Mahbubani transitioned to academia in 2004, taking on the role of founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, shaping it into one of the top public policy schools in the world. His academic career was further distinguished by his election as an honorary international member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to his diplomatic and academic achievements, Mahbubani is a prolific author, having written nine books and helping to edit an additional two. His most critically acclaimed works have touched on observations, analyses and opinions on the political situations and futures in Singapore, Asean and China. His texts also explore the bilateral relations between the US and China, as well as Asia and the West as a whole.

For an example of how popular his books are: his last one, The Asian 21st Century, which launched as a book one could download for free, chalked up more than 130,000 downloads in the first four weeks of its release—far exceeding the publisher’s expected total figure of 20,000. To date, his collection of essays on how Asia is poised to navigate the next century has tallied more than 3 million downloads from over 160 countries.

His newest book is scheduled for publication this August and while it does, as expected, delve into geopolitics and public policy, it is both his most divergent and personal work yet. And that is because Living the Asian Century is a memoir—and appropriately subtitled An Undiplomatic Memoir. The author shares: “In most of my writings on geopolitical issues, the critical thing has been to make sure I grasped the main geopolitical trends correctly and then express them in a way that people understand, and also [that] people believe that they’re getting some new insights, right? But when you write about personal stuff, you’re writing about your own life story. It’s a very different genre of writing.”

The memoir traces Mahbubani’s journey from a very underprivileged childhood to adulthood; his interactions with influential figures such as Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and former deputy prime minister Goh Keng Swee; and his observations on the geopolitical contest between the US and China, offering invaluable insights into the dynamics that shape our world. It is a surprisingly frank and vulnerable work that charts our nation’s history alongside the author’s personal successes and challenges.

One of the underlying themes discussed is the need to take risks. Mahbubani loves to say that “you need a little bit of insanity to do great things”. He tells us: “I copied that from Dr Goh Keng Swee. As I describe in my memoirs, I got quite close to him. He liked to say that reasonable people don’t change the world, unreasonable people do. I was building on that insight. You cannot change anything without taking risks.”

Risk‑taking is something that he hopes more young Singaporeans would embrace, especially when it comes to venturing abroad. He saw first‑hand when he was permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs how even a few years overseas can transform people. “I’d recruit these young officers and they’d be very shy, very withdrawn, like typical Singaporeans. You know, they would say little, dress in a very understated fashion, and try to disappear into the woodwork. But then we would send them overseas and when they came back after three years, they’d be completely transformed. They’d walk more confidently and speak more confidently.”

Mahbubani continues: “There are so many opportunities for young Singaporeans, if they would only try to get to know their Southeast Asian neighbourhood better. Many Singaporeans don’t know how well the Asean region has done. In the year 2000, [Japan’s economy], which was the second‑largest in the world, was eight times bigger than [Asean’s]. Today, [it’s only] about one‑and‑a‑half times bigger. By 2030, [Asean’s economy is projected to be] bigger than [Japan’s]. That’s a tremendous transformation around the region. And there are incredible opportunities, but of course, you have to—and this is what my memoirs try to describe—be willing to take risks.”

Almost any discussion with Mahbubani will inevitably lead to his thoughts on China. He has over the past few decades become one of the leading voices in studying, and perhaps promoting, China’s development and foreign policy

But he contends: “One of the most common misconceptions about me, which is incredibly deeply entrenched, is that I’m pro‑China and anti‑American. But when I go to the US and speak about China, what I’m telling the Americans is that you guys are making a huge mistake. You’re underestimating China. You should overestimate China. If I were an enemy of the US, why should I try to wake them up? Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard [University] and former [US] treasury secretary, was asked in January 2021 [about] the three best books [he] read in 2020. He said, ‘First is Obama’s memoirs. Obama was my boss.’ The second was by Nobel laureate Angus Deaton. And the third is (Mahbubani’s) Has China Won?. Why would a senior American praise my book unless he realises that this book is intended to help Americans?”

The paradox of his “role”, as Mahbubani likes to call it, is that he feels a responsibility to help the West understand Asia as it has entered the 21st century. But in the same way that no one wants to be told they are gaining weight, some audiences just do not want to accept what may be true. 

“There has got to be a change in mindset,” he tells us. “The West needs to realise that the 200 years of Western domination of world history, from 1820 or so to 2020, was an aberration and that the return of Asia is a perfectly natural thing because from the year one to 1820, the two largest economies were those of China and India.”

But changing minds can be difficult. Mahbubani continues: “I think it’s very difficult for the leading Western minds, especially the Anglo‑Saxon minds, to accept that Asians can be equal to them, because they’re so used to looking at the world from a position of superiority. Sometimes, they’re very honest about it. Josep Borrell [Fontelles], who runs [the] foreign policy of the [European Union], gave a speech in 2022 in which he said Europe is a garden and the rest of the world is a jungle. I mean, I’m glad he said it; he sees us Asians as living in a jungle, maybe climbing trees or whatever. But he doesn’t realise that actually, the gardens in Asia today are in some ways better than the gardens in Europe or even in the US.”

His willingness to be outspoken, Mahbubani understands, is both a necessity—adopting the age‑old mantra, “It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it”—and a risk. And as established, he sees risks, and the challenges they bring, as worth the effort because the risks he took as a young man helped lay the map for his arguably very successful career. But being willing to be outspoken will always attract criticism.

Mahbubani’s ex‑boss, Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo, who has read an early release of the memoir, contributed these thoughts: “Kishore freely admits that he had detractors, both in Singapore and outside, and tries to understand their criticisms of him. One can sense the pain he must have felt writing those paragraphs. As the founding dean, Kishore was hugely responsible for the exceptional success of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Yet, even here, he faced many criticisms. Happily, he emerged stronger and more energised after each of life’s challenges.

“Kishore’s memoir is not only about foreign affairs; it is also about an individual life in the Singapore story that would not be put down by misfortune or hardship. His story will inspire a younger generation of Singaporeans.”

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