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: Singapore

  • Risks and Rewards

    As the saying goes, you’ve got to enter the lion’s den to get the lion. No pain no gain. Taking risks is not something for everyone. After all, we have all the safety measures built-in to our system: from seat-belts to “frisk-machines”. Yet, in business as in life, risk is part of life, just like…

  • World on wheels

    You want to see wheels at work, you come to Saigon. (Baby) strollers, scooters, (food) stalls, all on wheels. But instead of having you walk up to a vending machine, here the merchandise come to you. Ladies in cone hats would walk about with all sorts of knickknacks on their shoulders: toe clippers, wallets, key…

  • Trash or Treasure

    With 50% youth unemployment in Spain, front-page news showed dumpster diving photos. It shouldn’t be. But it is. Life is difficult, says Scott Peck. And since when was it easy? For years, I put myself in a selfless orbit which , at times, has done much damage to myself (self-sabotage). My appetite for risks and…

  • 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…

  • 1+1=3

    Organizations go through many life cycles before winding down, or absorbed in a M&A. Here in Vietnam, fluidity is the word that describes the dynamics of organization. Like organism that evolves with its environment, organization here often bends and changes beyond recognition. We know the solution is embedded in the problem. Yet we need to…

  • Middle-Income Trap

    The phenomenon known as Middle-Income Trap is alive and well in SouthEast Asia. Not all boats rise with the water. Contentment sets in and gets in the way of progress. Countries like the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are  in this trap. From a global perspective, they could do better if getting over the hump. Yet…

  • Convenience and conservation

    Plastic or paper? Here or to-go? Before we know it, billions of mindless decisions are made everyday. Taylorism (efficiency down to the smallest detail) has found its way into fast cars and fast food. Even into our every-day use of language: just a sec, ASAP, bs. There is no excuse for snappiness. We have stood by…

  • Maybe all we need is time

    Time heals all wounds. It also ushers in a generation, now in high school and college. Here in Vietnam, students have classes on Saturdays and even Sundays. Kids of all ages, in uniforms or out of, but always with a backpack, riding on wheels of all types: bikes, electric bikes, scooters, sedans, and buses. They…

  • Vietnam, next Hong Kong?

    On my first trip to Hong Kong summer 1981, I was taken in by the energy and entrepreneurial spirit there. A camera shop (pre-Iphone era) next to a watch shop (again, pre-Ipad era) next to an electronics store.  Shoppers from India, Europe, Australia were all there, bustling about. Double-deck buses (still under British colonial rule) moved…

  • Xerox, Yahoo and Google

    With the exception of Yahoo, we can pretty much use the other two as verbs i.e. to Xerox s/t or to Google it. When your company is a household “action” verb, you have it made. Yahoo got a head start, with strong brand recognition. But it flounders (even MySpace, as cool as it once was, couldn’t escape this…