What does "being more professional" mean?

Dear Mr. Tan
The board of NTUC Income said that they asked you to leave because they wanted the company to be more professional. This is unfair to you, as it implied that you did not run the company in a professional manner. But you were able to achieve success in building up NTUC Income, so what does being more professional actually mean?

REPLY
It is the prerogative of the board to appoint its management to run NTUC Income in any manner that they deem to be fit. I do not wish to argue with their decision.

It was possible for me to run NTUC Income in a "more professional way" by spending more money on advertising, corporate image, management consultants, booking expensive hotels for their corporate events and travelling first class on airlines. But I prefer to be frugal and keep the expenses low, so that NTUC Income can  give a better return to the policyholders.

The ultimate test is as follows - will a "more professional" approach give better return to policyholders, charge lower premiums for the insurance and provide better service to the policyholders?

The policyholders will have to judge for themselves, based on what has happened over the past few years.