Founder of DesignFuture, Dane Tang is an ICF PCC Executive Coach and Workplace Culture Strategist shaping a future-ready, people-first workforce across Singapore – by design.
Her Mission:
To design a future where leadership, work, and well-being thrive – one person, one team, one culture at a time.
With over 25 years of global leadership experience at Fortune 500 MNCs including Shell, LVMH, L’Oréal, Johnson & Johnson, and Burger King, Dane brings a rare blend of executive credibility, human insight, and systems thinking to drive lasting impact for the complex challenges facing today’s leaders and organizations.
Through her signature Future-Forward Design™ approach, she empowers professionals and organizations to move from reactive change to intentional transformation – spanning individuals, teams, and entire systems.
As Singapore advances its Forward SG vision, Dane Tang’s work is helping shape the leadership, workplace culture, and workforce resilience the nation needs to thrive.
In this SG60 Showcase feature, we explore how Dane’s distinctive framework is reshaping Singapore’s organizational landscape, supporting Singapore’s economic and workforce priorities under the Forward Singapore agenda.
Highlights
Coaching Future-Ready Leaders, Designing Human-Centered Cultures
Q: Describe a specific initiative or program you’ve led that has contributed to Singapore’s development in the past 5 years.
A: “Design your future, don’t default to it.”
That belief underpins Leadership by Design™—a flagship program I launched in 2022 to help Singaporean organizations and executives lead through complexity and change with clarity, empathy, and confidence.
Unlike conventional training program, I treat leadership as a design challenge. Through structured coaching, culture work, and design thinking, I help leaders prototype new mindsets, test assumptions, and build solutions that stick.
It directly supports Singapore’s SkillsFuture priorities – supporting workforce agility, innovation, and inclusive leadership. I’ve coached senior leaders across sectors, particularly in transformation, succession, or post-digital adaptation, enabling them to move from control-driven models to purpose-driven cultures.
As a pioneer coach in Workforce Singapore’s ‘Designing Your Life – The Next Chapter’, a national initiative with the DYL Institute and Republic Polytechnic. This work empowers late-career professionals to design meaningful second careers – supporting mid-career resilience, talent mobility and active ageing, the key national workforce goals.
Beyond structured programs, my thought leadership on LinkedIn has extended this impact. I’ve been recognized as a Top Voice in Work-Life Balance, ranked #1 in Productivity & Personal Growth in Singapore by Favikon, and featured by New In Asia among Singapore’s top 10 LinkedIn Voices to follow.
Through daily content, I share practical frameworks for career reinvention, sustainable leadership performance, and mental wellness – directly contributing to Singapore’s evolving human capital landscape.
The Future Won’t Wait. Design Your Leadership Now.
Q: What unique perspective or expertise do you bring that is particularly relevant to Singapore’s next chapter of growth?
A: You can’t build a high-performing future on a burnt-out present.”
That belief fuels my Future-Forward Design™ methodology—where leadership isn’t a position to occupy but a system to intentionally architect.
My perspective is rooted in a rare combination:
- 25 years of Fortune 500 leadership experience where I led global teams through business challenges and market shifts (Shell, LVMH, L’Oréal, J&J, Burger King)
- Certifications in Design Thinking (SMU), Designing Your Life (Stanford), Mental Wellness Coaching (Ngee Ann Polytechnic), ICF Executive Coaching, and Systemic Team Coaching (Academy of Executive Coaching)
- A successful career reinvention journey, from coporatate executive to entrepreneur, which gives me deep empathy for personal and organizational transformation.
Where others see problems, I see design opportunities. While some offer quick fixes, I co-create sustainable systems for change.
This lens is especially relevant to Forward Singapore’s vision: growth with balance, innovation with inclusion. Through programs like Leadership by Design™, Culture by Design™, and Life by Design™, I help individuals and organizations build the mindset, capability, and culture to thrive in a future that won’t wait.
Most recently, I was appointed as a Coach for the Singapore Leaders Network (SGLN) – a national initiative supported by the Economic Development Board (EDB) to groom Singaporeans for global leadership roles. This work reflects my commitment to supporting Singapore’s long-term leadership pipeline on the world stage.
Singapore’s Future Isn’t Just Built. It’s Designed.
Q: How many Singaporean professionals have you trained or influenced through your work?
A: Over 15,000 professionals have experienced the Future-Forward Design™ methodology through coaching, consulting, workshops, keynotes, and digital content. These engagements create a multiplier effect, spreading tools, frameworks, and mindset shifts across industries and institutions.
Q: Which key Singapore-based organisations have you worked with recently?
A: I have partnered with a wide range of organisations
- Public sector: Workforce Singapore, Enterprise Singapore, Economic Development Board, People’s Association, ASME
- Corporations: DBS, Singtel, SATS, NTUC, HCLI, multiple financial institutions
- Learning Institutions: SUSS, Republic Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, ITE
- Multinational clients: Google, Coca-Cola, LVMH
And most recently, my appointment as a coach with SGLN (Singapore Leaders Network), supported by EDB, has enabled me to further support Singapore’s ambitions for global leadership development.
Designing Workplaces Where People Thrive
Q: What sets you apart from other speakers/trainers in your field?
A: “Strategic insight meets human understanding.”
I combine real-world leadership, global experience, human-centred design and evidence-based coaching in one integrated approach. I’ve built high-performing global teams, led change from within, and helped redesign cultures – not from the sidelines, but from the trenches.
Unlike academic coaches who lack business context, or trainers who lack strategy, I bring a practitioner-designer mindset that helps clients solve real problems by testing, prototyping, and building solutions that work.
Transformation doesn’t happen in silos. It starts with one person, spreads across teams, and reshapes entire organizations. That’s why Future-Forward Design™ is structured around three pillars:
- Leadership by Design™ – Equip leaders to inspire, empower, and lead in the future of work
- Culture by Design™ – Align teams to foster trust, collaboration, and innovation
- Wellbeing by Design™ – Build workplaces where balance fuels productivity and resilience
The result? Purpose-driven leadership, deeply engaged teams, and sustainable cultures. Motivation rises. Performance improves. Talent stays. And it all happens – by design.
Purpose-Driven by Design. Not by Chance.
Q: How do you stay current and continuously evolve your craft?
A: “Design is never done”
That mindset guides how I work and how I grow.
I invest consistently in cross-disciplinary learning:
- Stanford University – Designing Your Life
- Singapore Management University – Design Thinking
- Ngee Ann Polytechnic – Mental Wellness Coaching
- International Coaching Federation – Professional Certified Coaching
- International Systemic Team Coaching
I maintain my ICF PCC credential, which requires supervised coaching and continuing education, and actively engage with global coaching, design, and leadership communities.
Locally, I stay closely connected to Singapore’s evolving needs through partnerships, workshops, and thought leadership.
Daily, I engage with Singapore-based and international professionals on LinkedIn, refining my frameworks through real-world feedback and emerging workplace challenges.
Staying relevant isn’t an option. In a fast-changing world, design must always evolve.
Final Thoughts: The Future of Work, by Design
My mission is simple yet powerful:
To design the future of leadership, culture, and careers – starting with one person, scaling to teams, and transforming entire systems. My suite of programs, rooted in Future-Forward Design™, includes:
- Leadership by Design™ – for executives navigating complexity
- Culture by Design™ – for organizations redesigning the way they work
- Wellbeing by Design™ – for workplaces ready to put people first
- Life by Design™ and Life 2.0 – for professionals seeking purpose and reinvention
Because Singapore’s future won’t be built by chance. It will be shaped – by design.
This article is part of the SG60 Showcase series—highlighting voices and visionaries building Singapore’s future. Stay tuned for more.
Highlights
Read the Chinese article here, or listen to the podcast here.
