Embracing Authenticity: From Perfectionism to True Leadership
#30 Son of a Viet Kieu | How a Language School’s Struggles and a Personal Journey Led to Growth and Genuine Connection
Hey! I am so grateful to have you back at my blog. Your subscription means the world to me. ❤️ In order to get to know you better, here is a question for you: When was the last time, that you tried to be perfect?” 😊
Now jumping into today’s blog:
“This is horrible… people might get nightmares after they see this video.”
It was 2021, and the lockdown due to COVID-19 in Vietnam had just started. I knew that I had to do things differently if I wanted to save our language school … actually, if I wanted to save myself. But let’s start from the beginning.
It’s 2020 - From Passion Project to Business
Imagine me, a dreamer without any background in business, together with some friends, trying to scale a passion project—our language meet-up—into a proper language school.
With no knowledge of how to do that, I read tons of books and watched even more YouTube videos about running a business. They all echoed a similar sentiment:
“Fake it till you make it.”
The first impression counts.
We transformed our branding from a fun, happy place where people could learn German through mini-games and conversation practice into a solid, professional business that would represent German quality and perfectionism.
Not only did the building have to look cleaner, nicer, and neater, but I also had to change my persona from an energetic, hyper person into a more serious leader who delegated tasks and constantly checked whether the quality met German standards—or so I thought.
It didn't take long for my team to wonder: “WTF is he doing? Why is he like that?”
Even though they never said it, I could feel it in the atmosphere. My insecurity skyrocketed, and my imposter syndrome kept me sleepless.
It’s 2021 - From Rebrand to Failure
Many people in Vietnam knew us as the language club “Deutsch Sprachtreff,” but since we changed our name to “Deutsch Campus,” we struggled to find students. They couldn’t find us or didn’t even know we were the same team.
Revenue was low, and our fixed costs were high.
The pressure made me feel like everything was out of control. And what would Thomas do when things didn’t go as planned? He would become even stricter to regain a sense of control.
Without even realizing it, I grew further and further away from my team—and from my own purpose. I was so obsessed with the thought that only perfectionism would get us out of this misery that I forgot why I was doing this in the first place.
In the spring of that year, my co-founder and I decided to close down Deutsch Campus and accepted that we had failed.
A Day Later - Be Honest with Yourself
We announced to the whole team that we were going to close down Deutsch Campus. Even though some of them had anticipated it, there was still a shock in everyone’s eyes.
Everyone was kind of lost and didn’t really know what to do.
In the evening, my education team wanted to talk to me. With a heavy heart, I went out to see them at a café. It didn’t take long for them to say:
“Thomas, try it again. We’ve known you since the beginning. There’s no need to pretend—just be who you are. That’s why we followed you in the first place.”
This hit me hard. I had tried so much to be a role model, to set an example, to pretend to be professional and perfect, only to realize that this was not what my team truly needed.
Thanks to this conversation and a chat with the other co-founder, I mustered up all my courage to redo it. But this time, in the right way—by being honest and embracing my flaws.
No cover-up, no more pretending, no more lying—just me in my most natural form.
I had to learn to put my ego aside and ask for help. I am eternally grateful for the support of my team and their patience with me.
Fast Forward to Pre-COVID Time
I promised myself to put my ego aside and be who I was—the energetic teacher who wants to make learning German fun. It sounds easy, but working on one's insecurities of being judged is hard. But this time, I wanted to prove to my team that I had changed.
COVID hit Vietnam, and it was only a matter of time before we had to move our classes online. I knew that I had to create the first hashtag on TikTok called #hoctiengduc to be more present online.
Again, my insecurities hit hard, and I overthought:
”What if the audio is not correct?”
”What if the video quality sucks?”
”What will the audience think if they see a low-quality TikTok video?”
I took a deep breath and remembered all the motivational videos on YouTube that said: “The most successful people are the ones that fail the most but get back up.”
I accepted that my voice sounded horrible and the videos might be trashed. But I uploaded my first German TikTok videos.
The result: students were liking and sharing the content like crazy. Even though my video and audio quality were far from good, I learned that there was still value in what I did.
I finally managed to put my ego aside and focused more on providing value and representing the person I truly wanted to be. Not a perfect business person or an experienced leader, but someone who enjoys helping others and stays true to his values.
For too long, I tried to appear perfect in front of others to prove my self-worth without realizing it had the opposite effect. Not only did my team start to question who I was, but I also got more and more lost in an identity that was not true to myself.
#mydailylearning
Today, I am glad to say that I am able to trust myself. Even though I often have no idea what is going on and am confused myself, I know that things will turn out well as long as I stop judging myself and trust the process.
It is not about being perfect, but constantly casting a vote for being true to myself. Walking the path that aligns with my values. I might not be able to reach everyone—and that is not the point at all. It is about being kind to myself, standing behind myself, and loving myself with all my weaknesses and insecurities. By putting my ego aside and acknowledging who I am, I can be imperfectly perfect. I can be myself. I can be Thomas.
Thanks for reading to the end and I wish you an awesome day full of kindness and positivity. See you next Sunday morning for a new blog of #sonofavietkieu. 🥰
Bài viết thuộc thử thách Viết Đều và Hay của Writing On The Net Alumni. #wotn #vietdeuvahay