When Mr Mario Goh approaches a problem, whether previously as an HR consultant, or today as a business lecturer and school adviser, one of the first questions he asks is, “What’s your pain point?”
Being able to define a problem with clarity and unabashed honesty is half the battle won, and not as easy as it sounds, says the Senior Manager for Student Development and Leadership at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business & Accountancy (BA).
This is why he has developed a series of frameworks and guiding principles to live by, across his years as an organisational psychologist and with over 15 years under his belt as a polytechnic lecturer.
These principles aren’t dense truths to be distilled, but are meant to be easy to apply like a life hack. One such principle is his philosophy of “dual empathy”, which he applies to both his teaching and mentoring sessions.
He explains, “Students need an inner compass made of two needles: self-empathy and empathy for the ‘other’.”
If they develop a good understanding of themselves, and of who the “other” party is and what they need, they will make better and more confident decisions. The “other” could refer to a project partner, client, society – anyone they are navigating with and need to show empathy for.
“By fostering dual empathy, students can navigate personal and workplace transformations and contribute meaningfully to society in a sustained and enduring way.”
“Empathy doesn’t mean lowering expectations. It means helping students rise to meet them.”
Mr Goh
Helping students discover their inner calling
Nathaniel Tang, 20, credits Mr Goh and “dual empathy” for how he found his way to his dream career pathway.
When they met at an event organised by NP’s School of Business & Accountancy, Nathaniel was studying accountancy and considering a career in corporate law. One casual chat followed another, and Nathaniel found himself applying for a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship!
He came to realise that he had always wanted to serve the nation and the greater good in a professional capacity, but none of his personal and professional involvements had checked this box – until Mr Goh came along and suggested a career in public service.
Nathaniel signed up to help everyday Singaporeans write letters to government agencies at Meet-The-People sessions, to better understand how civic society worked. In doing so, his understanding of who he might be serving when he graduated also grew, which reinforced his career choice.
“Speaking with Mr Goh never feels like a formal mentoring session”, Nathaniel says. “But every time we spoke, he would ask just the right questions to help me figure things out.”
“He’s close to the students he mentors, but never intrusive. It’s like he sees your potential before you do – and then helps you see it too.”
Supporting the underdog through sustainable programmes
Mr Goh speaks softly and steadily, though he does break code routinely when it’s mealtime and he gets excited over where in NP to eat at that day. These include the mini F&B businesses sprinkled across the campus, run by the polytechnic’s students who win entrepreneurial challenges with prizes that include seed money to jumpstart their F&B start-ups.
There’s a corner of Mr Goh’s heart for the underdog. He recalls a student encounter in his early years who deeply etched the purpose of teaching in him. When investigating why this student was perennially missing from class, he learned that her mother had passed away and she was working full-time to support her siblings. There was no money for bus fares to school, and no time for further education.
“This student’s words made me reflect on the challenges of economic inequality, and the need for educational institutions to play a more active role in helping students overcome such circumstances,” says Mr Goh.
Since 2015, he has been managing industry partnerships aimed at supporting needy students with scholarships. In partnership with industry and professional bodies, Mr Goh worked to raise nearly $600,000, benefiting close to 150 BA students with financial aid and mentoring opportunities. This initiative has led to over 80% of the needy students securing university placements and scholarships, with many returning as mentors and peer tutors to give back to the community.
When Mr Goh learned that one of these beneficiaries, a PSC scholar, was volunteering as a ComLink+ befriender to needy students and their families, he knew that his work on empathy-driven education had made headway.
He also embeds opportunities for students to serve the marginalised in society.
In his “Business in the Community” and “Learning & Development” modules, students have run mini design sprints to address real challenges faced by migrant workers and groups with special educational needs. These sprints are fast-paced, multidisciplinary problem-solving workshops that push students to apply empathy in real time through having them interview stakeholders, prototype ideas, and test solutions in the field.
Mr Goh uses these to help students translate classroom theory into civic action, with every stage anchored in the question: Who are we designing it for, and why?
“I want to foster a culture where students learn that success means uplifting others, creating compassionate leaders who value community above personal achievement.”
The go-to guy for refreshing teaching methods
From 2020 to 2025, Mr Goh transformed the HR industry capstone curriculum under the Diploma in Business Studies programme. He expanded the scope beyond foundational HR skills to incorporate multidisciplinary projects that harness AI-powered systems.
He designs industry capstone projects that call for stakeholder empathy and innovative solutions, and enable students to create new business value propositions that balance organisational needs with human considerations. Former Business Studies student Sarah Chong, 21, recalls her final-year multidisciplinary capstone project as highly rewarding to both her client and her. Under Mr Goh’s guidance, her team of Business Studies and Data Science students managed to customise a user-friendly candidate management system for an HR recruitment firm from scratch.
Beyond his own teaching domain, Mr Goh is the go-to staff member for lecturers looking to reimagine their pedagogy and curriculum design. As a mentor, he helped another lecturer review his teaching pedagogy, including incorporating real-world learning experiences. This way, students could collect and analyse data, engaging with statistics in a more meaningful way.
‘Are we teaching with care?’
“Empathy doesn’t mean lowering expectations,” Mr Goh says. “It means helping students rise to meet them.”
This is especially so when life wears people and relationships down. Mr Goh is particularly concerned when students lose their cool with one another, and he is circumspect about when and how he should step in to restore harmony. Most of the time, he applies his trademark move to prompt students into action with a few choice questions. “Sometimes support means structure, not softening expectations,” he says. “You work with them, not around them, to get them to learn how to respect each other.”
Then there are students who can’t handle the mental pressures of student life and miss lessons. In those moments, Mr Goh offers options, makes it easy for them to return, and follows through with care and clarity.
These situations can weigh heavily on him, and that’s when he turns to his own mentors for support. He carves out time for reflection and connects with fellow educators through NP’s Community of Practice sessions – not only to exchange ideas, but to acknowledge the emotional demands of teaching,
It’s not about grades but what is hard to quantify, like care, conviction, and contribution. He reviews his performance with the question: “Are we teaching with care?”
“We want to help students declutter from their noise so they can find their True North. Then they can fend for themselves in future and be resilient and driven by their own passion.” As for Mr Goh, he lives his calling having found his own True North – in teaching.
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