TEACHING & ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP
Where Experience Gives Theory Meaning
My approach to teaching is grounded in a simple conviction: experience gives theory meaning, and theory gives experience perspective. I bring more than four decades of executive leadership and international business experience into the classroom, helping students connect academic concepts with the realities of leadership, competition, negotiation, and organizational decision-making.
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP & PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Building Programs for a Changing Global Economy
During nine years at RMIT University Vietnam, I led the MBA program and helped develop the Master of Global Trade—connecting curriculum, faculty expertise, industry expectations, and the changing needs of students preparing for leadership in an increasingly interconnected economy.
Academic leadership required more than administering courses. It meant building relevant programs, supporting faculty, maintaining academic standards, and ensuring that theory remained connected to the strategic, cultural, and operational realities students would encounter in business.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
The Classroom as a Strategy Laboratory
I ask students to approach complex problems as consultants, executives, and decision-makers—not simply as observers searching for one approved answer. The classroom becomes a strategy laboratory where assumptions are tested, evidence is challenged, and decisions are evaluated through their consequences for the organization and its stakeholders.
Critical Thinking & Constructive Challenge
Students are encouraged to question assumptions, examine competing evidence, consider alternative explanations, and defend recommendations through clear reasoning rather than convenient conclusions.
Stakeholder Analysis
Strategic decisions are evaluated through their effects on customers, employees, investors, suppliers, communities, governments, and other internal and external stakeholders.
Competitive Advantage & Value Propositions
Every organization must understand what makes it distinctive, why stakeholders should value what it offers, and whether its capabilities can sustain that advantage against competitors.
Theory Applied to Real Decisions
Academic frameworks become meaningful when students use them to diagnose actual organizational problems, evaluate trade-offs, and recommend actions that leaders could realistically implement.
TEACHING ACROSS INSTITUTIONS & BORDERS
A Global Classroom, On Campus and Online
My teaching experience spans graduate and undergraduate education, face-to-face classrooms, online learning, and culturally diverse student communities. Across institutions and formats, my objective has remained consistent: help students move beyond memorizing concepts and develop the judgment to apply them in complex, uncertain, and internationally connected environments.
RMIT University Vietnam
MBA Leadership & Master of Global Trade Development
Nine years of academic leadership and teaching in an international university environment, connecting graduate business education with regional development, global trade, and cross-cultural management.
University of Maryland Global Campus
Online Undergraduate Business Education
Extensive experience teaching working adults in the online classroom, with an emphasis on leadership, organizational behavior, teamwork, strategic analysis, and practical decision-making.
University of California, Santa Cruz
Executive and International Business Perspective
Teaching informed by executive experience, international markets, and the practical challenges facing professionals operating across organizations, industries, and cultures.
STUDENT LEARNING & MENTORSHIP
Developing Judgment, Confidence, and Perspective
Teaching is ultimately measured not by how much material is presented, but by how students learn to think, question, communicate, and act. My goal is to help students develop the confidence to challenge assumptions, the discipline to support their conclusions with evidence, and the perspective to recognize how their decisions affect other people.
Independent Thought
Encourage students to develop their own conclusions, question conventional answers, and explain the evidence and reasoning behind their recommendations.
Professional Confidence
Help students connect academic knowledge with workplace decisions, communicate their ideas clearly, and become more confident contributors and leaders.
Respect for Different Perspectives
Create an environment in which cultural differences, professional experiences, and competing viewpoints become resources for learning rather than barriers to discussion.