Change your life in seven days

Brian Spence

* Brian Spence

The warrior Achilles is one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. According to legend, Achilles was extraordinarily strong, courageous and loyal, but he had one vulnerability: when his mother dunked him into the River Styx, whose waters conferred the invulnerability of the gods, she had to hold him by the heel and so left him with an area of weakness – one that eventually proved his undoing. Thus, when we speak of an otherwise indomitable person having a flaw that might not be easy to see, but can easily be their downfall, we talk of their “Achilles’ heel”.

So, what has Greek mythology got to do with Việt Nam in the here and now? Well, it’s that I perceive a real Achilles’ heel evident in the business culture.

One of the first things Westerners learn when trying to get to grips with Asian culture is the concept of “losing face”. While everyone loathes the pains of shame and embarrassment, avoiding any loss of face in business seems like an overriding principle here. As with Achilles and his mythological heel, that focus can become a weakness that negates many strengths. It can also lead to great harm.

Strength in vulnerability

In my experience in the Vietnamese M&A and consultancy arena, it is a sad fact that seven out of ten business owners will not admit to vulnerability or weakness, or indeed the need for support and external advice of any kind. Such is the loss of face they fear, concessions like this are actually anathema to many otherwise very incisive and wise people.

My observation over several years in Việt Nam is that the owners of family businesses often do not share responsibility for their management because they view this as a weakness. This results in many family businesses being unable to reach the heights that other more internationalised ones can reach. They impose an artificial glass ceiling above which the owner will not allow their employees – or indeed themselves – to go beyond in their achievements.

My personal view is that an individual shows strength when admitting weakness and, through awareness of where things can be improved, they can become stronger than ever.

A new breed

We can see this in action with a new breed of business owner starting to take centre stage – often helped by a family member who has been educated abroad and so has learned to temper their cultural inheritance with other perspectives that might be more helpful towards business goals.

It is undoubtedly good to be single-minded and the “captain of the ship”; that’s how successful businesses are created. However, as they grow and have to adapt, the value of teamwork, openness, vulnerability and inclusion of different viewpoints grows too.

As businesses transition to the next generation, we can expect broader ways of thinking to take hold even more strongly, but the influence of the young is already having a transformative effect on forward-thinking owners of SMEs. Children who have brought their parents round to a more inclusive and internationalised way of working can see very clearly the effect on their competitiveness almost straight away.

Just because a certain way of doing things has been around for a long time, shouldn’t mean it is clung to. The objectives you are trying to achieve should guide your every step.

Investment, not cost

In similar fashion, I very often see resistance to paying for advice on running a family business. While it is certainly true that no-one knows their business like its owner, perhaps they don’t know the landscape and where things are heading as well as they might. It is only natural to see things through your own lens, but failing to take on board other viewpoints is what holds many entrepreneurs back.

It’s a matter of perspective. Is advice unnecessary and even intrusive, or is it a vital means of getting an edge? Likewise, is paying for good counsel a cost to be avoided, or is it an investment that will undoubtedly generate rewards?

The future is exceptionally bright for Việt Nam and there is so much opportunity for business owners to exploit both here and on the international stage. However, I would argue that unlocking that opportunity depends on embracing change in every sense. If it doesn’t work, and a devotion to independence and shutting outside voices certainly does not, it has to be let go.

There is a reason that consultancy is integral to the business sectors of every highly successful country. Indeed, most of the business owners I’ve known in my career wouldn’t even consider trying to do without it.

A chasm is opening up between the businesses of the past and those of the future. There is no weakness in accepting help to make sure yours is on the right side.

Don’t let an Achilles’ heel define your entrepreneurial journey.

* Brian Spence is managing partner of S&P Investments. He has more than 35 years of experience in the UK financial services industry as an investment manager, financial planner and M&A specialist. He is a regular contributor to the UK financial press and has a deep understanding of the financial services community. Brian’s column will reflect on all the challenges and opportunities within the Vietnamese market, bringing a fresh perspective to today’s hottest issues. The columnist’s email address is [email protected] .

NA chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân addresses at the last session of the 14th National Assembly on Wednesday morning. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The 14th National Assembly opened its final session on Wednesday morning in Hà Nội.

During the 12-day session, the 11th of its kind during the 14th tenure of the NA, legislators will spend seven days deciding on candidates for the top leadership positions of the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, NA chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said the 14th National Assembly was elected on May 22, 2016, and operated amid many changes, advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and challenges in the world and the region.

The last five years also marked Việt Nam’s thriving development after 35 years of renovation.

Ngân said under the Party’s leadership and voters’ supervision, the 14th NA represented national unity, Việt Nam’s creativity and innovations.

“The NA strongly innovates its activities flexibly, with caution, decisively and responsibly,” Ngân said, adding that the legislative body acted for people’s benefits, the nation’s benefits as fulfiling a huge workload, deciding important issues of the country as well as foreign affairs work that helped improve Việt Nam’s position internationally.

During its term, 14th National Assembly issued legal documents to constitutionalise the Party’s policies and directions and concretised the 2013 Constitution.

Among 72 laws, two ordinances and resolutions approved during the term, many played fundamental roles in Việt Nam’s legal framework, Ngân said, adding that some legal documents with new issues were approved for the first time.

Trade agreements, conventions and treaties were ratified, contributing to completing the legal framework, meeting the needs of international integration and the interests of the country, Ngân said.

The 14th National Assembly also witnessed changes in Việt Nam’s law-building process, Ngân said.

For example, programmes to develop laws and ordinances were issued yearly of once at the start of the five-year term and the policy development process was separated from the drafting process.

After every meeting, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly announced its conclusions on major issues or contents with controversial opinions in each project or draft so that agencies could continue to study and submit additional explanatory reports to the National Assembly.

“The forms of discussion and opinion collection on law projects, ordinances and draft resolutions are actively renewed, diversified, which follow the correct process, ensuring quality and saving time,” Ngân said.

“However, limitations remain in legislative activities,” Ngân said.

For example, forecasts for laws/ordinances building programs remained inaccurate, creating a need for adjustments.

Public opinion consultation for law projects was sometimes still merely a formality, with the consultations short, reaching few people and generating poor results. The impacts of new policies were not evaluated in-depth and some policies were issued without evaluating their impacts on affected groups.

Ngân also mentioned the lack of feasibility of some laws which resulted in conflicts, overlaps and required amendments or revisions.

Rapid changes during national development and global situations partially caused the limitations.

In addition, some agencies assigned to prepare drafts failed to meet their deadlines, while the co-ordination of agencies in assessing, improving and completing the drafts was sometimes ineffective, Ngân said.

The NA chairwoman also raised concerns about the shortage of sanctions for those who slowed the legal document-making process as well as mechanisms to attract experts and scientists to contribute to law projects or mechanisms to encourage affected groups to speak out.

Also in her opening speech, NA chairwoman Ngân said the 14th NA attached much importance to its supervision activities.

The NA asked the Government to submit reports on the implementation of NA resolutions on socio-economic development, economic restructuring, mid-term public investment and the results of policies for ethnic groups.

Q&A sessions during NA meetings were innovated, allowing more deputies to asks questions, Ngân said, adding that the quality of Q&A sessions had improved and drew much attention from deputies and voters.

During the last session of the 14th National Assembly, legislators will elect candidates for top leadership positions for the coming term.

The revised Law on Drug Prevention and Control is also expected to be approved during this session.

The legislators will also discuss draft reports on the performance of the 14th-tenure NA as well as the State President, Government, NA Standing Committee and NA agencies, Supreme People’s Court, and Supreme People’s Procuracy and the State Audit Office of Việt Nam in the 2016 – 2021 tenure.

The Viet Nam Fatherland Front’s Central Committee will deliver a report on people and voters’ opinions and proposals to the NA’s 11th session, while the NA Standing Committee will present a report on the results of supervising the settlement of voters’ petitions sent to the 10th sitting.

The National Election Committee will report on the performance of its tasks since its establishment.

The NA also plans to decide the number of full-time deputies for the Hà Nội People’s Council during the 2021 – 2026 tenure and spend about a week considering top leadership positions.

NA chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân and Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc head NA delegations to pay tribute to President Hồ Chí Minh at his mausoleum before the NA meeting. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Before the opening ceremony, leaders of the Party, State and Việt Nam Fatherland Front, along with NA deputies paid tribute to President Hồ Chí Minh at his mausoleum in Hà Nội. — VNS

BERLIN — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany jumped on Thursday by 29,426 to 3.073 million, the biggest increase since Jan. 8 as the government seeks to push through tougher nationwide curbs to try to contain a third wave of the virus.

The reported death toll rose by 293 to 79,381 while the number of new infections per 100,000 residents over seven days rose to 160.1, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.

Germany is grappling with a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 five months before a national election in which Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives are forecast to suffer major losses.

Frustrated by a failure of some regions to implement tougher restrictions despite rising cases, Merkel wants parliament to grant the federal government temporary powers to enforce coronavirus lockdowns in areas with high infections.

On Thursday, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended the changes to the Infection Protection Act which include curfews once the seven-day virus incidence exceeds 100,000.

“This has helped everywhere, it has been done in many countries around the world – and it has brought the incidence rates down,” he told ARD television, adding something had to be done to limit the spread of the virus.

“We want to have strict rules.”

Recently, one of the global expat living publications released a whizz bang study on the cost of living in various countries around the world for expatriates, and Vietnam came out on top of the pile as the absolute cheapest.

Exactly how affordable is Vietnam?

A while back I went through a line-by-line exercise detailing typical expat living expenses , but now let’s take a different tack, looking at what can be bought for one little ole U.S. dollar in Vietnam.

In Vietnamese dong terms, that U.S. dollar buys about VND23,000. The Australian and Canadian dollars weigh in at about VND18,000, whereas the euro pegs at VND27,000.

The UK’s pound sterling converts to just short of VND32,000.

Confused yet?

Me too, so screw it, we’ll just stick with the U.S. dollar and use VND20,000 as the local currency equivalent, a nice, easy round number. I include the VND amounts below to facilitate easy conversion to other currencies.

Actually, using a lower value than the prevailing exchange rate may not be a bad idea, because the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to put money into circulation like a bunch of drunken sailors on shore leave.

Vietnam, working conservatively with the future in mind, is busy squirreling away foreign currency, leading me to think that rate may well change one day, but we have no idea whether indeed it will change, by how much, or when.

In the meantime, let’s go on a typical little daily trip to your local market and see what a dollar can buy us.

First up, you need to park your motorbike, which you can do seven times at markets in most cities for that dollar – i.e. it’s usually VND3,000 a pop, give or take.

Bread always comes in handy, so how many ‘banh mi’ can we buy (just whole loaves, not prepared sandwiches) for that dollar?

There are many different grades of that little slice of heaven ranging in price from VND1,500 to VND3,000 each, and no doubt there are designer versions that come in pricier featuring seeds and nuts, even emitting a cute little jingle when sliced open.

The VND1,500 loaves are extremely light and airy, the VND2,000 loaves are a bit denser, while the more expensive ‘heavyweight’ versions are nearly twice the weight, more concentrated and tastier, so we’ll go with them at VND3,000 each, that’s seven for a buck – damn good deal.

Now let’s pick up some veggies, you can buy two majestic heads of broccoli or cauliflower for a buck – those big enough for two servings cost about VND10,000 each.

For the same amount, you can snag two pomelos, which look like a grapefruit on steroids, called ‘buoi,’ but only the smallish variety, a bit old, possibly with some blemishes, they’re discounted but still great for eating. What’s inside is delicious and freshly preserved by that extra thick pith, and that’s what matters. The largest and prettiest versions of pomelo will run closer to two bucks.

Stuck between washing days with no clean socks? Damn, don’t you hate it when that happens?

Fret not, you can even buy three pairs of socks for VND20,000, that’s the very short ladies’ version that only comes up to your ankle bone (irritating) and develops holes in the heels and toes in no time flat. Still, if you’re in a jam, those socks will bail you out.

If you stub your toe wandering around the market, no worries, you can pick up no less than 20 average-sized plastic band aids for that buck.

Every household needs fresh hen’s eggs – I personally prefer them all natural with blobs of poop and gunk on the outside – adds realism to the whole buying experience. I assume, but can furnish no proof to back up the claim, that the poopy variety come from happier hens than those who lay the squeaky clean industrial supermarket eggs by the thousand.

You can buy ten poopy eggs for that buck although they are typically sold by the kilo, just remember to wash them thoroughly before cracking them open to avoid any bacteria.

How about a nice freshwater snakehead fish (‘ca loc’ – yep, the very one I struggle to pronounce correctly as analyzed to tears in my previous update). You can choose any two of the large chunks below (each is enough for one meal for one person) for a buck, which do not include the head and all the guts in the center of the photo, from which I made a tasty soup stock.

I pulled that live fish out of the tank myself and whacked it senseless with a steel pole, you can’t beat that for freshness.

The entire fish cost me VND85,000, which comes out to eight good-sized chunks, or two for VND20,000.

To round out your meal you can buy enough chilies, coriander, basil, and spring onions to choke a horse for a buck, or for VND2,000 you can get enough of each to prepare a single meal. Hell, if you buy several items from a market vendor, they’ll throw them in for free.

Let’s stop off for a snack, there’s always a ‘bun thit nuong’ or ‘banh uot’ stand within spitting distance. The two dishes are similar – a thin rice crepe with grilled or ground pork, hunks of sausage, sprouts, greens, and, naturally, some mild fish sauce.

If you spot some woven rice noodles that resemble little cross-thatched blankets, those are ‘banh hoi.’ Grab them, that design soaks up the fish sauce delightfully! You can pick up any one of these three dishes for VND20,000 and enjoy it whilst sitting on a kiddie-sized plastic stool.

Let’s top that dish off with a nice local coffee cups, some are made from a blend of local Vietnamese robusta beans (known to make the hairs on your arm stand up), others are made from a mixture of robusta and arabica seeds.

A cup in a nice café will go for a dollar, sometimes more, but if you don’t mind drinking in the kind of dump I frequent you can get one for half that, so for a buck you can invite a friend to join you for a cup.

Thirsty? You can pick up two large glasses of sugarcane juice (‘nuoc mia’) squeezed right on the spot for VND20,000, which can’t beat that with a stick. It’s packed with electrolytes to stave off dehydration in hot, sticky weather.

Let’s say that on your trek around the market, you catch your clothing on a nail, resulting in an unsightly tear. Don’t worry, on your way home just pop into the Miracle Sewing Lady, she can fix anything.

She sits there all day, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm (I checked), hardly moving, just sewing her brains out. She memorizes every repair job dropped off by each customer, the time by which she promised to complete the work, and the price she quoted. I’d bet a tidy sum that she never muffs up a job or forgets what she promised her customer.

Miracle Sewing Lady just sits outside a house, has no shop of her own, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see her take over the entire block one day, she’s that good. Anyway, she can fix up any clothing misfortune in no time flat, charging VND20,000 or less for a repair.

And if you’re feeling lucky after all that shopping, you can pick up two daily lottery tickets for a buck and give one to a friend to ensure maximum luck.

You never know, somebody who wins it might be you.

In the meantime, enjoy the affordable prices here in Vietnam, they probably won’t remain that way forever.

An octopus named Marshmallow lies at rest at the bottom of her tank, suddenly shifting in color from a pale white-green to brown and then orange, as her muscles twitch, suckers contract and her closed eyes shift around.

This moment was captured in remarkable footage shot by scientists in Brazil, who published a new study in the journal iScience on Thursday that says the sophisticated cephalopods experience at least two different types of sleep.

One of these states, which they dubbed “active sleep,” is akin to rapid eye movement (REM) in mammals, birds and some reptiles — raising the intriguing possibility that, like humans, octopuses experience dreams.

“Octopuses are unique in terms of their complexity, both behavioral and neural,” senior author Sidarta Ribeiro of the Brain Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil told AFP , noting they have the most complex brains of any invertebrates.

“But they’re nevertheless very different from us.”

To explore the question of octopus sleep patterns, the researchers continuously recorded four octopuses in their tanks over several days, then went back to analyze the footage.

They found during “quiet sleep,” the animals were still, with pale skin and their pupils contracted to a slit.

During “active sleep,” however, they dynamically changed their skin color and texture, noticeably heaved and twitched, and their eyes moved around.

The pattern was cyclical, with the quiet period lasting around six or seven minutes and followed by an active cycle lasted about 40 seconds.

The cycle might then repeat, or the octopus could wake up, but usually fell back asleep 30 to 40 minutes later. All told, their slumbers take up a quarter of the day.

To establish whether these states really represented sleep, the researchers devised visual and tactile stimulation tests, the paper’s first author, graduate student Sylvia Medeiros told AFP .

The first test involved playing a video of a crab on a screen that was placed next to the octopuses.

“When they are awake, because crab is a natural prey, they try to attack,” she said.

But they didn’t try to pounce in the two states where they were presumed sleeping.

In the second test, they struck the octopus tanks with a rubber hammer, with the animals physically reacting and changing their color when awake, but not when asleep.

‘Video clips, or even gifs’

Learning more about what makes us similar to octopuses, whom our species diverged from 500 million years ago, can shed new insight into our distinct evolutionary paths, said Ribeiro.

“If we see a similar phenomenon, in this case, a sleep cycle comprising quiet sleep and then active, it’s most likely due to convergent evolution,” he said, meaning our two species independently evolved the same biological mechanisms.

That in turn sheds light on the evolutionary pressures that shaped this behavior.

For mammals, REM sleep represents a time of memory consolidation and triggers a variety of molecular mechanisms that have a restorative effect on brain health and cognition.

The authors think this could be the case for octopuses too.

Most human dreaming also comes during REM sleep — so might this also be the case for the eight-limbed molluscs?

“We cannot affirm it for sure,” said Medeiros.

But if they do, it’s unlikely to be similar to the complex narratives we can experience, given how short the active phase is for octopuses, she added.

“It should be more like small video clips, or even gifs.”

The color patterns the octopuses form on their skins during sleep could offer a window into their minds, as they can mirror patterns they exhibit while they are awake.

For example, the “half and half,” where they are black on one side and white on the other, is sometimes seen during courtship — so might an octopus that displays this pattern during sleep be dreaming of romance?

Maybe, but it’s too early to say, said Ribeiro, and the subject of future research.

The team next hopes to find ways to record octopuses’ neural data — a tricky proposition given they are moving around in water — and to learn more about the role sleep plays for the animals’ metabolism and cognition.