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: Education

  • What happened to “Next Level”?

    If you followed job ads or start-up pitches, you would be hearing “Next Level” multiple times back then.. In the 90’s it was “synergy” (M&A terms). Before that “re-engineering” (The Japan that can’t say NO). Now, it’s “collaboration”. The Recession inadvertently served as an Editor who cut out words that don’t fit with the times. You…

  • Closure

    Fact 1: I went to Penn State. Fact 2: I felt ashamed and defensive (no punt intended) at the same time Fact 3: I am not alone in this. There are more stuff to be worried about these days: immediate and long-term future. Already a book was out (at 50% off) about Penn State and…

  • Empty space

    Void. Vacuum. Unfilled and unoccupied space. Plenty of them, within and without. So we fear its vastness. We try to fill it up with stuff. In the process, making ourselves mini-gods. Co-creators of space-filling. Bed, bath and beyond. Then give them away to Goodwill to make room for more empty space. Everyone got problems with fitting…

  • CWO – Chief Worshipping Officer

    On my first week as CEO at UVT – I met an issue none of the Business School in the US had equipped their students for: to bow or not to bow at the Fortune–God altar in the school lobby. It’s hard enough to know where the bathroom is – much less stumbling upon the…

  • Mom’s Ao Dai

    Mom’s Ao Dai

    When I saw a Vietnamese woman on motor bike with helmet, mask, sunglasses, messenger pouch, gloves and Ao-Dai steering her scooter while holding a baby on their way to the sitter, it brought back memories of Mom’s dress. She was a schoolteacher, deeply committed to and consistent in her multiple roles: mother, teacher, wife, daughter-in-law…

  • Old market New market

    It’s a norm here in Vietnam that a certain market, after being moved to a new location, still has its old location called “cho Cu” (Old Market). My Dad and I used to go for breakfast in Cho Cu, which no longer does brisk business despite its prime location near the harbor (people are shopping at SuperMarkets,…

  • The General Temple

    When my mom, a teacher, took me there, I was 5. This time, I  went there by myself. Happy Teacher’s Day! The Temple has always opened to seekers . On New Year‘s Eve, it’s the equivalent of Times Square . The crowd, the smell of incense burning and the long line at fortune teller’s dispensary. It…

  • Weekend Insert

    I spent many college weekends at the library. The journalism library. Work study program (certain publications need to be behind the desk. My desk.) That P/T job followed two years of working at the campus TV studio. I keep wondering how many of those communication students made it in the real world.  Has anyone landed on…

  • Rough “road” to learning

     Please fasten your seat belts. The road to learning is rough: one has to survive the transportation to and fro, bullies and academic pressures. “it’s the same river, same ferry, and coconut trees along the banks, but, it’s different today. The difference is, …today, I am back to school” (paraphrasing a poem by Thanh Tinh).. When their…

  • Losing one’s self

    In a recent NYT op-ed, David Brooks summed up prevailing graduation themes: find yourself, live to the fullest, be passion-focused etc.. instead of losing yourself in solving others’ problem. Even my kid knows that time passes more quickly when you are absorbed in a task. When you lose yourself, you end up finding it. Before graduating, I…