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The Strategic Quit: Why Walking Away Is Sometimes the Smartest Move You’ll Ever Make
Quitting can be a smart decision, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. In her book Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, Annie Duke explores a bias most of us carry: we celebrate those who push through, and we quietly judge, or outright condemn, those who walk away. But Duke argues that quitting a course of action is sometimes the smartest way to win in the long run, whether you’re cutting your losses at the poker table or turning back on a mountain climb so you can try
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Apr 15


Creating Loyal Customers
Whether you provide customer service or contract with a vendor to do it, remember who you contract the work out to (i.e., third party vendor), and what they do or don’t do (good and bad) reflects back on you as the business owner — your products and/or services and your reputation.
“. . . just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore. You don’t own those customers. They’re just parked on your doorstep and will be glad to move along when they find something better
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Mar 31


Don't Miss Out On A Chance To Work For A (Not Well-Known) Small or Medium-Sized Company
In late December 2017, I flew half way across the United States to interview for a position at a very famous tech company in northern...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Mar 2, 2025


Book Review: Community of Leaders by Vince Molinaro
Vince Molinaro's Community of Leaders (2024a) book is a follow-up to his previous book, Accountable Leaders (2020). In the last chapter...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Jan 1, 2025


Burnout Is Not What Most People Think
I see many people on social media posting about burnout & how to manage burnout — BUT almost always only as an individual way to...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Nov 23, 2024


Book Overview & Summary: Smart, Not Loud by Jessica Chen
Jessica Chen's book, "Smart, Not Loud: How to Get Noticed at Work for All the Right Reasons" is fantastic! "The Quiet Culture bias is the...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Sep 20, 2024


You Will Because You Can
This story is about a former classmate and the life-changing gift and words of encouragement she shared with me that forever changed my...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Jul 1, 2024


Being Negative and Complaining
"Two men look out the same prison bars: One sees mud and the other stars." -Frederick Langbridge It's very easy and so tempting to be...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Jun 2, 2024


Light A Fire Within Instead of Under Someone
The Cambridge Dictionary defines the saying, "light a fire under someone" in this manner: to make someone act quickly or forcefully,...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Apr 6, 2024


Personal Integrity Is Being Congruent; Not Hedging, Not Sidestepping, Not Misleading
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth." -Aesop In a 2015 Hallmark Christmas holiday movie called, "I'm Not Ready...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Feb 5, 2024


The Value of Feedback
According to the book The Leadership Challenge, one of the things leaders can start doing to become better leaders is to ask people to...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Nov 9, 2023


Book Review - Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well
RIGHT KIND OF WRONG - PART ONE In Part One of her book (Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well), Dr. Edmondson introduces a...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Oct 16, 2023


Lack of Composure
Many years ago I had a chance to meet and interact with a middle manager who, while appearing on the outside to be very self-assured, was...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Aug 7, 2023


Don't Be Petty and Don't Delight in Other's Misery
Petty is an interesting word. The Collins Online Dictionary defines it as: mean or ungenerous in small or trifling things a petty person...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Jul 4, 2023


What it Means for a Leader to Take on "Extreme Ownership"
Photo: Jocko Willink (left) and Leif Babin (right) I've written before about "extreme ownership" and how passing the buck (i.e., blaming...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Jun 4, 2023


Good to Great to Gone
I was once part of a leadership development initiative (in 2019) that required partnering and collaborating with a third-party vendor,...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
May 2, 2023


Book Review: The Leadership Challenge, 7th Edition
In this book review of The Leadership Challenge (7th ed.) by James (Jim) Kouzes and Barry Posner, I'll compare the 7th edition (2023) to...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Apr 9, 2023


Don't Get Hooked on "Fake Work"
“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Mar 7, 2023


Don't Outsource Your Thinking
If there's one thing I've learned from attaining my Ph.D. it is this — don't outsource your thinking. As a society, we've become lazy,...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Dec 19, 2022


Book Summary & Review: How to Be an Inclusive Leader (2nd ed.) by Jennifer Brown
SUMMARY Based on her many years of watching all types of individuals react to the issues surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and...
Steve Nguyen, PhD
Nov 18, 2022
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