Go ahead and downvote me, call me elitist, or tell me I’m toxic. I’m just being 100% real about how corporate Singapore actually works behind closed doors.
I’m a Managing Director at a boutique advisory firm here. I handle the final-round interviews for all our senior analysts and consultants. Over the last ten years, I’ve developed one strict, unwritten rule that has never failed me: If it looks like you don’t step foot in a gym or care about your basic physical health, you are not getting the job offer.
Before you start screaming “discrimination” or saying skills are the only thing that matters, hear me out. In our line of work, the hours are brutal. Clients are demanding, the stress is high, and the stakes are even higher. If you cannot even manage your own body, how on earth am I supposed to trust you to manage millions of dollars in client portfolios?
To me, taking care of your physique is the ultimate reflection of discipline, self-respect, and reliability. It means you understand consistency. You know how to wake up early to crush a workout or hit the gym after a exhausting day, even when you don’t feel like it. That is the exact kind of grit I need in my team.
When someone walks into my glass-walled boardroom looking completely neglected—slouching, zero muscle tone, wheezing slightly just from walking up from the MRT station—my brain immediately flags them as unreliable. It shows a fundamental lack of self-discipline. If you give up on your own health because “life is too busy,” you will absolutely give up on my projects when the crunch time hits at 2:00 AM. If you let yourself go, it tells me you choose comfort over effort. And comfort doesn’t drive results.
I’m not saying you need to be an influencer or an Olympic lifter. But there is a massive, visible difference between someone who respects their body and someone who treats it like a trash can. You can wear a tailored G2000 or Benjamin Barker suit, but you cannot hide poor health.
Singaporeans love to complain about the toxic grind culture, but the harsh truth is that the corporate world is a battlefield. I need soldiers who are physically and mentally resilient. Every single time I broke this rule in the past out of pity, that hire ended up burning out within three months, taking endless MCs, or dropping the ball during critical presentations because they simply lacked the stamina.
Skills can be taught. Technical knowledge can be crammed over a weekend. But basic self-discipline? You either have it or you don’t. Downvote all you want, but my team is currently the highest-performing unit in the firm, and every single one of them can hold their own in both the boardroom and the gym. If you can’t manage your own life, don’t expect me to let you manage mine.