Julie Nguyen Sivanthaphanith's Linkedin Analytics

Dear Younger Julie, you mastered time to be unshakable. Until Vietnam taught you to trust the present over the plan. Calendars: flawless. Vacations: locked in months ahead. Deadlines: nailed. It felt powerful. Safe. Predictable. And then I moved to Vietnam. And nothing ran on time. Meetings shifted. Plans dissolved. “Let’s see” was the most honest answer anyone gave. I panicked. Just sand under my feet. But it wasn't chaos. It was trust: Trust that life happens. Trust that presence earns more than precision. Trust that leadership adapts, it doesn't grip. I didn't let go of my standards. I let go of certainty. And found something deeper than control: Presence. Adaptability. Leadership across cultures, not just calendars. That’s the shift I now help leaders make, when stepping into new teams, new cultures, and new expectations. To lead through change, fast, without losing themselves. Because the leader you become next won’t be the one who controls time. But the one who earns trust, in moments no plan could prepare for. 🔶 So let’s ask it clearly: Where is your grip on control slowing down the leader you could already be? #CrossCulturalLeadership #Coaching #Keystoners

Did you get the playbook for Vietnam? Most leaders waste weeks trying to build credibility... the wrong way. They lead like they did back home. Clear. Fast. Driven. And it backfires. They explain the strategy. Ask for input. Push for alignment. The team nods... then goes quiet. Decisions stall. Respect fades. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath? Cultural signals they can’t read. Leadership habits that suddenly don’t land. ↳ Cultural friction that drains their ROI and career. I've lived it. My clients face it everyday. 🟧 I help leaders building their cultural accuracy. It's a leadership skill, practiced in meetings, emails, even silences, for example. Like learning how not to challenge ideas in a group, but build support quietly beforehand. That changes everything. 🔶 Why waste time & energy, instead of building trust that moves your career forward? #CrossCulturalLeadership #Leadership #Keystoners #Vietnam

France taught me to give feedback directly. The US to sugarcoat it. Vietnam to make it feel not personal. As a manager, I’ve always believed feedback is how we grow talent. But across cultures, it sounds very different. 🇫🇷 “This isn’t deep-dived enough. Here’s what needs to change.” 🇺🇸 “You’re doing great, just a couple of areas to work on.” 🇻🇳 “This is just my humble view... maybe we can look at it again together.” In Vietnam, I learned that feedback easily feels personal, even when it's meant to help to improve the work only. But I don’t believe in skipping it. I believe in making it land, in saying what matters, in a way that still builds trust, across cultures. That’s the shift I help leaders master. And feedback drives growth, not distance. 🔶 What does feedback sound like on your team? #Leadership #CrossCulturalLeadership #Coaching #Keystoners

I hated being treated like “the boss.” Until I realized — it wasn’t about me at all. When I started working in China, I was used to flat teams and open debates. So I did what I knew: ➝ I sat next to my team during lunch. ➝ I tried to be “one of them.” ➝ I asked for direct feedback and expected quick reactions. But every interaction felt… off. The room went quiet. Eyes looked down. I smiled — they didn’t smile back. At first, I wondered if I was doing something wrong. It felt like I’d missed a memo everyone else had read. 🔸 I wanted connection. ▪️ They needed clarity. 🔸 I thought I was building trust. ▪️ But I was breaking it. ⬛️ Because in hierarchical cultures, like China or Vietnam, how people see the leader shapes how they see themselves. ⬛️ Your distance doesn’t disconnect them. It protects them. It signals strength. Stability. Structure. And gives them space to contribute — safely. I used to resist the distance. Now I use it — not to create walls, but to create room. I’ve coached senior leaders across Southeast Asia through the same tension. Not changing who they are, But how their presence lands. They want to walk into a new room and feel: In control. Respected. Clear Trusted—from day one. Not guessing. Not overcorrecting. Not stuck. Here’s how they succeeded: 🟧 Observe what your presence means. ↳Your seating, tone, and words signal more than you think. 🟧 Decouple warmth from proximity. ↳You can show care without informality. ↳You can stay respected and connected. 🟧 Respect the hierarchy, then use it to uplift. ↳Don’t flatten too soon. ↳Use structure to build safety, then invite collaboration. And when that shift clicks? ✔️ Teams start showing up differently within weeks. ✔️ Not just more vocal — more engaged, more aligned and confident. ⬛️ Thriving here doesn’t mean changing who you are. It means reading the room—and using your presence with calm confidence. That’s how my clients earn trust early, and becomes the reason their team rises with them. 🟧 Ever had a moment when being the "boss" felt off? Share it below—I’d love to hear it. #CrossCulturalLeadership #ExecutiveCoaching #China #Vietnam #Keystoners

50+ years after almost losing his arm to war, he showed me what true leadership still asks of us today. This week, as Vietnam celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Reunification Day, I find myself reflecting on a journey that brought these lessons vividly to life. During a recent trip across Vietnam, I traveled with a guide who lived those defining moments: Not just in memory, but in his body. A bomb explosion almost cost him his arm when he was still a teenager. The doctors said: “If you can move even one finger, we will not cut it.” The smallest twitch of a finger, that was all it took to save his arm,  and in many ways, his future. At 75, he still carries the scars, but none of the bitterness. He welcomes visitors from countries that once stood on the other side of the battlefield. He builds bridges, tirelessly, not only between nations, but within Vietnam itself, between minorities and fellow Vietnamese. He tells stories with a quiet, unwavering love for his country, a deep respect for others, and a belief that peace is not given. It’s built, choice by choice, keystone by keystone. Not through grand speeches, but through the way he shares its beauty, its resilience, and its humanity. You can feel it, in every word he chooses. You leave not just hearing his stories, but carrying a piece of his hope. Leadership across cultures asks the same of us: Not to erase the past. Not to deny the scars. But to carry the memory. And still choose to build. To offer trust where there could be suspicion. To create futures where others might only see history. This 50th anniversary is not just about remembering. It is about honoring the bridges built, and choosing, again, to build more. With pride. 🔶 In leadership and in life, what bridges are we building, even when history makes it hard? #Vietnam #CrossCulturalLeadership #Leadership #coaching #Keystoners

Leadership means knowing when to put down the sword, and start building the bridge. In leadership, especially across cultures, strength is often misunderstood. Strength isn't holding tighter. It isn't holding longer. It’s about knowing when to release. To restore harmony instead of fueling confrontation. To choose calm closure, instead of dominance. To build trust through respect, not just achievements. To lead beyond ego, choosing the future over the past. At the heart of Hanoi, Vietnam, there's a lake that carries this leadership wisdom. After Vietnam's fight for independence centuries ago, Emperor Lê Lợi returned a magical sword to a golden turtle, a sign that the fighting had ended, and peace restored for good. Today, the lake is named Hoàn Kiếm: The Lake of the Returned Sword. As Vietnam marks the 50th anniversary of Reunification today, I’m reminded that leadership, across cultures and across time, asks for the same choice: You don’t create the future by holding the sword. You create it by building the bridge. 🔶 What “sword” are we ready to lay down — to create the future you believe in? #CrossCulturalLeadership #Culture #Coaching #Keystoners

We clicked in prep. We froze on stage. Culture, not personality, broke the pitch. First time: with an American colleague. We got along instantly. Easy collaboration. Fast ideas. Great energy. We prepped the deck together,  rehearsed once,  aligned on the messaging. Effortless. Until the presentation. We stepped on stage. I improvised a little (as any French might). He panicked. Afterward, he said: “That’s not what we rehearsed.” Me: 😳 That’s when I realized: The bond was real. The breakdown? Cultural. Different cultural assumptions about how trust, precision, and credibility are built. And then it happened again. Once in Vietnam. Another high-stakes pitch. Same easy prep, same good dynamic. But during the presentation,  my Vietnamese colleague went quiet. I felt alone. Until I asked, “Would you like to add something?” He nodded. And then—he delivered the strongest, most grounded insights of the whole day. Why the silence? Because in his mind, I was the lead. And respect meant waiting for my signal. He wasn’t holding back. He was holding space. We didn’t fail. We just brought the wrong playbook to the stage. Same ideas. Same team spirit. Different expectations. That’s what culture does. It shapes how we present, how we listen, how we follow and lead — even when personalities click. It’s not about being too direct, too passive, too formal. It’s about what those signals mean in different places. It's about how each culture defines clarity, respect, and credibility. If you stop at personality,  you’ll miss the pattern. But if you pay attention to the gap, you start to see the cultural code underneath. That’s cultural relativity (#ErinMeyer). What works in one room might fall flat in another. Not because it’s wrong, but because the rules changed. 🟧 What’s one cultural lesson you wish you'd known? Let’s hear it. #CrossCulturalLeadership #ExecutiveCoaching #LeadershipDevelopment #Vietnam #Keystoners

You didn’t lose the room. You gave it away. One silence at a time. 🔸 You lead the meeting. Silence. They follow someone else’s cues. 🔸 You present the plan. Silence. They wait for someone else to make it land. 🔸 You follow up. Silence. They respond once someone else reframes it. 🔸 You ask for alignment. Silence.  They look to someone else before deciding. And silently…  you’ve stopped leading. Not because you meant it, but because you're not culturally fluent,  And someone else stepped in. You lost ownership. These silences? They’re just the symptoms you can hear. They are not confusion. They are lack of buy-in. If your way of persuading doesn’t land, they’ll wait for someone else who does. And how to persuade is different in every culture. 🇫🇷 "Let’s begin with the logic. Here’s the framework." 🇺🇸 “It worked in two other markets, let’s move fast and test it here.” 🇻🇳 “Who’s aligned? What’s the timing? What are the risks?” You weren't hired to translate. You were hired to lead. But every time someone else fills the cultural gap, you give away the trust & the ownership, that should be yours. Cultural fluency is a skill. And I’ve helped leaders build it, in Vietnam, and across Asia. They don’t just adapt faster. They win trust, earn respect, and lead on their own terms. There’s never been a better time to own the room and lead like you belong in it. 🔶 What are you still outsourcing that leadership asks you to own? #Leadership #CrossCulturalLeadership #CulturalFluency #Vietnam #Keystoners

I kept delivering... ... and wondering when trust would follow. When I joined AB InBev in China, I was still finishing my MBA. So I started one day a week. No onboarding. No team rituals. No context. To myself: "It's temporary. I'll catch-up when I start full-time." When I did, nothing changed... 😬 I was a French finance profile, dropped into a Chinese marketing team, of an American company, under Brazilian leadership, where everyone knew the playbook—except me. I kept thinking: "Maybe if I just prove myself, I'll be in." So I did what I knew: Sharper analysis. Stronger numbers. More results. But the silence stayed. No rejection. Just... distance. I wanted to belong so hard. And the harder I pushed through KPIs, the more I felt like I was performing behind glass. I learned that: In relationship-first cultures, like in Vietnam and China, trust doesn't follow performance, trust precedes it. They weren’t cold. They were waiting — for connection, not credentials. I wasn’t being rejected. I was being expected — to make the first step. 🟧 It's not that I wasn't good enough. It's that I wasn't relational enough. Now I help leaders decode that same tension, especially in their first 90 days. Not by pushing harder. But by listening sooner. Here’s how they shift: 🔸 Don’t skip the first step. → Build relationship equity before KPI equity. 🔸 Make the human move first. → A quick chat, an invitation, a moment to connect. 🔸 Ask about their context before proving yours. → Understanding before broadcasting. 🔸 Reframe trust. → It's reciprocal, not a reward. → It's a foundation for results. 🔸 Keep performing — but let them in. → Share your thinking. Invite theirs. Now, my clients don't just deliver—they belong. Because in Southeast Asia, what looks like a slow start is often the fast lane, if you read it right. 🟧 Now I know: In some places, trust leads. Not lags. 🟧 What shifted your perspective on trust? 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.😉 #CrossCultural #ExecutiveCoaching #Vietnam #China #Keystoners

Dear Younger Julie, Great — you delivered the ROI. But YOU were the cost. When I left France to do my MBA in China, I thought the hardest part was already behind me. I’d walked away from a stable job, a nice apartment, a life that looked... complete. It wasn’t a crisis. But something inside me wanted more. More growth. More challenge. More meaning. And that MBA gave me all of it. 📚 Learning like I’d never learned before. 🌏 Friendships from all over the world. ✨ Freedom to explore who I was becoming. But the minute I graduated, the pressure came rushing in: “Now what? You’ve invested so much — you better make it count.” I landed a job fast. A great one, in China, at a global company. High-stakes. High-profile. A perfect ROI. So I switched gears. Put my head down. And started performing like my life depended on it. I smiled. I delivered. I outpaced every metric. But quietly… I felt like I was vanishing. I stopped asking what I wanted. I stopped listening to my inner compass. I told myself: “This is success. Just keep going.” Until one day, a friend said: “I don’t even recognize you when you’re working.” That’s when it hit me. I was chasing the return on investment. But I hadn’t asked: what was the investment really for? A salary? A title? A seat at the table? What about time, energy, identity — the things you can’t track in a spreadsheet? 🟧 Today, I work with leaders who want more than titles and results. They want to feel grounded while they rise. To succeed without losing their center. To lead without letting go of themselves. Here’s what we explore together: 🔸 Where does your ambition serve you — and where does it steal from you? 🔸 Are you building a future you’ll actually want to live in? 🔸 Can you make bold decisions without leaving your inner voice behind? Because leadership isn’t just about return. It’s also about remembering what you never meant to lose. 🟧 What part of you have you left behind in the pursuit of performance? Drop it below. I’d love to hear it. #ExecutiveCoaching #Future #LeadershipDevelopment #Keystoners

Tomorrow’s the day! Excited to join the Overseas Vietnamese community for a live session on: 🌏 Cross-Cultural Leadership for Global Vietnamese Because being “in-between” cultures isn’t a limitation, it’s a leadership edge. We’ll dive into real conversations, hidden expectations, and how to bridge cultures without losing yourself in the process. Let’s turn lived experience into credibility, clarity, and connection. 🟧 Let’s lead across cultures — together. https://lnkd.in/g3XhyZ7f

If your team keeps saying “yes”, but delivers nothing, you're leaking ROI. It's not strategy. It's culture. 🟠 Deadlines slip. 🟠 Talent drifts. 🟠 Budgets burn. 🟠 Execution fails. 🟠 Credibility stalls. And those are just some visible costs. That’s not a communication gap. That’s ROI leaking. Cross-cultural fluency isn't optional, not if ROI matters: it's non-negotiable. It’s speed. Trust. Retention. It’s your credibility in motion. It affects how efficiently you lead, how your team performs, and how fast your work pays off. This is operational, measurable, business-critical. I coach executives to turn culture from a silent drag... into a strategic driver of ROI in Vietnam, from Day 1. Experience, clients' and mine, shows that rebuilding credibility always costs more than getting it right from Day 1. Ignore this, and the leak grows.

Dear Younger Julie, you weren’t rude. But your “no” felt like rejection. Now I know other ways. 🔸 I thought I was being honest. 🔸 I thought that I was being clear. 🔸 I thought that saying "no" was leadership. But I learned that clarity without care can land like a slap. When I started working in Asia, I said “no” the way I was taught to in France: Direct. Blunt. Efficient. I didn’t mean to offend. But I did. In Vietnam and China,  my direct "no" closed doors. People withdrew. Relationships tensed. I wasn’t just disagreeing. I was disrupting harmony. And when harmony breaks, so does trust. I wish someone had told me this sooner: You can disagree without breaking harmony. You can say no — without ever saying “no.” So I learned the hard way. Not to be vague — but to be careful with clarity. Not to soften the truth — but to anchor it in relationship. That’s what I help leaders master now. Not to tiptoe. But to disagree without disconnecting. Here’s how we start: ◾Be aware of your "no" signals. → Are you shutting down the idea or the person? ◾Bridge instead of blunt "no". → “That’s an interesting point. What if we also looked at it this way?” ◾Use questions to disagree → “Could we explore another angle?” → “How this might impact the team?” ◾Acknowledge before redirecting. → “I see your point — let's consider this too.” ◾Respect through pace. → Silence isn’t avoidance, it’s processing. → Don’t fill the space, let meaning settle. I didn’t lose credibility when I softened. I gained it. I didn't mute my voice. I tuned it. ⬛ I was creating space for others to stay connected, even when I say no. That’s how my clients keep trust intact, while still shaping direction, and leading with calm, respectful clarity. 🟧 What’s your go-to phrase for disagreeing without disconnection? Drop it below — I’d love to borrow it. #CrossCulturalLeadership #Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #Vietnam #Keystoners