The story of former military officer’s race with himself to fulfill a 10-year-old boy’s dream
When GQ Tan first heard about Golden Gate University’s DBA program in Singapore, his instinct was the same as most people around him. The university wasn’t well known there. It felt, as he puts it, too good to be true.
He suspended judgement and signed up anyway.
GQ spent eleven years as a military officer in the Singapore Armed Forces, where he learned the rule he has carried through every phase of his career since: the day you stop learning is the day you stop leading. That conviction took him into academia after the military, through a corporate stint as a head of product, and eventually toward research. He already held a Doctor of Education. He joined the DBA program at Golden Gate University through upGrad because the work he was doing in corporate demanded it. “I thought what is better to start a DBA program, do research, find out how I can actually impact employee performance.”
The race, he says, was with himself. He traces it back to a ten-year-old boy not doing particularly well, carrying a feeling that there was something he had not yet done that he wanted to fulfill. There was no professional requirement to pursue the DBA.
He finished in under two years. He was the first Singaporean to complete the GGU DBA program—something he discovered after the fact.
His research on transformational leadership in Singapore SMEs is now used by consultants as a framework for client conversations. His dissertation chair Dr. Seth Stone approached him immediately after he finished — two book chapters in one published leadership textbook, two more in a forthcoming one. He now serves as a senior editor at an academic journal and returns to GGU as a dissertation chair and professor of practice.
The reason he kept going, when doctoral studies turned lonely, was the same reason he now goes back: to show others it is possible. “It’s a lonely journey. Sometimes we are left all alone in the deep blue sea, trying to stay afloat. I hope to be the lighthouse that shine the light on others and say — I’ve already reached the shore. It’s your turn.”
At graduation in San Francisco, he logged on to the campus Wi-Fi with his student ID and felt something shift. “I’m a student of this university. And I’m here.” After everything, that was the moment.
“Probably the best decision I’ve made so far.”
Dr. GQ Tan completed the Doctor of Business Administration through Golden Gate University’s online DBA program — a fully accredited, fully online doctorate for working professionals. Applications are open.
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