Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

recent posts

about

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: Google

  • The You

    It’s like Who is on First, or the Who. It’s you who is the Who. You need to get the bugs out to uncover the better version of yourself. Everything up to this point is payload: family advices (ill or good-will), the institutions (and college loan) and work places. Some of us found out the…

  • Outside the bubble

    When you are inside, you are hard-presed and unable to think. But when you are out of the bubble, it’s illuminating. You are able to look back, to gain perspectives. Bubble by definition is that which encompasses those who subscribe to its rules (deposit here, withdraw there). We got the Tulip mania in Holland, Ponzi…

  • 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…

  • 30 years on

    USA Today celebrated its 30th anniversary issue, with bolder graphics and fonts (thanks! we can use larger fonts now). Those papers we pick up outside our hotel rooms when traveling on business  (to be left behind at airport lounges). Anyway. This issue features some “futurists” in each sector: urban architecture, space travel, transportation (Ford), internet (Twitter’s…

  • Leaders as human

    We miss those towering figures from WWII (remember the canes, the hats? and the saying  e.g.”Never never give up”). It’s a different landscape now  (Apple, Facebook etc… with CEOs without a tie). So it goes. New world order.  New icons. New  profiles and preferences. Still, they are human. Supposedly connected with their people. Leaders of…

  • Uncharted waters

    When Henry Ford first put together 2 and 2 (wheels) to make 4 (wheels), he was probably laughed at.  Then his policy to increase worker’s wages, so they could afford buying the very same cars they had helped assembled was probably viewed as radical. Today, the same thing with Nissan Leaf‘s buyer’s incentive, and Diamond-Lane…

  • Shore this!

    It’s not good enough with automation. They need to combine that with outsourcing, off-shoring, in-shoring and now, near-shoring.  The idea is to line up the  Filippino call-center workers at mid-night (to go to work, not in line for next-day Black Friday sales) to make a go at scripted greetings like “Have I done everything to your satisfaction”.…

  • A sliver of hope

    I still remember the hype surrounding Google IPO ! Now with Facebook, it’s a deja vu. Anything to stir up and to enliven. We need hope when housing is still in the slump! We can do better! Simply because are wired with survival instincts. One man’s success will trigger a chain of similar success. Innovation tend to cluster. Ours…

  • V for valley

    Silicon Valley that is. Palo Alto. The hype, the anticipation and burst. Dream and dread. It’s here for the taking. You game? Pine trees and even banana trees. Years ago, one would see Vietnamese technicians and Indian engineers. Now, the work is mostly outsourced and off shored. The design and creative work are still here. But…

  • Turn, turn

    Just as soon as it is unbearably hot, it rains. The season turns. All we are is Dust in the Wind, sings the Kansas. But before that, one more stanza. Take it to the limits. What are the chances for some friends to turn to the guy sitting next to him at a random cafe,…