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: Japan

  • Summer Sadness

    Some kids revisited their Summer 1942. Coming of age. Others, say in Vietnam, are ready for bigger stage. A Linkedin connect started her SQUAR in emerging Myanma, just core viable product, to be perfected as time goes along. Summer separation and sadness. Summer also brings reunion and reassessment. It’s Q3 for business people. Abenomics or…

  • Expired Empires

    The Distributed Model has enabled the Rise of the Rest. Capital, talent and market flow where the chips may fall. Apple courting China, China Africa, Japan Rest of Asia etc… Everyone is out on the dancing floor. Dance anyone? The combinations are endless. Permutation and exponential. Hard and soft powers, hard and soft currencies. Exert that…

  • 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…

  • Social boosters

    We stand on the shoulders of giants: wheel, movable types, steam engines, electricity and the internet. Now Iphone 5. Larger screen, one extra row of icons, aerial and panoramic view. Information on the go. I can rattle on. We are at a point when our ways (technology) are growing faster than our use (apps). Because…

  • 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…

  • Algorithmic social

    People who connect with so and so, tend to be interested in so and so…. Once you clicked down that path, you entered a maze that leads you further down the path of algorithmic and formulaic social links. No backing out, no return. So, my machine-led social graph has taken on new twists and turns as I went…

  • From Co-worker to Co-llaborator

    Some workplace didn’t even get to that phase. People just share a parking lot, a refrigerator and maybe a Christmas Party. Meanwhile, you can collaborate with  people miles apart, in different languages and time zones. Welcome to the new work place. MNC’s have gone through this phase. From relocation to repatriation. Employees got shifted around, to…

  • Lost art of typing

    The BBC has a piece on Japan Love Affair with the Fax Machine. Older population has gotten used to that technology (which allows for hand-writing). For years, I have used email except for  Thank-you notes in writing. I can reasonably predict that even typing (as we know it) will be a lost art (speech recognition will…

  • Taking chances

    Peter’s Principle states that line managers are often promoted “beyond their level of competency”. In other words, a technical guy, best at his job, ends up being the boss who has to crawl his way through business dilemma and personnel issues. In life, however, some problems cannot be solved at the same level where they…

  • Summer in mind

    Coming of age. Summer 42. Sandy beach. Surf. Dream. Instant memories. Something humbling about the vast expanse. Men  and women, hard and soft bodies, clothed and nude. All have walked those beaches. All have pondered and projected toward the unknown. Will i turn out alright! How much time do I have left to live? What…