The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

No principles for 2015?

Then adopt these 3.
An internet-group I sympathize with is Avaaz. Whenever
somewhere an injustice or cruelty occurs, Avaaz collects &
provides the facts. Then it invites us to sign our name on
a petition to a person-in-power to change the injustice or
cruelty. When (say) 100,000 names supporting a cause are
publicly handed to that person, the massive support of the
petition cannot be ignored. Simple, yet effective. Avaazs
petitions have rapidly become a global influence on world
leaders. It helped save many lives & resulted in improved
living conditions. Social media indeed are powerful!
As a New Year resolution Avaaz asks its members to
adopt these 3 principles:
1.
Display kindness & respect.
2.
Aspire to wisdom.
3.
Practice gratitude.
Yes, I agree: dropping a bad habit is easier. But if you are
in for a true challenge, try these 3 principles. They will
make a difference for your relationsbusiness or private.
Loek Hopstaken

Chc
Mng
Nm
Mi!

Prof. Loek Hopstaken

Email:
loek.hopstaken@gmail.
com
Cell: 090 888 9450

9th year, no. 1

February, 2015
This magazine was first
published in March 2007. It is
digitally distributed among
my Vietnamese & Dutch
business & private associates.
Purpose: to keep you
informed about my activities
in Vietnam and overseas
This amazingly attractive and
energetic country has rapidly
conquered my soul. It is my
home away from home.
Loek Hopstaken

In this issue:
New Years principles 1
Family Showtime!
2
Alternative Master?
Branding: is that all?

3
4

When doing favors 5

6
On Authentic VN
Leadership
7
Bloom & Vietnam
Clients, services &
contact information

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Family Showtime!
Saigon, January 31, 2014
Three weddings in Vietnams happy events season. One wedding featured Mr. Phong, who for
several years has been assisting me with his excellent interpreting skills. He was my behind-thescenes-man during 20 tv shows for CEO Key to
Success, doing what he is good at: adding his impromptu advise about what was going on below
the surface of Vietnamese mono or dialogue.
As a Judge this enabled me to come up with relevant & sharp comments. Mr. Phong & I met at
Royal Business School. Colleague Prof. John
Behzad (r)also attended the party.
In a Catholic church in Go Vap district four couples married during the same service.

Vietnamese weddings are noisy. Set imitations of

the royal party in Walt Disneys Cinderella:
couple arrive on stage in flashing spotlights. Parents march in from the back on the thundering
sounds of the Radetzky March or Seventy Six
Trombones. Couple cuts giant (mostly fake) wedding cake & pours fake kir royale on a pyramid of
champagne glasses. A few dozen cooks enter,
carrying course #1 of a 7 course menu. Unlimited
coke for ladies, beer on-the-rocks for men. Classy wedding: Heineken. Less classy: Tiger. Couple &
parents run around posing with guests at each table. A band plays evergreens & requests. Uncles
display song & dance talents, or lack thereof. When the dessert arrives many guests already start to
leave. Half-way dessert servants start cleaning empty tables. The noise dies down: we can talk.
Some couples are more successful than others in making the event personal. Besides close family &
friends they invite schoolmates and former colleagues. Most however submit to their familys wishes.
They have to invite scores of business associates of both families, neighbors and anyone else the
family considers VIP. 500 guests is normal. Weddings are an opportunity to show off. Venues, MCs,
photographers & cameramen (2,5 hour souvenir-dvd) do good business.
As a guest you bring an envelop with money. Rules: basically, you pay for your own cover. At a more
luxurious venue you put more money in the envelop. As a couple, youre lucky if the proceeds cover
the expenses, and have some cash left to spend on house or honeymoon. For future reference you precisely record who gave how much. So when uncle & aunt gave one million VND, you give the same
amount when their daughter gets married. Give less? Mind your reputation!
At these events I often think of the 1990ies BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances. With Ms. Bucket
pronouncing her name as bouquet. Answering the phone shed say enforced-cheerfully: Bouquet Residence. Lady of the House speaking! Of course this is a personal account of a cultural outsider. Ill
always be one, never mind how many years Ill be here. Many weddings to come: family showtime!

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

A Master of Business Alternative

In Vietnam studying MBA seems to have lost some of its popularity. Why?

Wrong purpose: to have an MBA certificate to meet a job qualification. On average

less than half of the students lack genuine interest in most MBA subjects.

Expensive/ROI: to finance an MBA some rely on their employer, others borrow

money. Many wonderincluding employersif the investment will ever return.
The added value of MBA certificates decreases, unless you have one from two dozen
top business schools like Harvard. Their MBA will cost you US$ 100,000+.

Time: besides having to attend many classes, often during weekends, for a lengthy
period (1,52 years) doing MBA requires at least 3-5x the time spent in class for individual & group work, reading, research and writing. Many have family, and have
to make many concessions & sacrifices to keep their life organized.

Content: public MBA-programs are general in nature. With your public MBA diploma dont expect to be able to solve all your specific business problems. On top of
that, MBA programs are notorious for overload of theory and lack of practical tools
& absence of entrepreneurial soft skills. Most use US- or UK-based text books & often out-dated cases. For several subjects its hard to find actualized materials (= researched, analyzed & written after the beginnings of the financial crisis). MBA graduates are not business doctors. Only some top students may qualify as such.*)
Is there an alternative to MBA? I believe so. But only if your purpose is not an MBA
certificate. The alternative I offer is the Allround Manager Program. It is tailor made for
your organization: see Hopstakens Catalog of Services (p. 7). Consider this:

Right purpose: to better understand the many facets of running a business as a

preparation for a future senior management position, and to apply what is learned to
make improvements in your own organization.

Affordable/ROI: Hopstakens program is in-company. 6 2 participants. Individual

intakes. The investment per learner with 10 students & 24 days is ca. US$ 3,500
p.p. Practicals lead to improvements. So: ROI is much higher. And it arrives faster.

Time: depends on the schedule that fits the organization. Best practice: two days
per two months, leaving enough time between classes for practicals.

Content: the Allround Manager Program is constantly being updated with the latest insights from around the world. For topics not covered by the trainer, other experts step in. With the help of the participants the trainer vietnamizes content to
make it fit for use in a Vietnamese business environment.
*) I remember being interviewed by a McKinsey consultant. A fresh MBA graduate. Sharply dressed young man. Totally devoid of business reality. Somewhat robotic; zero empathy,
downright arrogant. While he went over his made-to-intimidate questionnaire (What did
you contribute to the corporate results today?), it turned out that he was a bad listener.
This became all too evident when I read his report: all judgments, based on prejudice.

It is better to walk alone than following a crowd going in the

wrong direction. anonymous

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Branding is everything. Is it?

I clearly recall my first encounter with branding. On my
highschool you belonged to the in-crowd when wearing Levis.
Those who wore Wrangler, were out. Those who wore jeans
without a brand name were simply ignored. The world of
brand exhibit was both cool & cruel. This lasted for a few
years. Then a new hype arrived: youre cool if you wear unbranded clothes. We removed the logos from our clothes: Levis
red label, Lacostes green crocodile. Anything that would refer
to a famous brand name was wrong.
You know the rest of the story. Branding came backwith a
vengeance. Youth has a tendency to form communities. Sharing the same brand is proof of loyalty to your community.
Marketers always fear that overnight & nobody understands
why, a brand can drop out of favour.
To prevent this, they spend fortunes on promotion & advertising. Including events to make sure the brand is positioned in a way that buyers and users
feel they belong to the brand community.
To me the most obvious, and most successful beer brand in Vietnam is Heineken.
I suspect the red star plays a role, and also the apparent ease of pronouncing the name.
Most of all however, Heineken cleverly positions itself as a global brandwhich it is
consumed by a happy-go-lucky, worldly, young & good looking in-crowd, usually in a
dazzling, often surprising, high-energy environment. Who doesnt want to belong to that
community? Well, not everyone feels addressed. Take me: Im not a party animal.
When in Amsterdam, I always visit
my bar, De Wildeman (left). It serves
beers from Germany, Belgium, UK,
USA and Holland. 18 beers on draft,
250 on bottle. I guess over 120 distinctly different brands. The World of Beers
is a world to discover, much like the
World of Wines. Branding? For beer
lovers taste is all that matters.
Oh yes. In De Wildeman never ever ask
for ice in your beer. Youll get kicked
out for desecration. Amen!

There is no security upon this earth.

There is only opportunity.
Douglas MacArthur

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Can you do me a favor?

Its one of the most-asked questions. Often asked by vague acquaintances or even complete
strangers. In a world of give & take, they first give you a truckload of compliments. Next: Can you
do me favor, please? The favor: a free service, sometimes plain money. Like the hotel guy who
wanted me to write a positive comment on Tripadvisor about his hotela place I never heard of.
Now, I love to help. Thats why Im a trainer &
consultant. Sometimes however, a line is being crossed.
Its no longer a favor. Someone clearly tries to take
advantage of me. Where is that line? Saying No to
someone who is showering you with compliments is not
easy.
More so in a culture where face is such an
all-pervading element: it means you de-face the person
who showered you with nice words. And as you do this,
you de-face yourself in the process. Lose-lose instead of
win-win, if you like.
Relationships flourish when they are
I confess I did a few too many favors during my first
in balance
two years in Vietnam. Basically, I tried to figure out
how to say No without being rude. I didnt want to
build a reputation of a foreigner who says No. Then I found how to communicate No without
anyone losing face: the art of indirect-direct communication. This is now my modus operandi:
1. Thank for the compliments. Return the compliments, but dont overdo it.
2. Ask: Would you ask a barber to give you a free haircut? (or any other variation)
3. Tell you are a business person, you dont deliver free service & only consider exceptions
when family or close friends request you to do so, or at gun-point :-). Keep it light.
4. Thank again for the compliments, change the topic or politely end the conversation.
Hopstaken for AIT / CARE

1/19/2015

16

You can have whatever you want. As long as

you help others get what they want.
Zig Ziglar
Hanoi: training decision making
skills for CARE Vietnam.

The post-recession mindset is all about value.

Frank Feather

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

What is an Authentic Vietnamese Leader?

In the previous DVMS I spent a few words on a new course, Authentic Leadership. When dropping
this term in Vietnamese management circles, many have heard about it & like the sound of it. But
many are also in doubt. After all the Leadership seminars and courses we have attended the past
decade, will Authentic Leadership bring the ultimate answer to all our burning questions? Or Is
this just another cleverly marketed hype arriving from the shores of California, just not-quite-fit-foruse in Vietnam? Is this critical thinking, or plain cynicism? A bit of both, I guess.
The answers to these questions are valid for
any foreign-based management system, model
or philosophy. We have already observed that
American, Korean, Japanse, Singaporean,
French, British, German, Italian and Dutch
systems, models & philosophies can never be
implemented as-is in a Vietnamese business
environment. 1. What are the needs? Do
Vietnamese organizations already have
workable systems & models in place? Find out.
2. If there is a need but no ready-made solution,
what should be on our shopping list when
looking for one? 3. When we think we have
found a solution, can we implement it as-is, or
should we make any adjustments? Run a pilot
project.

An Authentic Leader is a person who aims

to bring benefits to all stakeholders of the
organization (including clients, staff,
shareholders and society), who adheres to
high values and principles, who is truly
him/herself, who goes for the long term
success of the organization, and who,
while realistic, refrains from compromising with trends and hypes that disagree
with his/her vision and mission.
DVMS no. 34, p. 5

Think about implementing new software. Have you ever experienced it was ready-for-use right away,
not having to adjust it or worse: you had to ask the supplier to tailor it to fit your specific needs?
Think about the management models your suppliers promised would solve all your management
problems. Did they deliver what was promised? If so, I have no doubt you will have made some major
adjustments to get what you needed: something that really works.
So what is an Authentic Vietnamese Leader? A few noteworthy characteristics:

Clear and constructive goals set & communicated

Actions are consistent with statements
Decisions based on ethical & practical values
True identity: not wearing a mask (true colors)
Transparent: no hidden agenda; high integrity
Actively empowering others (full delegation)
Accountable for all decisions, incl. delegated tasks
Great listener (staff; customers; stakeholders)
High credibility; trustworthy; robust

How do you score? Would it be easier for non-Vietnamese business leaders to act authentic, or not?
How about working as an expat manager? Would it make a difference to work in your own culture or
in a foreign culture?
The Authentic Leadership Course is a journey of discovery, to find out what aspects of Authentic
Leadership are workable for you as a participant, in a Vietnamese business setting. Over time we
may update or upgrade the characteristics. Also: tips to use your authenticity to develop your
personal brand.

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam

Management Supporter

Business Training: supplementing education

All over the world employers complain about the educational systems in their
country. Its a fact: fresh graduatesfrom high school to universityare often ill-prepared
for the workplace. Their knowledge is of little or no practical use. They lack the soft skills to
solve problems, to communicate effectively, to think critically and to cooperate in teams.
Their attitude is all too often a display of no initiative & no accountability. Unfortunately,
Vietnamese education is no exception.
Result: companies need to compensate for the lack of practical know-how, skills and unproductive work attitudes. How? By developing & executing intensive onboarding, specialized
skills training, job coaching and mentoring programs.
Blooms Taxonomy (see below) shows the 6 learning & thinking levels of a complete education, resulting in a fully developed creative mind. However, education in Vietnam appears to
be limited to Blooms 3 lower levels: remember (selected knowledge), understand, apply.
My mission in Vietnam: to add value to Vietnamese business management.

Vietnamese alumni from foreign universities & business schools often have a competitive advantage in the labor market. They
have explored Blooms 3 upper learning &
thinking levels: analyze, evaluate, create, and
picked up some handy cross-cultural skills
along the way.
If you havent been so lucky to have spent considerable time abroad, you may lack some of
the skills covered in those top 3 levels.
That, and cross-cultural skills belong to the
package Hopstaken is able to offer you.
Lets talkbefore the rush after Tet.

The text on this page is

from my 2015 Catalog.
It contains the latest
updates of my services.
Note that any workshop, course or seminar
will always be tailored
to fit your situation &
need. Thats why we
have a meeting to find
out both your situation
& need.

The moment when a person realizes that reality has many faces,
he/she takes the first step on the road to wisdom. LH

9th year, no. 1

The 35th Dutch Vietnam Management Supporter

Loek Hopstakens Clients

In Vietnam: a.o.

Tan Thuan IPC

HCMC University of Technology

RMIT (HCMC campus)

Royal Business School

Int. Business & Law Academy (IBLA)

Vietnam Airlines (RBS; ISM)

Vietnam Singapore I.P. (SPECTRA)

Petronas (SPECTRA)

Petronas Carigali (PACE)

Nike (Tae Kwang Vina) (SPECTRA)

Le & Associates

Sacombank (Training House)

Ministry of L.I.S.A. (RBS)

SONY Vietnam (RBS)

CapitaLand Vietnam (SPECTRA)

Institute for Potential Leaders / PACE

Dalat Hasfarm (Agrivina)

Hoanggia Media Group

Fresh Green Earth

Unique Design

ERC Institute Vietnam

Schoeller Bleckmann Vietnam

Robert Bosch Vietnam (PACE)

De Heus Vietnam

Control Union Vietnam (SPECTRA)

Centre for Tropical Med.Oxford Uni.

Khue Van Academy

CARE Vietnam (AIT)

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

HCMC Fin. & Invest. Company (AIT)

Academy of Finance

ITEQ Vietnam

Vietnam Breweries Ltd (Heineken)

In The Netherlands, a.o.

ING Bank

Philips

Heineken

Yamaha

Damen Shipyards

business field
Industrial development
MBA program
Pro Comm faculty
Courses & seminars
Training & consultancy
International airline
Industrial park
Chemical factory
Oil & gas
Shoe factory
Training & consultancy
Training & consultancy
Civil Servants
Consumer electronics
Real estate
Courses & seminars
Pot plants, cut flowers
Key to Success TV Show
Hi-tech agriculture
Interior Design/archit.
Business school
Oilfield Equipment
Electronics
Animal food
Quality inspections
Clinical research
Courses & seminars
NGO
Training & consultancy
Investments
MBA (Un. of Gloucester)
Mono-parts/assemblies
Brewery
Financial services
Electronics
Brewery
Musical instruments
Ship repair wharfs

The DVM Supporter is published by

Prof. Loek Hopstaken
Email: loek.hopstaken@gmail.com
Cell Vietnam: (84) 090 888 9450
Cell The Netherlands: 06 510 97328
Assistant: Ms. Vo Ngoc Lien Huong
Email: jane.hopstaken@gmail.com
Cell: (84) 090 888 9451
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/loekhopstaken

Wise words

The wise man

speaks once
before he
speaks twice.
Robert
Benchley
The art of
being wise is
the art of
knowing what
to overlook.
William James
Its always
wise to look
ahead, but
difficult to look
farther than
you can see.
Winston
Churchill