Succession, Governance, Scale: The Next Decade’s Defining Test for Vietnam’s Leaders

Vanguard Connect | August 14, 2025 – Ho Chi Minh City

Every founder eventually faces the same question: Can the business outlast me?

That was the challenge at the heart of Vanguard Connect: Mastering the Second Curve — where over 100 of Vietnam’s most consequential leaders gathered to confront the realities of governance, succession, and scale in a decisive decade for the country.

Three Hard Truths Emerged

From candid keynotes, cross-border perspectives, and deeply personal founder stories, three unavoidable truths stood out:

1. Continuity requires structure.
   Ambassador Phạm Quang Vinh reminded the room that continuity, mentorship, and motivation are not optional if Vietnamese businesses are to last. Without them, the country risks losing hard-earned ground as first-generation founders age.

2. Growth is abundant — but execution is fragile.
   BCG’s Il-Dong Kwon noted that Vietnamese CEOs aren’t satisfied with 10% or even 20% growth; they demand 30–100%. Yet delivering transformation remains “trickier here than anywhere else,” largely because the middle layer of leadership — directors, managers — is thin. The bottleneck isn’t ambition. It’s capacity.

3. Founders must learn to let go.
   OpenAsia’s Đoàn Viết Đại Từ described the painful realization that he had become his company’s bottleneck. His lesson: culture, governance, and trust must replace founder charisma. “Glue before you stretch,” he said — build cohesion, then empower leaders to take the company further.

The Generational Crossroads

The conversations revealed a deeper tension: Vietnam’s second-generation leaders do not want to inherit factories and distribution businesses that built their parents’ wealth. They want to lead in AI, semiconductors, healthtech, and education. This generational divergence — between what was built and what is desired — is now one of the defining challenges of succession.

PNJ’s Trần Phương Ngọc Thảo spoke candidly about bridging this gap inside her own family business: “At PNJ, we learned to stop labeling colleagues as ‘young’ or ‘old.’ Anyone still willing to learn is young.”

Why It Matters

Vietnam is entering the era of Fortune 500 ambitions, international financial centers, and a $1 trillion economy on the horizon. Yet without stronger leadership systems, the country risks being remembered only as a manufacturing base, not as the origin of global brands.

Mastering the Second Curve is not about founders versus successors. It is about building institutions — structures, talent systems, and governance — that can scale beyond any one leader.

Vanguard’s Role

Vanguard exists precisely for this moment. We bring together those who must make the hard shift: from instinct to structure, from survival to scale, from charisma to continuity.

The conversations in August were not comfortable. They were not meant to be. But they mark an inflection point for a generation of leaders who know Vietnam’s future depends on more than ambition — it depends on building businesses that last.

Next Up: Vanguard Summit
November 6, 2025 | Ho Chi Minh City

This time, the conversation goes regional.