Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Author: Thang Nguyen 555

  • Last train home

    Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Between Vietnam and China, around this week, close to 1 Billion people get on trains, planes and automobiles, trying to go home on the country side. Catchy label for them would be ” Confucian Consumers”. They will be scrambling on any transport, whether they are black or white (to…

  • Most amusing!

    They said blogs that are amusing go viral quicker. It’s true. Late night talk show hosts have known this for years. They employ an army of writers whose sole job is to come up with quirky and ironic punch lines (with help of a  laughing track). Jay Leno, Johnny Carson and Bob Hope all know…

  • A chance at nuances

    Those of us who went to school which required students to wear uniforms can relate to this: we learned to fit in. By the time we entered corporate world, the dress code and work-place behavior come as second nature. Yet without differentiation, our products and personal brand get lost in the shuffle. So we try…

  • Hi-touch

    Big box stores can’t keep up with the likes of amazing Amazon. Both categories leverage the economy of scale to earn shares of the retail pie. Both employ strong-arm tactics, logistic and logic of dis-intermediation. Both cut down the touchpoint between buyer-seller to a bare minimum (Walmart greeter greets you so their cashiers don’t have…

  • No 2

    In my earlier blog, I tackled the subject of staying ahead of the (horse) race. In this follow-up blog, I want to explore the theme of being no 2. Yahoo’s no 2, or N Korea’s no 2, all got sacked. To be great leader, one needs first to be a good follower: one for all,…

  • Horse race

    In a little more than a week, we will see billions of people celebrating the year of the Horse. Horse race has not been popular in regions where urban centers were over-developed (in South of Los Angeles, the Hollywood race track in Inglewood has just been closed). No Kentucky Derby here in Vietnam either. Just…

  • Mozart and mortality

    In Requiem our souls merge with Mozart’s for the last time (the piece ends with Amen, sung in unison). He invited us and included us in his last journey – our journey. By portraying his mortality, he marked his immortality. Billions have gone down that road, only one can still cry out from the grave.…

  • Claim your rightful position!

    When coming across postings about “under-earners”, about the decline of the West (especially in Los Angeles, according to a latest independent commission study) and the rise of the rest etc…I can’t help mulling over how tragic the force of self-sabotage has done to us collectively and individually. We are a nation of “run-away brides” who…

  • Shades of hope

    Every New Year, we set out with a new resolution to trick ourselves. From eating habit to exercising habit, from improving our interaction with our spouses to improving customer service. Then the cold front hit us in the face. We immediately have to deal with harsh reality. The more immediate gets more attention than the…

  • The fire within

    Seeing KIA Optima at the top of the 2013 Sedan chart wakes me up a bit. My first exposure to KIA brand was when I went shopping for a RAV4. At the time, KIA barely made the nearest contender list. Something is flowing in the Korean industrial and intellectual might, from Samsung to soap, Optima…