The Leader Brew Podcast
The Leader Brew podcast features the leadership stories of our former students who share their lifelong experiences from the classroom to the real-world.
Join Dr. Rick Arrowood and Co-Hosts as they reignite the magic of the classroom in these unscripted discussions. Learn from remarkable guests about how they overcame some of life's most challenging obstacles and yet found a way to keep their passion alive.
The Leader Brew Podcast
The Power of Uncertainty: Duc Do’s Journey from Vietnam to Success Abroad
What happens when young leaders step out of their comfort zone and embrace the unknown? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Duc Do, a remarkable student living in the USA who is originally from Vietnam and shares his journey of growth and transformation while studying in the US. Mentorship, cultural adjustments, and the courage to explore possibilities beyond traditional expectations are at the heart of our discussion. Discover how meaningful connections can shape both mentor and mentee and the profound impact of stepping beyond academic boundaries to unlock personal and academic potential.
Our conversation doesn't stop at personal growth; it extends to the broader journey of life. We emphasize the art of living in the present and how today's choices shape tomorrow's opportunities. Reflecting on the unpredictable nature of life—highlighted by events like the COVID-19 pandemic—we delve into the importance of adaptability and self-awareness. Whether it's deciding to return home or pursue dreams abroad, the path is paved with thoughtful decisions and openness to change. This episode captures the essence of building legacies through conversations, offering heartfelt advice to dreamers, and illustrating the power of current actions in crafting a fulfilling future.
Hello and welcome to another exciting edition of the Leader Brew. I'm looking forward to catching up with a well, what I would say is a longtime friend, though he is not my age. He's much younger and I had the pleasure of meeting Dukdo at Northeastern University a few years ago and I remember thinking to myself wow, this kid's got potential. I don't know why, I just saw it, I felt it, and I look forward to talking to you about your leadership journey. And he is from Vietnam and, as many of you have heard on this podcast, I often will say that I left my heart in Vietnam. The time that I taught in Vietnam still remains very special to me and it looks like I'm going to be getting to go back next year. So in the meantime, we get to hear Duke's story, and welcome to the show.
Duc Do Minh :Thank you, rick. Well, hello everybody. Hello to you know, Rick, audience. My name is Duke, I'm 27 years old and next January I will beS for 10 years, which is a very long journey. It was a great journey for me, you know. I gave America all the credit for, you know, me becoming who I am today. So you know, I would love to share my journey with you guys and with my friend here, rick. We have a pretty cool story of how we get to know each other and you know how we mostly him seeing me changing throughout the last 10 years. But, yeah, happy to be here.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:Yeah, you know, I think, looking back, so much of higher education has to do with sort of transaction. You know, students come in, they take a course, students go out. Transaction Students come in, they take a course, students go out. Maybe we will interact with them one or two times throughout their career. In your case it's very different because we started off from that relationship-oriented standpoint. It was pretty much what can I do to help you. What impressed me the most over the years has been your openness to listen to someone else. I think that is one of your great attributes.
Duc Do Minh :Well, thank you, rick, for the audience, just so they don't know. Just a little bit of background of our relationship. Basically, my dad knows somebody that represents Northeastern University in Vietnam and that person is a friend with Rick and you know that's how we come to basically know each other and you know I was a very troublesome kid, some would say, at the point. So my dad kind of wants somebody you know with experience, such as Rick, to kind of guide me. When I was in high school, you know kind of, you know being a mentor of mine and that's what I thought I think about you, by the way, rick, just so you know, a friend and a mentor as well. So that's just some background regarding our relationship.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:You know and I think that helps in the academic sense as well is to having that friend, that mentor. Look, the reality is I, along with my other faculty colleagues, have hundreds, if not a few thousand, students per year, and it's kind of hard to do it, but we do have that opportunity, even if it's just for a couple of minutes, to engage with students and help them on the path. I think one of the exciting parts I see in terms of our mentorship. I too have grown as a result of listening to you, and there were times where I was thinking how am I going to respond to your questions? Am I going to sort of pull out that 20-year-old self or my other self, the more current one? And so I was having to sort of learn the ropes at the same time.
Duc Do Minh :But that's the beauty of relationship, right, we get to learn from each other, and that should be the mindset of all learners all over the world. Right, we get to learn from each other, and that should be the mindset of all learners all over the world, right, at least for me, I think that I can learn from basically everybody that I come in contact with, whether it's a kid or an adult, whoever really. You know, it's the ability to observe and, you know, do some reflection regarding yourself. You know, as human, we are emotional creatures. There's always things going on in our head and, you know, the brain is a very, you know, complex place. I would say.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:So, as a student from Vietnam, how did you first find the US in terms of what was it like? Was it just absolutely overwhelming at first, or was it something you were like? I'm navigating to that. Let me learn everything I possibly can.
Duc Do Minh :So, to begin with, even my decision to come to the US, a lot of people, including my parents, always wanted me to go abroad, and particularly the US, because I already have an older brother that studied in the UK a few years ago. So they wanted me to go to basically another country and, as we know, us is a great country but I never really want to go at first, to be completely honest, just because you know and I'm sure a lot of international students out there can relate, you know just the comfort, right, which is, you know, down the road we're going to talk about it. But you know, comfort is something that basically the biggest enemy of growth, as we know, basically the biggest enemy of growth, as we know. But anyway, you know, I wasn't really fit with the education system in Vietnam, so I wasn't doing really well in terms of academics. And then, just one day, you know, suddenly, I decided, hey, you know, let's give it a try. The whole time people were convinced me to go, but I didn't want to go. But then, you know, suddenly, one day, and now, looking back, that was the best decision of my life, right? So that was that.
Duc Do Minh :And then, when I came to the US. I still remember, bivouacally, it was January of 2015 and it was the worst winter ever that I have no idea about. Worst winter ever that I have no idea about. So you know, imagine coming from a tropical country to a place where, well, we don't have winter over there, so we don't have snow, we don't have such extreme conditions. You know, at the point and yeah, it was a very terrifying experience at first, I would say, you know, coming to a whole different country, even though, keep in mind, I've been speaking English since I was very little and even that, even that it's still I'm still very intimidating, let alone people that don't even speak English at all. You know what I mean, so you know props to them.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:And when you were sort of realizing, wow, this is a stressful environment that I'm in, this is a rather complex, something very different, whether it was the weather, or whether it was the colloquialisms, the Western style of speaking, different mannerisms, what sort of things did you just say okay, here are my steps. I need to take it's number one, number two, number three. Like what were they?
Duc Do Minh :Rick, there are no steps. Realistically there are no steps.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:There are no steps Interesting.
Duc Do Minh :Tell me more. Of course, I'm just a kid. I'm just a kid. I didn't know better. The only thing that I would give props to myself is just only two, three words that I didn't give up. That's the whole point of it. That's honestly it. There's no plan.
Duc Do Minh :I didn't know anything about the future, nor that anybody showed me the way, even though I lived with my cousin at the point. But he was, you know, it was. He was there for so long that we can relate to each other. Now we're great friends, now we're great pals, but at the point I was too young and he was the oldest in the family, so it's very hard for us to relate it anyway.
Duc Do Minh :So basically, what I'm saying is that I dealt with it all by myself and it was very stressful, it was very depressing at the point, because there's a lot of factors going to it. You know, in my country everything is there for me. I only have to show up, I don't have to do anything. No charge, I didn't have to think of you know schools. I didn't have to do anything. No charge, I didn't have to think of you know schools, I didn't have to think of anything. I just need to show up, you know, and over here I got to do everything you know, from cleaning the dishes, thinking you know the next meal, what I'm going to have, because nobody's there to take care of me besides for myself, even though it sounds again completely terrifying at that point. But now, looking back, those are the experience that I embrace so much, because it built my character, it helped me, became the person that I am today, that I'm so proud of and so confident to be.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:You know, and you know I love it when you just said the person I'm so proud of and so confident to be, you know, and you know I love it when you just said the person I'm so proud of and confident to be that was not our starting point eight years ago. That was, I can tell you, I recall that distinctly. So that was not the starting point. But I am so like I'm getting these goosebumps sort of feel to say wow, how incredible is that.
Duc Do Minh :I mean, you tell me, rick, you tell me how I was in your eyes when you first met me. I remember telling me once. But obviously for the audience's sake, you know, please tell me how I was. You know, as a, you know a scared little high schooler coming from abroad.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:You tell me Well, so I saw I think I would sum it up in sort of power dynamics, right, in the sense that there's power of certainty and then there's power of uncertainty. And I think you were coming from a fairly comfort zone-oriented environment, right, so you had certainty in day-to-day activities. It was possibly planned out for you to some extent, but then that shift occurred. Where we go into this power of uncertainty, some people shrivel, shrinking, violet, violet, and others really blossom in it. So what I, what I saw on your surface was more of a somewhat scared kid that was trying to be as tough as possible but still needed to um, to really develop that uncertainty and get comfortable with it, to really develop that uncertainty and get comfortable with it. And then I saw, over the course of time, that you actually turned that uncertainty into really this power that lives within you, this personal power, and I think that's what's guided you over the past 10 or so years.
Duc Do Minh :Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree. You know, it's like, like you said there, I and I know of a lot of situation where kids coming from, you know, my country, or China, korea, or wherever you know they, they give up. And that's what I'm saying about really the power of your mind, and just you know, you just got to keep going, sometimes even though, like you said, right, it's the unknown, I don't know anything. I don't know what's going to happen. You know, I don't even know what's going to end up into. You know, because we met in high school, right, and then and then and then, obviously I give props to you. You were the one that helped me, you were the one that guided me and I really it. You know, and that's basically the start of our relationship, you know, becoming a mentor at first and obviously as a friend down the road and um and yeah yeah, you know, one of the things I recall, uh, was you had this natural affinity to learning leadership concepts.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:You know, remember some of those courses you had taken and you always came out with such an excitement. I'm learning something new about leadership and you know, I remember teaching leadership in Vietnam and so much of it in Vietnam. At that stage people would really define leadership as oh the boss, oh the leader the boss, and it wouldn't go too much further than that. But I think what you did is really looked at this various material and course material, et cetera, and really navigated toward that leadership. Do you see yourself as a leader?
Duc Do Minh :I do see myself as a leader basically throughout my life.
Duc Do Minh :To be quite honest, you know, even in school I was a very kind of intimidating kid, you know, from secondary school to high school and at the point, like you said, you know that's what you said in Vietnam the concept of being the leaders is basically the boss, everybody's afraid of you, everybody's scared of you, and I think that was cool at the point.
Duc Do Minh :But not until I came to America, you know, I realized the true definition of leadership in the western country is completely different. You know, being a leader mean that you got to make your completely opposite from what I thought initially right Making your people feel comfortable, as comfortable as possible, so that from there you would build trust and from trust you would build, you know, basically, efficiencies in how you do work with each other really opened my eyes coming here and you know, learning about leadership and how I can use my personalities to make people you know confident around me. And you know, basically, do the best work that we can and that. You know we're going to talk about it down the line, but it ties a lot to what I'm doing right now.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:Oh, that's fantastic. One of the questions I have for you is what's on the horizon? What do you see over the next? Oh, I don't know if you want to go five years sometimes that seems like a long time from now or 12 months, whatever works. What's on your horizon?
Duc Do Minh :So I kind of have again a little bit of a different way to look at, you know, these five goals or 10 goals kind of thing. For me I always try to focus on the presence because I is in the next five or ten years. Right, and I agree with you that you know it's good to have a plan, it's good to have a goal, but for me I would say I use, like I would say, 80% of my focus basically on the present and then how I can do the best in the present right now, and then it will shape my future. You know, Making the present right now and then it will shape my future. You know, making the best decisions now it's going to shape how you are five, ten years down the road. What type of investment that you, you, you doing right now. What is your daily activities that you do? Do you work out every day? Do you read books every day? You know that that kind of thing.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:It's really interesting because, as you were talking and almost immediately after I asked that question, I sort of hearkened back to those days when someone would say well, what do you want to be when you grow up and it was typically an expectation was one answer doctor, engineer, etc. Yep. And then even you know, after college, okay, what do you want to do now that you've graduated? And people are expecting that final result, and I think the perspective that you're adding today to the show is look at the steps, look at the process, Be reflective. Don't focus on the long goal necessarily. Really just be present, Experience it in the time, and then all that stuff will come.
Duc Do Minh :So you know, to answer what you just said, and I really want to add a concept, and what I've learned so much in America, you know what. You know what it is. It's the relationship with myself, a thing that I didn't really have in Vietnam. And why did I say that? Because, like you said right, as a young age, people keep asking you what you're going to be, but people don't know you and you don't even know yourself.
Duc Do Minh :So how can you't know you and you don't even know yourself, so how can you give an answer when you don't even know yourself? So that's what I'm trying to do, you know, and that's what I've learned so far in my journey, is basically really understand yourself, really spend time with yourself, right, and then and think about what you really want, what brings you joy, what would make your life feel meaningful. And I'll tell you, rick, a lot of the time at the point you don't have an answer. But that's why it's a journey, you know, it's a long success in life to eventually come to know yourself and know your strengths, so you can, you know, develop it even more. And you know, know your weaknesses to avoid it or to, you know, make it stronger, absolutely.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:Oh, that's wonderful. Another question I have for you is something that I suppose I think about many times when I'm talking to or working with international students or students whose home country is different than the US in terms of should I go back to my home country? Will I go back to my home country, do you?
Duc Do Minh :ever think about that? All the time, rick, all the time. If I'm being honest with you, even to this day, I don't know what I'm going to do, and that's why I just focus on the present and see where it leads me, because there's no right or wrong. I think like that because of reflection of my experiences. Right, because in the past I think that, oh, 100%, I'm going to go back to the country after school. Look where I am today. You see, this is why we can't think too far in the future, because things can always change and what you really want to do is prepare yourself for all the possibilities and not just focus on one.
Duc Do Minh :Right, we never thought that COVID was a thing. We never noticed COVID was going to be a thing. And look at us now I'm working from home two days a week, you know. So the beauty lies in the present and how we can best prepare ourselves for whatever is going on in the future. Like I said at first, I want to go back, and I met my wife now, you know, and she convinced me to, you know, be here with her. And even now we don't even know where we're going to end up. It could be Australia. Now the road. I mean, now we have all the, you know, the knowledge, the money, the time in the world to basically decide where we want to go, is where we're going to be. But that takes a lot of work, you know. That takes a lot of sacrifice, you know, down the line to, you know, to strengthen my mentality, my uh, you know financial situation and and my physical as well, right, and your mindfulness right, that spirituality, that sort of works in there as well.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:That's wonderful. So one of the questions that we always ask on the podcast is what would you tell, uh, an eight-year-old about what's ahead in life? And certainly, if you want to tell an eight-year-old about what's ahead in life, and certainly if you want to say an eight-year-old you know from Vietnam that dreams of coming to the US or somewhere else, what would you tell them is ahead?
Duc Do Minh :Oh, this is a hard question, huh? You know, I would tell him exactly what I've been telling you since the beginning of this podcast is to, you know, basically focus on what you're doing right now, whatever it is Right, because and I, you know look at life different than us. You know, so he only. What does he, what does an eight years old know? You know, so he only. What does an eight-year-old know Homework, school, friends and playtime in school, and that's pretty much about it, you know.
Duc Do Minh :And so what I would tell whoever I come in contact with, in this case an eight-year-old, is that, you know, in life, just trying to do the best at whatever you do, you know, aim for profession, so when you fail, it's going to be excellent. You know what I mean. Like that's what I did, that's what I did throughout the past 10 years and it turned out to be great for me. You know, and obviously I know that people are different People coming from different backgrounds, and obviously I know that people are different people coming from different backgrounds. So you know my advice, my work for somebody and my not work for somebody else.
Duc Do Minh :But you know, I think that whatever you do in life, just have the mentality of doing the best job you can do. If you are cleaners, try to be the best cleaners in the world. If you are teachers, try to be the best cleaners in the world. If you're a teacher, trying to be the best teachers in the world. And that, I think, is where all the confidence is going to lie. And, realistically, it's going to build up your standard and when you have high standard, you're going to be around people with the same standard and you will just see your life excel. It's going to compound it. All the things that you try, all the effort that you're going to put in, it's going to compound it. You know, all the things that you try, all the effort that you're going to put in, it's going to compound it. But obviously it's hard to explain to an 8-year-old how compound interest works. You know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:I don't know my 8-year-old grandson. I think he might be able to figure that out. He's doing quite amazing things with things with that. So listen, it's it's exciting to, first of all, see you again today and also to have this conversation. My, my idea behind the leader brew is it's pretty basic uh, I've had so many wonderful conversations with students, former students, over the years, and being able to capture those stories as a legacy project is exactly what the Leader Brew is all about and you know, really kind of getting the perspective of journeys, and you shared your perspective of journey today and I absolutely greatly appreciate it. So thank you for joining us on the Leader Brew.
Duc Do Minh :Of course, rick, it's very nice to see you and you know, as always, it's such a pleasure for me to be on your podcast and you know, I hope everything is turned out to be great, you know, because you're a great person and you know you deserve the best for what you put in so far. So you know, I can't wait to see your podcast continuing to thrive, podcast continuing to thrive. And you know, hopefully one day, maybe five, ten years down the road, I'm going to be back on the podcast and tell you, you know, my next five years journey, so that we don't have to answer today and we're answering five years down the road.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:Or I'll be a guest on your podcast. So let's go for it.
Duc Do Minh :You never know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:All right.
Duc Do Minh :You never know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood:Thank you all. Once again, another exciting episode of the Leader Brew. We want to thank our participating universities, northeastern University and Swinburne University, as well as our new sponsor, solotron Group. Also, we'd like to thank Jared Zamarowski for editing us and making us sound and look great. Take care.
