you abandon them, you're abdicating them. That's sinful!

Giving Authorization. This is very obvious, you cannot delegate approval and authorization, thus you have to sign documents yourself.
Strategic Planning. You can get consultants to help you, but at the end of the day, you must select what strategy to take. When it comes to planning, you can delegate the details to your subordinate, but the overall master plan must come from you.
Praising People. You can delegate scolding, but compliments have to be dished out by yourself. If you are afraid that your hair will stand when you praise someone face to face, you can do it via electronic ways. But no matter how busy you are, a manager's job is to inspire motivate and lead people, thus you have to praise people yourself.
Showing Care and Concern for People. You cannot ask your staff to call the person on your behalf to express your care and concern, for sincerity is most important in giving out such love.
Taking the Blame. Yes, you can delegate taking credit but taking blame must be shouldered by you and you alone. We know that bosses are the problems, and all great bosses are the first to take the blame and last to take the credit.
Apology. Apology has to be done at the highest level or it has no effect at all. That's why Ms Pak, President of South Korean, has to personally apologize for the ship's fatal accident that killed 200 people in April 2014.
Delegation. This is most important, for you cannot delegate delegation. That means that at the end of the day, you are still responsible even though you have delegated the entire tasks! Like Apple Inc. has outsourced its manufacturing to Foxconn, but it has to be personally responsible when a fire broke out at Foxconn's factory.

The Secret Under the Mattress: Why would a 79-year Man Bet So Big on 4D?

It was 2007 when we discovered his secret. While moving my father’s mattress, we found them: heaps and heaps of Singapore Pools 4D tickets. They were stacked in layers, a paper trail of lost hopes. What shocked us most wasn’t just the volume, but the stakes. He wasn’t betting a few dollars for fun. He was punting hundreds of dollars per draw—nearly ten times a month. At the time, my siblings and I were furious. Our father was a 79-year-old retiree. We wondered, with a mix of anger and confusion, why a man at his stage of life would need to win such "big money." What was he going to do with the money? We saw it as a reckless habit, a sign of poor judgment in his final years. Some of us would say, "If I were to give him money to buy 4D, why don't I use the money and buy 4D myself? At least I have better discipline". It has taken me two decades, and the experience of raising my own three grown-up children, to finally see the truth that was hidden under that matt...

Head Bleeding when the Chair Falls

The Weight of Silence: What Were We Really Arguing About? My earliest memories are punctuated by the sound of shouting. In 1970, when I was barely 6 years old, I stood as a small witness to the fierce quarrels between my father and my late eldest brother Kah Yang (he passed away in 1971 at the age of 17). As I grew up, these contradictions became the soundtrack of our lives, usually centered around our family's shoe shop and clothing stalls in Chinatown. In the court of family opinion, the verdict was almost always the same: my father was "wrong." He was judged as a man who didn't fulfill his role, who wasn't "burdening" enough for the family’s success. But as I look back from the vantage point of 2026, I have to ask: Was that actually true? Let me finally put to rest what my father did right: the truths that were buried under decades of criticism: Unseen Labor: He worked grueling, long hours. I remember him hauling boxes of goods and equipment to set u...

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