Three generations, three questions

My parents first traveled overseas at 30. Mine was at 18. My son boarded his first international flight at 2. Each journey mirrors Vietnam's evolution, and why the biggest test lies ahead.

In the late 1980s, my parents were selected by the government to study abroad, tasked with bringing back technologies Vietnam needed.

Vietnam's best chance of growth back then was to become the world's factory floor.

This was the apprentice phase, focused on learning, building capacity, and saying yes to foreign investment, like the early stage where you say yes to everything and build skills through volume.

Two decades later, I earned a private scholarship to study in the United States, securing competitive positions post-graduation. My generation was no longer just learning. We were competing and contributing as global citizens.

Vietnam had evolved too, executing manufacturing at scale and integrating into global supply chains.

For professionals, this is like the mid-career stage, optimizing for performance and becoming the manager or operator who gets results.

Today, my son is part of a generation born into a connected world, one that will face a very different challenge.

While my parents learned and my generation competed, this new generation must create.

Vietnam needs to move up the value chain by designing technologies, building brands, and setting global standards.

For individuals, this is when the question changes from "How do I advance?" to "What am I building that matters?"

The numbers tell the story. In thirty years, Vietnam's GDP per capita has grown sixfold while poverty, measured at World Bank's international line, fell from over 70% to under 5%. But this success creates a new challenge: the middle-income trap, where growth stalls because the strategies that fueled early development, such as cheap labor, foreign capital, and assembly manufacturing, cannot deliver lasting prosperity.

As Vietnam marks 80 years of independence on September 2nd, the same question applies to each of its citizens: are we still learning, still competing, or ready to create?