[Vnbiz] Staying to be a leader - The leader in a changing environment

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear sisters Thuy Lien & Tram, brother Thien & CACC,

Thuy Lien's questions are so crucial not only for the individual but for our
nation as a whole.  We all remember that in the 19th century Nguyen Truong
To tried in vain to convince the Nguyen kings to renovate the country.
Thus, the French walked in.  Today, the phrase Doi Moi Tu Duy (Renovate our
thinking) is still a major concern for the country.  We Vietnamese are
relatively change-resistant.  Some of the phrases like "giu vung lap truong"
(Stay firm on your position) and bao ve van hoa (protection our culture)
have been abused over the years to mean anti-change.

Against that cultural background, Thuy Lien's questions about our ability to
realize the changes in our own thinking are crucial.  How do we know that we
are pro-change or anti-change?  The people who don't want to change ALWAYS
have a million "legitimate" reasons not to change.  I say "legitimate"
because these people believe that their reasons are legitimate.  And
they have no clue that they are inhibiting the progress of the nation, just
like the people who are insane do not know that they are insane.   So, Thuy
Lien's question "How can we know whether renovation has happened in our mind
or not?" is actually the proverbial philosophical question "How do I know
myself?"

Adding to that, the older we are the more change becomes difficult for us.
We have been so comfortable in a certain of life for so long and our ability
to learn slows down with age.  By middle age, when we become the main
strength of our society, we become resistant to change.

While brother Thien talks about the need to change when something we do has
become ineffective.  That is so true.  But if we have the tendency to
against changing, probably we don't even see that what we are doing is
ineffective.  Say, a company in which employees wear brown uniform has been
doing well for twenty years.  But for the last several years the
company does worse every day.   The leadership blames the economy or the law
morale of the current group of employees, but the issue may be in the color
of the uniform (which the company has been using for 20 years).  The culture
has changed and the people now seems to like green and hate the brown.

In addition, in a changing economy, we cannot afford to wait to see if the
way we are doing is ineffective.  That would be too late.  We have to keep
changing to be more effective everyday, even if what we are doing is already
effective.

Moreover, in a changing economy, we can create changes ourselves.  Look at
all the It companies with new products coming out every day.  They create
the new products and the consumer demand for such new products where no
market exist before.

So changing is not just a REACTION to what has been obsolete, but a
PROACTIVE way of thinking, of constantly searching for something else more
effective, more beautiful, more exciting.   That is the attitude of an
explorer, going about to explore the jungle to search for new species,
exploring the space to search for new planets, exploring life to search for
new possibilities.

But how do we have such a pro-change attitude as an individual and as a
culture?

Here is my own experience to share with everyone.

1.  Know more about various cultures.  Say, you are a catholic, try to go to
Buddhist temple once in a while.  You are a southerner, try to understand
the way the northerner thinks.  Try to understand other ethnic cultures and
practices.  Try to understand other countries.   The more of other cultures
you know, the more flexible you will be in your mind.

2.  Hanging out with people of different profession, different lifestyles.
If you are a lawyer, hang out with a bunch of artists or teachers or soccer
players once in a while.  Hang out with the expats often.

3.  Work with the younger generation whenever you can, because when they are
younger they know many things you don't know (like IT stuffs and all kinds
of international music and cultural phenomena), and think with an attitude
that is different from your generation, and they are so quick (both
physically and mentally) that make you feel like a turtle.  And we will be
better simply by trying to catch up with their speed.

(Conversely, if you hang out with the people of the older generation, you
may be able to see the depth of things much better).

4.  Always encourage people who try to come up with something new. Say,
"Wow, that is a  good try.  I love to see it when you are done" and don't
say think like "Why wasting time for it?  Who would want that?"

5. In whatever you do, tell yourself "Even if I am the best in this field,
there is still something I can do to improve my method.  I just have to
figure it out.  I have to improve myself every day."

6.  Do something new once in a while, like try a new kind of food, visit to
a new place, wear a new shirt (that is not normally your style).

7.  Know your roots well.  Changes are new branches, that can only live if
the roots are good and strong.  So you need to understand your own culture
well, and can blend your own culture to the new culture of the world very
well.

8.  Drop the dead leaves.  Old ideas and attitudes, sometimes they are the
roots, sometimes they are dead leaves.  Dead leaves should be dropped and
buried.  So you need to have to wisdom and courage to bury the dead
leaves.    Don't hold on to them and babble nonsense.

But how do we know what are the roots and what are the dead leaves?  This is
really difficult.
Many people just can't tell the different.  I suggestion is that we know our
past and tradition very well and know our present very well.  If you have
very good knowledge of both the present and the past, we will be able to say
what is the root and what is a dead leaf.  The problem is when you only know
the past without the present, or only the present without the past.

9.  Know the way the world is going:  Internet, globalization, meetings
of nations, cultures and traditions.  Read about these.

When you have the mental attitude that is so flexible, so open, so willing
to absorb new things, then you are ready for all changes whatever they may
be.  And you see the way the world is going, you would be able to anticipate
the future and to innovate yourself in in advance for it.

Innovation is not just a method of working.  Innovation, first and
foremost, is an attitude of the mind.

Thanks for the incredible question, sister Thuy Lien.

Have a great day, everyone.

Hoanh


On 4/20/07, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear CACC,
>
> Several days ago, sis. Thuy Lien posted a gereeting message and in it she
> posed some very profound questions that I think we need to thining about
> them very sisrously.
>
> I would like to post some parts of her message here and highlight and
> number her questions to give them proper emphasis.  These are extremely
> challenging qeustions.  Thank you, sister.  (My God, I am so amazed at the
> quality of the college generation of our forum).  Here is the excerpt of
> Thuy Lien's message:
>
> "In the recent day,I've read a book whose tittle is "rethinking the
> future".I'm impressed in the conception that everything's changing fast and
> faster.And so,every type of the traditional thinking that we're familiar
> with in 20 th century isn't right anymore.I feel a real uncertain in my
> life which is very different from the past which is just 5 years ago.That's
> a world we're living.The more changes there are,the more flexible we
> are.That's the truth we all know.But,
>
> *1.   How can we adapt with situation if  even our thinking haven't
> innovate yet?*
>
> *2.   And, how can we know whether the innovation happened in my mind or
> not?*
>
>    I'm interested in the leadership.Maybe,never before the word
> "leadership" has been discussed so many times like today.I find a good
> alert that the Vietnamese traditional thinking  has been changed.Go back
> the past, for example 5 years ago,we were embrassed when standing up to
> present ourselves for the monitor of our class.Frankly,that's happening in
> my university.What I want to mention is
>
> *3.  I wonder if the role of the leader in any orgazination in
> change-environtment has any difference from one of the past. *
>
> We mentioned a lot about changes which's happening surely and even
> happening so fast.
>
> *4.  The book that I mentioned discussed an idea that the role of a modern
> leader is to make a change-waiting environment(I'm not sure about my use of
> word). But, how to build up it? *
>
> *5  Besides, how can we predict when the change is needed? *Changes are
> usually difficult with any one because it means many visible uncertain
> despite of many invisible advantages which a few people can realize. "
>
> Those are very deep deep deep questions.  Let us chip in to answer them.
>
> Have a great day1
>
> Hoanh
>

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC
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