Why ‘Learning at Work’?
Dear friends, colleagues, and fellow professionals,
This is the first post I am writing under the category Learning at Work. It was not easy to choose this name. I went back and forth many times. But when I looked back at my own journey, one word kept appearing: learning.
From being a 10th grader working as an English tutor, a marketing freelancer for an overseas education agency, selling textbooks to friends, to eventually founding and running the current group 2G Education — with English language teaching as the core, alongside international summer camps and overseas education consulting — for the past eight years, what has stayed with me was never money, titles, or expansion. It was always the learning.
If I must describe my journey in one word, it is simply this: learning.
Business is never separate from who you are as a person. It is not an isolated system operating independently from your character. Work shapes you. Decisions mature you. Failures humble you. Responsibility stretches you. The person I am today — my maturity, perspective, and emotional depth — has been deeply shaped by what I have experienced through work.
I often use the phrase “lived experience capital.” Looking back, I realize that most of my growth did not come from books or courses. It came from negotiations that did not go well, partnerships that did not last, hiring mistakes, cash flow pressure, leadership dilemmas, and moments when I doubted myself but had to move forward anyway.
10 years of building and running companies is not a long time in the grand scheme of life. But it is long enough to soften the ego. Long enough to replace arrogance with humility. Long enough to understand that success is never a straight line, and that behind every visible milestone are invisible struggles.
I also recognize something else.
On social media, I often share achievements — expansion, partnerships, new projects, milestones. What I rarely share are the doubts, the misjudgments, the sleepless nights, and the mistakes that cost both money and pride.
This space will be different.
Here, I will speak about failures and lessons I have never talked about publicly. Before founding 2G Education, how I failed with other early brands. When 2G was growing at its peak, how I made wrong moves investing in other industries — e-commerce, import–export, real estate, retail. The decisions that looked bold on the outside but were fragile underneath.
This corner is not about showcasing success. It is about documenting what the work has taught me.
Perhaps it will be helpful for:
The high school student who is hungry for “success” defined only by career and travel.
The young professional in their twenties who is overly focused on titles and growth.
The educator or entrepreneur considering starting a company.
Anyone who wants to learn from the struggles behind the visible achievements.
For me, work has been a teacher. A demanding one.
I started my first company at eighteen or nineteen, failed more times than I expected, and then began building again in my twenties. A decade later, I see the journey differently. Not as a story of achievement, but as a process of becoming more grounded, more responsible, and more aware of my own limitations.
If there is one thing I am certain about, it is this:
I am still learning.
And perhaps that is the real work.
———
Keep walking toward the sun— with a smile, every moment.
Hải Thật. A reflective Vietnamese son-husband-father-founder in education, writing life notes to live more meaningfully.
