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

  • Reading Re-Enchantment

    Thomas Moore (double O’s) was quoting Thomas More (single O) in his book, the Re-Enchantmet of Everyday Life. He came out with a bang in Care of the Soul. Essayist, therapist, monk and philosopher who hit the marks. Those marks point us back to Nature, Magic and Intuition. Qualities of life . He treaded carefully, staying…

  • Adjusted expectations

    You learn lessons in Marketing when you are in Las Vegas (besides lessons on greed). Mirage was opened to big fanfare back in the early 90’s: volcano and the white Tiger. Now, its low cave-like ceilings, tight hallways (perhaps for planned claustrophobia) and dark interior did not pass muster in an era of high-ceiling, green…

  • Connect and Respect

    I often go first to Home Page on LinkedIn to see who is connecting with whom. The Network Effect assumes people are inherently decent, deserving respect and reciprocity. Society continues to work on that basis. Not random shooting, nor indiscriminate mass slaughter. We have learned invaluable lessons in collaboration: WWII, internet peering, crowd-sourcing and job networking. We…

  • Myopia

    It was just a few years ago when friends and I discussed the inevitable departure of Joe Paterno at Penn State. Retired? Replaced? Removed? Now, it turns out, it’s his statue that got removed. Who would have conjured up that scenario. Today, the Nittany Lions will get their verdict from the NCAA. I am hoping for…

  • On being a sidekick

    I was born late into the fold. My brother and sister had already been in college when I arrived. So I grew up watching “chinese fire drill” around the dinner table: Dad chasing brother, mom trying to intervene and my sister, w/nothing to do, joining the commotion. It’s like Chevy Chase‘s National Lampoon Vacation in Europe, caught…

  • Relationship hardship

    The more you try, the less likely it works. Paradoxical as it may be, relationships don’t operate like other laws of physics or economics i.e. pour water in, out on the other end you get, if efficiently, the same amount. Sometimes, your ROI are so low that you wish you had never commited to it. That’s when…

  • Fragmented and segmented

    Marketers have had a field day over the last few decades: market fragmented and segmented. The former is a reality in our pluralistic society. The later, careful study and strategy to go after niche markets. Microtrend covers this very topic: knitting, teen markets etc…as long as the niche constitutes 1% of the total mass market. It’s a…

  • Nature as reminder

    Scientists just found out that Earth is much older than previously thought. It certainly has a way to maintain itself.  Remember Tsunami and Fukushima? or the Louisiana oil spill and Katrina? At the time, we thought we couldn’t bear the grunt, but one by one, they are now behind us. Same thing with this summer ‘s drought and…

  • Highs and lows

    Perhaps one of the places you wouldn’t like to visit these days is Happy Valley, PA. Heart of Penn State Football. Normally alumni would post home-game tickets as if they were for Albert Hall‘s Fab reunion concert. Now, it’s a place that is much condemned: punishment for Penn State, penalty for Penn State. Alumni started to…

  • Monday-morning quarterbacking

    We can’t change history, but we can sure learn from it. Just view training film, freezeframing it, and nail down some take-aways. What did we do wrong? why? what did we fail to do? Where? Avoid assigning blame. Move forward. America is all about the future. Sarah who? Sandusky who? Just do it (BTW, Nike removed…