October 23, 2024 • 25 mins
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.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (00:16):
Hello and welcome to another exciting
edition of the Leader Brew.
I'm looking forward to catchingup with a well, what I would
say is a longtime friend, thoughhe is not my age.
He's much younger and I had thepleasure of meeting Dukdo at
Northeastern University a fewyears ago and I remember
(00:39):
thinking to myself wow, thiskid's got potential.
I don't know why, I just saw it, I felt it, and I look forward
to talking to you about yourleadership journey.
And he is from Vietnam and, asmany of you have heard on this
podcast, I often will say that Ileft my heart in Vietnam.
The time that I taught inVietnam still remains very
(01:01):
special to me and it looks likeI'm going to be getting to go
back next year.
So in the meantime, we get tohear Duke's story, and welcome
to the show.
Duc Do Minh (01:14):
Thank you, rick.
Well, hello everybody.
Hello to you know, Rick,audience.
My name is Duke, I'm 27 yearsold and next January I will beS
for 10 years, which is a verylong journey.
It was a great journey for me,you know.
I gave America all the creditfor, you know, me becoming who I
(01:34):
am today.
So you know, I would love toshare my journey with you guys
and with my friend here, rick.
We have a pretty cool story ofhow we get to know each other
and you know how we mostly himseeing me changing throughout
the last 10 years.
But, yeah, happy to be here.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (01:59):
Yeah, you know, I think, looking back, so
much of higher education has todo 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 withthem one or two times throughout
their career.
In your case it's verydifferent because we started off
from that relationship-orientedstandpoint.
It was pretty much what can Ido to help you.
(02:20):
What impressed me the most overthe years has been your
openness to listen to someoneelse.
I think that is one of yourgreat attributes.
Duc Do Minh (02:33):
Well, thank you, rick, for the audience, just so
they don't know.
Just a little bit of backgroundof our relationship.
Basically, my dad knowssomebody that represents
Northeastern University inVietnam and that person is a
friend with Rick and you knowthat's how we come to basically
know each other and you know Iwas a very troublesome kid, some
(02:56):
would say, at the point.
So my dad kind of wantssomebody you know with
experience, such as Rick, tokind of guide me.
When I was in high school, youknow kind of, you know being a
mentor of mine and that's what Ithought I think about you, by
the way, rick, just so you know,a friend and a mentor as well.
So that's just some backgroundregarding our relationship.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (03:19):
You know and I think that helps in the
academic sense as well is tohaving that friend, that mentor.
Look, the reality is I, alongwith my other faculty colleagues
, have hundreds, if not a fewthousand, students per year, and
it's kind of hard to do it, butwe do have that opportunity,
(03:40):
even if it's just for a coupleof minutes, to engage with
students and help them on thepath.
I think one of the excitingparts I see in terms of our
mentorship.
I too have grown as a result oflistening to you, and there
were times where I was thinkinghow am I going to respond to
(04:03):
your questions?
Am I going to sort of pull outthat 20-year-old self or my
other self, the more current one?
And so I was having to sort oflearn the ropes at the same time
.
Duc Do Minh (04:18):
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 theworld.
Right, we get to learn fromeach other, and that should be
the mindset of all learners allover the world, right, at least
for me, I think that I can learnfrom basically everybody that I
come in contact with, whetherit's a kid or an adult, whoever
really.
You know, it's the ability toobserve and, you know, do some
(04:42):
reflection regarding yourself.
You know, as human, we areemotional creatures.
There's always things going onin our head and, you know, the
brain is a very, you know,complex place.
I would say.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (04:55):
So, as a student from Vietnam, how did
you first find the US in termsof what was it like?
Was it just absolutelyoverwhelming at first, or was it
something you were like?
I'm navigating to that.
Let me learn everything Ipossibly can.
Duc Do Minh (05:17):
So, to begin with, even my decision to come to the
US, a lot of people, includingmy parents, always wanted me to
go abroad, and particularly theUS, because I already have an
older brother that studied inthe UK a few years ago.
So they wanted me to go tobasically another country and,
(05:40):
as we know, us is a greatcountry but I never really want
to go at first, to be completelyhonest, just because you know
and I'm sure a lot ofinternational students out there
can relate, you know just thecomfort, right, which is, you
know, down the road we're goingto talk about it.
But you know, comfort issomething that basically the
(06:01):
biggest enemy of growth, as weknow, basically the biggest
enemy of growth, as we know.
But anyway, you know, I wasn'treally fit with the education
system in Vietnam, so I wasn'tdoing really well in terms of
academics.
And then, just one day, youknow, suddenly, I decided, hey,
you know, let's give it a try.
(06:21):
The whole time people wereconvinced 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 mylife, right?
So that was that.
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 Ihave no idea about.
(06:41):
Worst winter ever that I haveno idea about.
So you know, imagine comingfrom a tropical country to a
place where, well, we don't havewinter over there, so we don't
have snow, we don't have suchextreme 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
(07:02):
different country, even though,keep in mind, I've been speaking
English since I was very littleand even that, even that it's
still I'm still veryintimidating, let alone people
that don't even speak English atall.
You know what I mean, so youknow props to them.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (07:21):
And when you were sort of realizing, wow,
this is a stressful environmentthat I'm in, this is a rather
complex, something verydifferent, whether it was the
weather, or whether it was thecolloquialisms, the Western
style of speaking, differentmannerisms, what sort of things
(07:41):
did you just say okay, here aremy steps.
I need to take it's number one,number two, number three.
Like what were they?
Duc Do Minh (07:52):
Rick, there are no steps.
Realistically there are nosteps.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (07:55):
There are no steps Interesting.
Duc Do Minh (07:57):
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 wouldgive props to myself is just
only two, three words that Ididn't give up.
That's the whole point of it.
That's honestly it.
There's no plan.
(08:17):
I didn't know anything about thefuture, nor that anybody showed
me the way, even though I livedwith my cousin at the point.
But he was, you know, it was.
He was there for so long thatwe can relate to each other.
Now we're great friends, nowwe're great pals, but at the
(08:39):
point I was too young and he wasthe oldest in the family, so
it's very hard for us to relateit anyway.
So basically, what I'm saying isthat I dealt with it all by
myself and it was very stressful, it was very depressing at the
point, because there's a lot offactors going to it.
You know, in my countryeverything is there for me.
I only have to show up, I don'thave to do anything.
(09:01):
No charge, I didn't have tothink of you know schools.
I didn't have to do anything.
No charge, I didn't have tothink of you know schools, I
didn't have to think of anything.
I just need to show up, youknow, and over here I got to do
everything you know, fromcleaning the dishes, thinking
you know the next meal, what I'mgoing to have, because nobody's
there to take care of mebesides for myself, even though
(09:22):
it sounds again completelyterrifying at that point.
But now, looking back, thoseare the experience that I
embrace so much, because itbuilt my character, it helped me
, became the person that I amtoday, that I'm so proud of and
so confident to be.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (09:43):
You know, and you know I love it when you
just said the person I'm soproud of and so confident to be,
you know, and you know I loveit when you just said the person
I'm so proud of and confidentto be that was not our starting
point eight years ago.
That was, I can tell you, Irecall that distinctly.
So that was not the startingpoint.
But I am so like I'm gettingthese goosebumps sort of feel to
(10:04):
say wow, how incredible is that.
Duc Do Minh (10:08):
I mean, you tell me, rick, you tell me how I was
in your eyes when you first metme.
I remember telling me once.
But obviously for theaudience's sake, you know,
please tell me how I was.
You know, as a, you know ascared little high schooler
coming from abroad.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (10:26):
You tell me Well, so I saw I think I would
sum it up in sort of powerdynamics, right, in the sense
that there's power of certaintyand then there's power of
uncertainty.
And I think you were comingfrom a fairly comfort
zone-oriented environment, right, so you had certainty in
(10:48):
day-to-day activities.
It was possibly planned out foryou to some extent, but then
that shift occurred.
Where we go into this power ofuncertainty, some people shrivel
, shrinking, violet, violet, andothers really blossom in it.
So what I, what I saw on yoursurface was more of a somewhat
(11:12):
scared kid that was trying to beas tough as possible but still
needed to um, to really developthat uncertainty and get
comfortable with it, to reallydevelop that uncertainty and get
comfortable with it.
And then I saw, over the courseof time, that you actually
turned that uncertainty intoreally this power that lives
(11:32):
within you, this personal power,and I think that's what's
guided you over the past 10 orso years.
Duc Do Minh (11:41):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree.
You know, it's like, like yousaid there, I and I know of a
lot of situation where kidscoming from, you know, my
country, or China, korea, orwherever you know they, they
give up.
And that's what I'm sayingabout really the power of your
mind, and just you know, youjust got to keep going,
(12:02):
sometimes even though, like yousaid, right, it's the unknown, I
don't know anything.
I don't know what's going tohappen.
You know, I don't even knowwhat's going to end up into.
You know, because we met inhigh school, right, and then and
then and then, obviously I giveprops to you.
You were the one that helped me, you were the one that guided
(12:27):
me and I really it.
You know, and that's basicallythe start of our relationship,
you know, becoming a mentor atfirst and obviously as a friend
down the road and um and yeahyeah, you know, one of the
things I recall, uh, was you hadthis natural affinity to
learning leadership concepts.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (12:44):
You know, remember some of those courses
you had taken and you alwayscame out with such an excitement
.
I'm learning something newabout leadership and you know, I
remember teaching leadership inVietnam and so much of it in
Vietnam.
At that stage people wouldreally define leadership as oh
(13:04):
the boss, oh the leader the boss, and it wouldn't go too much
further than that.
But I think what you did isreally looked at this various
material and course material, etcetera, and really navigated
toward that leadership.
Do you see yourself as a leader?
Duc Do Minh (13:22):
I do see myself as a leader basically throughout
my life.
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, likeyou said, you know that's what
you said in Vietnam the conceptof being the leaders is
basically the boss, everybody'safraid of you, everybody's
scared of you, and I think thatwas cool at the point.
(13:45):
But not until I came to America,you know, I realized the true
definition of leadership in thewestern country is completely
different.
You know, being a leader meanthat you got to make your
completely opposite from what Ithought initially right Making
your people feel comfortable, ascomfortable as possible, so
(14:07):
that from there you would buildtrust and from trust you would
build, you know, basically,efficiencies in how you do work
with each other really opened myeyes coming here and you know,
(14:28):
learning about leadership andhow I can use my personalities
to make people you knowconfident around me.
And you know, basically, do thebest work that we can and that.
You know we're going to talkabout it down the line, but it
ties a lot to what I'm doingright now.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (14:44):
Oh, that's fantastic.
One of the questions I have foryou is what's on the horizon?
What do you see over the next?
Oh, I don't know if you want togo five years sometimes that
seems like a long time from nowor 12 months, whatever works.
What's on your horizon?
Duc Do Minh (15:01):
So I kind of have again a little bit of a
different way to look at, youknow, these five goals or 10
goals kind of thing.
For me I always try to focus onthe presence because I is in
the next five or ten years.
Right, and I agree with youthat you know it's good to have
(15:26):
a plan, it's good to have a goal, but for me I would say I use,
like I would say, 80% of myfocus basically on the present
and then how I can do the bestin the present right now, and
then it will shape my future.
You know, Making the presentright now and then it will shape
my future.
You know, making the bestdecisions now it's going to
(15:47):
shape how you are five, tenyears down the road.
What type of investment thatyou, you, you doing right now.
What is your daily activitiesthat you do?
Do you work out every day?
Do you read books every day?
You know that that kind ofthing.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (16:02):
It's really interesting because, as you were
talking and almost immediatelyafter I asked that question, I
sort of hearkened back to thosedays when someone would say well
, what do you want to be whenyou grow up and it was typically
an expectation was one answerdoctor, engineer, etc.
Yep.
(16:22):
And then even you know, aftercollege, okay, what do you want
to do now that you've graduated?
And people are expecting thatfinal result, and I think the
perspective that you're addingtoday to the show is look at the
steps, look at the process, Bereflective.
Don't focus on the long goalnecessarily.
(16:45):
Really just be present,Experience it in the time, and
then all that stuff will come.
Duc Do Minh (16:54):
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 withmyself, 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 tobe, but people don't know you
(17:18):
and you don't even know yourself.
So how can you't know you andyou don't even know yourself, so
how can you give an answer whenyou 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 withyourself, right, and then and
think about what you really want, what brings you joy, what
(17:38):
would make your life feelmeaningful.
And I'll tell you, rick, a lotof 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
(17:58):
life to eventually come to knowyourself and know your
strengths, so you can, you know,develop it even more.
And you know, know yourweaknesses to avoid it or to,
you know, make it stronger,absolutely.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (18:14):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Another question I have for youis something that I suppose I
think about many times when I'mtalking to or working with
international students orstudents whose home country is
different than the US in termsof should I go back to my home
country?
Will I go back to my homecountry, do you?
Duc Do Minh (18:43):
ever think about that?
All the time, rick, all thetime.
If I'm being honest with you,even to this day, I don't know
what I'm going to do, and that'swhy I just focus on the present
and see where it leads me,because there's no right or
wrong.
I think like that because ofreflection of my experiences.
Right, because in the past Ithink that, oh, 100%, I'm going
(19:06):
to go back to the country afterschool.
Look where I am today.
You see, this is why we can'tthink too far in the future,
because things can always changeand what you really want to do
is prepare yourself for all thepossibilities and not just focus
on one.
Right, we never thought thatCOVID was a thing.
(19:28):
We never noticed COVID wasgoing to be a thing.
And look at us now I'm workingfrom home two days a week, you
know.
So the beauty lies in thepresent and how we can best
prepare ourselves for whateveris going on in the future.
Like I said at first, I want togo back, and I met my wife now,
you know, and she convinced meto, you know, be here with her.
(19:50):
And even now we don't even knowwhere 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 tobasically decide where we want
to go, is where we're going tobe.
But that takes a lot of work,you know.
That takes a lot of sacrifice,you know, down the line to, you
(20:14):
know, to strengthen my mentality, my uh, you know financial
situation and and my physical aswell, right, and your
mindfulness right, thatspirituality, that sort of works
in there as well.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (20:29):
That's wonderful.
So one of the questions that wealways ask on the podcast is
what would you tell, uh, aneight-year-old about what's
ahead in life?
And certainly, if you want totell an eight-year-old about
what's ahead in life, andcertainly if you want to say an
eight-year-old you know fromVietnam that dreams of coming to
the US or somewhere else, whatwould you tell them is ahead?
Duc Do Minh (20:52):
Oh, this is a hard question, huh?
You know, I would tell himexactly what I've been telling
you since the beginning of thispodcast is to, you know,
basically focus on what you'redoing right now, whatever it is
Right, because and I, you knowlook at life different than us.
(21:12):
You know, so he only.
What does he, what does aneight years old know?
You know, so he only.
What does an eight-year-oldknow Homework, school, friends
and playtime in school, andthat's pretty much about it, you
know.
And so what I would tell whoeverI come in contact with, in this
case an eight-year-old, is that, you know, in life, just trying
(21:35):
to do the best at whatever youdo, you know, aim for profession
, so when you fail, it's goingto be excellent.
You know what I mean.
Like that's what I did, that'swhat I did throughout the past
10 years and it turned out to begreat for me.
You know, and obviously I knowthat people are different People
(21:56):
coming from differentbackgrounds, and obviously I
know that people are differentpeople coming from different
backgrounds.
So you know my advice, my workfor somebody and my not work for
somebody else.
But you know, I think thatwhatever you do in life, just
have the mentality of doing thebest job you can do.
If you are cleaners, try to bethe best cleaners in the world.
If you are teachers, try to bethe best cleaners in the world.
(22:19):
If you're a teacher, trying tobe the best teachers in the
world.
And that, I think, is where allthe confidence is going to lie.
And, realistically, it's goingto build up your standard and
when you have high standard,you're going to be around people
with the same standard and youwill 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 tocompound it.
(22:39):
You know, all the things thatyou try, all the effort that
you're going to put in, it'sgoing to compound it.
But obviously it's hard toexplain to an 8-year-old how
compound interest works.
You know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (22:50):
I don't know my 8-year-old grandson.
I think he might be able tofigure that out.
He's doing quite amazing thingswith things with that.
So listen, it's it's excitingto, first of all, see you again
today and also to have thisconversation.
My, my idea behind the leaderbrew is it's pretty basic uh,
(23:11):
I've had so many wonderfulconversations with students,
former students, over the years,and being able to capture those
stories as a legacy project isexactly what the Leader Brew is
all about and you know, reallykind of getting the perspective
of journeys, and you shared yourperspective of journey today
(23:31):
and I absolutely greatlyappreciate it.
So thank you for joining us onthe Leader Brew.
Duc Do Minh (23:37):
Of course, rick, it's very nice to see you and
you know, as always, it's such apleasure for me to be on your
podcast and you know, I hopeeverything is turned out to be
great, you know, because you'rea great person and you know you
deserve the best for what youput in so far.
So you know, I can't wait tosee your podcast continuing to
thrive, podcast continuing tothrive.
(24:00):
And you know, hopefully one day, maybe five, ten years down the
road, I'm going to be back onthe podcast and tell you, you
know, my next five years journey, so that we don't have to
answer today and we're answeringfive years down the road.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (24:08):
Or I'll be a guest on your podcast.
So let's go for it.
Duc Do Minh (24:12):
You never know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (24:13):
All right.
Duc Do Minh (24:14):
You never know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (24:15):
Thank you all .
Once again, another excitingepisode of the Leader Brew.
We want to thank ourparticipating universities,
northeastern University andSwinburne University, as well as
our new sponsor, solotron Group.
Also, we'd like to thank JaredZamarowski for editing us and
making us sound and look great.
Take care.
Hello and welcome to another exciting
edition of the Leader Brew.
I'm looking forward to catchingup with a well, what I would
say is a longtime friend, thoughhe is not my age.
He's much younger and I had thepleasure of meeting Dukdo at
Northeastern University a fewyears ago and I remember
(00:39):
thinking to myself wow, thiskid's got potential.
I don't know why, I just saw it, I felt it, and I look forward
to talking to you about yourleadership journey.
And he is from Vietnam and, asmany of you have heard on this
podcast, I often will say that Ileft my heart in Vietnam.
The time that I taught inVietnam still remains very
(01:01):
special to me and it looks likeI'm going to be getting to go
back next year.
So in the meantime, we get tohear Duke's story, and welcome
to the show.
Duc Do Minh (01:14):
Thank you, rick.
Well, hello everybody.
Hello to you know, Rick,audience.
My name is Duke, I'm 27 yearsold and next January I will beS
for 10 years, which is a verylong journey.
It was a great journey for me,you know.
I gave America all the creditfor, you know, me becoming who I
(01:34):
am today.
So you know, I would love toshare my journey with you guys
and with my friend here, rick.
We have a pretty cool story ofhow we get to know each other
and you know how we mostly himseeing me changing throughout
the last 10 years.
But, yeah, happy to be here.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (01:59):
Yeah, you know, I think, looking back, so
much of higher education has todo 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 withthem one or two times throughout
their career.
In your case it's verydifferent because we started off
from that relationship-orientedstandpoint.
It was pretty much what can Ido to help you.
(02:20):
What impressed me the most overthe years has been your
openness to listen to someoneelse.
I think that is one of yourgreat attributes.
Duc Do Minh (02:33):
Well, thank you, rick, for the audience, just so
they don't know.
Just a little bit of backgroundof our relationship.
Basically, my dad knowssomebody that represents
Northeastern University inVietnam and that person is a
friend with Rick and you knowthat's how we come to basically
know each other and you know Iwas a very troublesome kid, some
(02:56):
would say, at the point.
So my dad kind of wantssomebody you know with
experience, such as Rick, tokind of guide me.
When I was in high school, youknow kind of, you know being a
mentor of mine and that's what Ithought I think about you, by
the way, rick, just so you know,a friend and a mentor as well.
So that's just some backgroundregarding our relationship.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (03:19):
You know and I think that helps in the
academic sense as well is tohaving that friend, that mentor.
Look, the reality is I, alongwith my other faculty colleagues
, have hundreds, if not a fewthousand, students per year, and
it's kind of hard to do it, butwe do have that opportunity,
(03:40):
even if it's just for a coupleof minutes, to engage with
students and help them on thepath.
I think one of the excitingparts I see in terms of our
mentorship.
I too have grown as a result oflistening to you, and there
were times where I was thinkinghow am I going to respond to
(04:03):
your questions?
Am I going to sort of pull outthat 20-year-old self or my
other self, the more current one?
And so I was having to sort oflearn the ropes at the same time
.
Duc Do Minh (04:18):
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 theworld.
Right, we get to learn fromeach other, and that should be
the mindset of all learners allover the world, right, at least
for me, I think that I can learnfrom basically everybody that I
come in contact with, whetherit's a kid or an adult, whoever
really.
You know, it's the ability toobserve and, you know, do some
(04:42):
reflection regarding yourself.
You know, as human, we areemotional creatures.
There's always things going onin our head and, you know, the
brain is a very, you know,complex place.
I would say.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (04:55):
So, as a student from Vietnam, how did
you first find the US in termsof what was it like?
Was it just absolutelyoverwhelming at first, or was it
something you were like?
I'm navigating to that.
Let me learn everything Ipossibly can.
Duc Do Minh (05:17):
So, to begin with, even my decision to come to the
US, a lot of people, includingmy parents, always wanted me to
go abroad, and particularly theUS, because I already have an
older brother that studied inthe UK a few years ago.
So they wanted me to go tobasically another country and,
(05:40):
as we know, us is a greatcountry but I never really want
to go at first, to be completelyhonest, just because you know
and I'm sure a lot ofinternational students out there
can relate, you know just thecomfort, right, which is, you
know, down the road we're goingto talk about it.
But you know, comfort issomething that basically the
(06:01):
biggest enemy of growth, as weknow, basically the biggest
enemy of growth, as we know.
But anyway, you know, I wasn'treally fit with the education
system in Vietnam, so I wasn'tdoing really well in terms of
academics.
And then, just one day, youknow, suddenly, I decided, hey,
you know, let's give it a try.
(06:21):
The whole time people wereconvinced 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 mylife, right?
So that was that.
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 Ihave no idea about.
(06:41):
Worst winter ever that I haveno idea about.
So you know, imagine comingfrom a tropical country to a
place where, well, we don't havewinter over there, so we don't
have snow, we don't have suchextreme 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
(07:02):
different country, even though,keep in mind, I've been speaking
English since I was very littleand even that, even that it's
still I'm still veryintimidating, let alone people
that don't even speak English atall.
You know what I mean, so youknow props to them.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (07:21):
And when you were sort of realizing, wow,
this is a stressful environmentthat I'm in, this is a rather
complex, something verydifferent, whether it was the
weather, or whether it was thecolloquialisms, the Western
style of speaking, differentmannerisms, what sort of things
(07:41):
did you just say okay, here aremy steps.
I need to take it's number one,number two, number three.
Like what were they?
Duc Do Minh (07:52):
Rick, there are no steps.
Realistically there are nosteps.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (07:55):
There are no steps Interesting.
Duc Do Minh (07:57):
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 wouldgive props to myself is just
only two, three words that Ididn't give up.
That's the whole point of it.
That's honestly it.
There's no plan.
(08:17):
I didn't know anything about thefuture, nor that anybody showed
me the way, even though I livedwith my cousin at the point.
But he was, you know, it was.
He was there for so long thatwe can relate to each other.
Now we're great friends, nowwe're great pals, but at the
(08:39):
point I was too young and he wasthe oldest in the family, so
it's very hard for us to relateit anyway.
So basically, what I'm saying isthat I dealt with it all by
myself and it was very stressful, it was very depressing at the
point, because there's a lot offactors going to it.
You know, in my countryeverything is there for me.
I only have to show up, I don'thave to do anything.
(09:01):
No charge, I didn't have tothink of you know schools.
I didn't have to do anything.
No charge, I didn't have tothink of you know schools, I
didn't have to think of anything.
I just need to show up, youknow, and over here I got to do
everything you know, fromcleaning the dishes, thinking
you know the next meal, what I'mgoing to have, because nobody's
there to take care of mebesides for myself, even though
(09:22):
it sounds again completelyterrifying at that point.
But now, looking back, thoseare the experience that I
embrace so much, because itbuilt my character, it helped me
, became the person that I amtoday, that I'm so proud of and
so confident to be.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (09:43):
You know, and you know I love it when you
just said the person I'm soproud of and so confident to be,
you know, and you know I loveit when you just said the person
I'm so proud of and confidentto be that was not our starting
point eight years ago.
That was, I can tell you, Irecall that distinctly.
So that was not the startingpoint.
But I am so like I'm gettingthese goosebumps sort of feel to
(10:04):
say wow, how incredible is that.
Duc Do Minh (10:08):
I mean, you tell me, rick, you tell me how I was
in your eyes when you first metme.
I remember telling me once.
But obviously for theaudience's sake, you know,
please tell me how I was.
You know, as a, you know ascared little high schooler
coming from abroad.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (10:26):
You tell me Well, so I saw I think I would
sum it up in sort of powerdynamics, right, in the sense
that there's power of certaintyand then there's power of
uncertainty.
And I think you were comingfrom a fairly comfort
zone-oriented environment, right, so you had certainty in
(10:48):
day-to-day activities.
It was possibly planned out foryou to some extent, but then
that shift occurred.
Where we go into this power ofuncertainty, some people shrivel
, shrinking, violet, violet, andothers really blossom in it.
So what I, what I saw on yoursurface was more of a somewhat
(11:12):
scared kid that was trying to beas tough as possible but still
needed to um, to really developthat uncertainty and get
comfortable with it, to reallydevelop that uncertainty and get
comfortable with it.
And then I saw, over the courseof time, that you actually
turned that uncertainty intoreally this power that lives
(11:32):
within you, this personal power,and I think that's what's
guided you over the past 10 orso years.
Duc Do Minh (11:41):
Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree.
You know, it's like, like yousaid there, I and I know of a
lot of situation where kidscoming from, you know, my
country, or China, korea, orwherever you know they, they
give up.
And that's what I'm sayingabout really the power of your
mind, and just you know, youjust got to keep going,
(12:02):
sometimes even though, like yousaid, right, it's the unknown, I
don't know anything.
I don't know what's going tohappen.
You know, I don't even knowwhat's going to end up into.
You know, because we met inhigh school, right, and then and
then and then, obviously I giveprops to you.
You were the one that helped me, you were the one that guided
(12:27):
me and I really it.
You know, and that's basicallythe start of our relationship,
you know, becoming a mentor atfirst and obviously as a friend
down the road and um and yeahyeah, you know, one of the
things I recall, uh, was you hadthis natural affinity to
learning leadership concepts.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (12:44):
You know, remember some of those courses
you had taken and you alwayscame out with such an excitement
.
I'm learning something newabout leadership and you know, I
remember teaching leadership inVietnam and so much of it in
Vietnam.
At that stage people wouldreally define leadership as oh
(13:04):
the boss, oh the leader the boss, and it wouldn't go too much
further than that.
But I think what you did isreally looked at this various
material and course material, etcetera, and really navigated
toward that leadership.
Do you see yourself as a leader?
Duc Do Minh (13:22):
I do see myself as a leader basically throughout
my life.
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, likeyou said, you know that's what
you said in Vietnam the conceptof being the leaders is
basically the boss, everybody'safraid of you, everybody's
scared of you, and I think thatwas cool at the point.
(13:45):
But not until I came to America,you know, I realized the true
definition of leadership in thewestern country is completely
different.
You know, being a leader meanthat you got to make your
completely opposite from what Ithought initially right Making
your people feel comfortable, ascomfortable as possible, so
(14:07):
that from there you would buildtrust and from trust you would
build, you know, basically,efficiencies in how you do work
with each other really opened myeyes coming here and you know,
(14:28):
learning about leadership andhow I can use my personalities
to make people you knowconfident around me.
And you know, basically, do thebest work that we can and that.
You know we're going to talkabout it down the line, but it
ties a lot to what I'm doingright now.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (14:44):
Oh, that's fantastic.
One of the questions I have foryou is what's on the horizon?
What do you see over the next?
Oh, I don't know if you want togo five years sometimes that
seems like a long time from nowor 12 months, whatever works.
What's on your horizon?
Duc Do Minh (15:01):
So I kind of have again a little bit of a
different way to look at, youknow, these five goals or 10
goals kind of thing.
For me I always try to focus onthe presence because I is in
the next five or ten years.
Right, and I agree with youthat you know it's good to have
(15:26):
a plan, it's good to have a goal, but for me I would say I use,
like I would say, 80% of myfocus basically on the present
and then how I can do the bestin the present right now, and
then it will shape my future.
You know, Making the presentright now and then it will shape
my future.
You know, making the bestdecisions now it's going to
(15:47):
shape how you are five, tenyears down the road.
What type of investment thatyou, you, you doing right now.
What is your daily activitiesthat you do?
Do you work out every day?
Do you read books every day?
You know that that kind ofthing.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (16:02):
It's really interesting because, as you were
talking and almost immediatelyafter I asked that question, I
sort of hearkened back to thosedays when someone would say well
, what do you want to be whenyou grow up and it was typically
an expectation was one answerdoctor, engineer, etc.
Yep.
(16:22):
And then even you know, aftercollege, okay, what do you want
to do now that you've graduated?
And people are expecting thatfinal result, and I think the
perspective that you're addingtoday to the show is look at the
steps, look at the process, Bereflective.
Don't focus on the long goalnecessarily.
(16:45):
Really just be present,Experience it in the time, and
then all that stuff will come.
Duc Do Minh (16:54):
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 withmyself, 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 tobe, but people don't know you
(17:18):
and you don't even know yourself.
So how can you't know you andyou don't even know yourself, so
how can you give an answer whenyou 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 withyourself, right, and then and
think about what you really want, what brings you joy, what
(17:38):
would make your life feelmeaningful.
And I'll tell you, rick, a lotof 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
(17:58):
life to eventually come to knowyourself and know your
strengths, so you can, you know,develop it even more.
And you know, know yourweaknesses to avoid it or to,
you know, make it stronger,absolutely.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (18:14):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Another question I have for youis something that I suppose I
think about many times when I'mtalking to or working with
international students orstudents whose home country is
different than the US in termsof should I go back to my home
country?
Will I go back to my homecountry, do you?
Duc Do Minh (18:43):
ever think about that?
All the time, rick, all thetime.
If I'm being honest with you,even to this day, I don't know
what I'm going to do, and that'swhy I just focus on the present
and see where it leads me,because there's no right or
wrong.
I think like that because ofreflection of my experiences.
Right, because in the past Ithink that, oh, 100%, I'm going
(19:06):
to go back to the country afterschool.
Look where I am today.
You see, this is why we can'tthink too far in the future,
because things can always changeand what you really want to do
is prepare yourself for all thepossibilities and not just focus
on one.
Right, we never thought thatCOVID was a thing.
(19:28):
We never noticed COVID wasgoing to be a thing.
And look at us now I'm workingfrom home two days a week, you
know.
So the beauty lies in thepresent and how we can best
prepare ourselves for whateveris going on in the future.
Like I said at first, I want togo back, and I met my wife now,
you know, and she convinced meto, you know, be here with her.
(19:50):
And even now we don't even knowwhere 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 tobasically decide where we want
to go, is where we're going tobe.
But that takes a lot of work,you know.
That takes a lot of sacrifice,you know, down the line to, you
(20:14):
know, to strengthen my mentality, my uh, you know financial
situation and and my physical aswell, right, and your
mindfulness right, thatspirituality, that sort of works
in there as well.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (20:29):
That's wonderful.
So one of the questions that wealways ask on the podcast is
what would you tell, uh, aneight-year-old about what's
ahead in life?
And certainly, if you want totell an eight-year-old about
what's ahead in life, andcertainly if you want to say an
eight-year-old you know fromVietnam that dreams of coming to
the US or somewhere else, whatwould you tell them is ahead?
Duc Do Minh (20:52):
Oh, this is a hard question, huh?
You know, I would tell himexactly what I've been telling
you since the beginning of thispodcast is to, you know,
basically focus on what you'redoing right now, whatever it is
Right, because and I, you knowlook at life different than us.
(21:12):
You know, so he only.
What does he, what does aneight years old know?
You know, so he only.
What does an eight-year-oldknow Homework, school, friends
and playtime in school, andthat's pretty much about it, you
know.
And so what I would tell whoeverI come in contact with, in this
case an eight-year-old, is that, you know, in life, just trying
(21:35):
to do the best at whatever youdo, you know, aim for profession
, so when you fail, it's goingto be excellent.
You know what I mean.
Like that's what I did, that'swhat I did throughout the past
10 years and it turned out to begreat for me.
You know, and obviously I knowthat people are different People
(21:56):
coming from differentbackgrounds, and obviously I
know that people are differentpeople coming from different
backgrounds.
So you know my advice, my workfor somebody and my not work for
somebody else.
But you know, I think thatwhatever you do in life, just
have the mentality of doing thebest job you can do.
If you are cleaners, try to bethe best cleaners in the world.
If you are teachers, try to bethe best cleaners in the world.
(22:19):
If you're a teacher, trying tobe the best teachers in the
world.
And that, I think, is where allthe confidence is going to lie.
And, realistically, it's goingto build up your standard and
when you have high standard,you're going to be around people
with the same standard and youwill 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 tocompound it.
(22:39):
You know, all the things thatyou try, all the effort that
you're going to put in, it'sgoing to compound it.
But obviously it's hard toexplain to an 8-year-old how
compound interest works.
You know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (22:50):
I don't know my 8-year-old grandson.
I think he might be able tofigure that out.
He's doing quite amazing thingswith things with that.
So listen, it's it's excitingto, first of all, see you again
today and also to have thisconversation.
My, my idea behind the leaderbrew is it's pretty basic uh,
(23:11):
I've had so many wonderfulconversations with students,
former students, over the years,and being able to capture those
stories as a legacy project isexactly what the Leader Brew is
all about and you know, reallykind of getting the perspective
of journeys, and you shared yourperspective of journey today
(23:31):
and I absolutely greatlyappreciate it.
So thank you for joining us onthe Leader Brew.
Duc Do Minh (23:37):
Of course, rick, it's very nice to see you and
you know, as always, it's such apleasure for me to be on your
podcast and you know, I hopeeverything is turned out to be
great, you know, because you'rea great person and you know you
deserve the best for what youput in so far.
So you know, I can't wait tosee your podcast continuing to
thrive, podcast continuing tothrive.
(24:00):
And you know, hopefully one day, maybe five, ten years down the
road, I'm going to be back onthe podcast and tell you, you
know, my next five years journey, so that we don't have to
answer today and we're answeringfive years down the road.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (24:08):
Or I'll be a guest on your podcast.
So let's go for it.
Duc Do Minh (24:12):
You never know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (24:13):
All right.
Duc Do Minh (24:14):
You never know.
Dr. Rick Arrowood (24:15):
Thank you all .
Once again, another excitingepisode of the Leader Brew.
We want to thank ourparticipating universities,
northeastern University andSwinburne University, as well as
our new sponsor, solotron Group.
Also, we'd like to thank JaredZamarowski for editing us and
making us sound and look great.
Take care.
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