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.

Tag: Bill Gates

  • Admired Adults

    As Yahoo News flashes Most Admired Person of the Year, I can’t help reflecting on Adults I most Admired ever. From a teacher friend of my mom to complete strangers in heartland America, from a relief worker in the Pacific to far-away Africa, I remember them not so much for how much they were giving…

  • 10,000 hours

    How many among us actually put in that many hours pursuing one thing? Yet studies show it takes that much practice to master a skill or a trade. That long to promote ourselves to the rank of outlier : Bill Gates coding skill, the Beatles smooth performance etc… Today marks my first 10,000 views of…

  • Content poor

    Latest study pointed to Vietnam workforce skill deficiencies, particularly in critical and behavioral skills (numerical skill was a given). This study came not as a surprise. For years, kids have adopted a rote learning, picked up from peers and adults, who in turn, had picked up from earlier generations. We are heading toward an era…

  • Friendship and Fraternity

    At work or at home, we relate to a network of people e.g. parents, siblings, neighbors and co-workers. Now, on top of that, we got our online reputation to build and keep up. It’s the new currency. Trust and transparency. Amazon and Facebook model are built on that. Delivering what we are promised, on time…

  • All by ourselves

    In the 70’s, the Me decade, we heard “All by myself” a lot on the radio. Now, it’s the age of collaboration. All by ourselves. Whiteboarding, synergy and M&A. Nokia, Sony and Dell. All are taking the back seat. Players we did not see coming are now in the field: Haier, Acer and Lenovo. Users…

  • Positively positive

    Same set of situation, variety of readings. Rashomon effect. In Vietnam, if you ran into a funeral, it’s luck. Wow! Positively positive. The deaths live on in the family, albeit high up on the altar. Part of one another forever. Unlike in the US, health care for all is health care for none (shut down). Negatively…

  • The ball that travels North

    Saw him at an Orange County club back in 1989. He was already rowdy and his parties disturbing to conservative neighbors. And now, after all these years, shows up in North Korea, on a basketball diplomacy tour. Dennis Rodman, NBA defender. HBO’s VICE has done a surprising job of casting for sports diplomacy (Google x-CEO would…

  • Madonna and child

    Not the Seine in Paris. But Rach Nhieu Loc in Saigon. She wore a cone hat. Baby tanning in the morning sun, resting in her bosom. The other hand, she checked her messages from a mobile phone. It’s  Thanksgiving in Vietnam. People  have a lot to be thankful for. It’s now ranked second on Happy Country…

  • Your story

    During the 60’s, when computers were too limited for personal use, Andy Warhol had already predicted that in the future (which is NOW) each of us would have 15 minutes of fame (just like his signature Campbell soup ). Naturally, he couldn’t have predicted the rise of social media  which upend traditional broadcast media, turning it…

  • je pense

    Have you ever looked back at those goals you had set right out of college? Marriage? Career? Health? Then and Now. Perhaps they still remain the same or in reverse order. No one set out with a goal of multiple marriages. Or multiple careers. Yet it has happened, taken most of us by surprise. On a…