How To Build Career Breakthroughs From Taking Risks Intelligently? | Ruby Nguyen | TEDxĐaKao

Overview

Ruby Nguyen (TEDx ĐaKao) explains how “intelligent” risk-taking can lead to meaningful career breakthroughs, sharing her own journey from a stable, teacher-focused dream to a decade-long path in entrepreneurship.

Stability vs. Risk

Nguyen contrasts two ideas of stability and risk:

• She grew up in a family that relied on irregular, low-income work.
• Because of this, her parents and she viewed a stable teaching career as a reliable way to guarantee income and support aging family members.

Then, almost by accident, she became an entrepreneur when a friend invited her to start a company. She stayed in entrepreneurship for about 11 years, despite the reality that starting businesses can involve:

• high chances of failure
• emotional intensity
• moments where she feared she might have to shut the company down

How Risk Can Create Breakthroughs

Nguyen argues that entrepreneurship’s risk can still produce “breakthroughs” by expanding personal capabilities and resilience. She describes five major benefits she gained from taking risks:

1. Discovery of hidden talents/capabilities — including finding she could excel at public speaking.
2. Expanded mindset and continual growth — becoming “smarter” through doing the work.
3. Character-building through crises — especially after a period when her company nearly died, strengthening her resolve.
4. Learning from relationships/people — meeting inspiring allies as well as difficult individuals.
5. Higher potential rewards (especially income) — recognizing that entrepreneurship can include periods with no personal pay, but can ultimately improve her ability to care for family.

The World Is Unstable (So Avoiding Risk Is a Risk)

Nguyen broadens the message: avoiding risk may actually be risky because the world is unstable and skills can become obsolete.

• She references the idea (via the World Economic Forum) that half of skills can be obsolete every five years.
• She also offers a personal example: her sister’s job insecurity and the responsibility of raising two children—showing that uncertainty is already present in life, so proactive adaptation matters.

Make Risk-Taking Practical (Not Reckless)

Nguyen emphasizes that intelligent risk-taking should be:

• planned
• managed

Not reckless “jumping off a cliff” or gambling.

She introduces a framework: before acting, reduce or eliminate risks through deliberate planning. She compares risk management to solving a Rubik’s Cube—a process guided by steps rather than luck.

Her Risk Assessment Approach

Based on launching a new company, Nguyen outlines how she evaluated risk across several areas:

• Personal risk: Could she survive if she couldn’t pay herself for 3–5 years?
  • She concluded she could, due to savings.
• Family risk: contingency plans such as:
  • an emergency fund
  • health insurance for her mother in case she became sick and couldn’t care for dependents

She also stresses the importance of writing down risk analyses and revisiting them over time. Overall, risk-taking should include ensuring you’re healthy enough to make decisions and execute effectively.

Long-Term Risk Requires Social Capital

Nguyen adds that long-term risk-taking depends on social capital—the quality of trusted relationships, not just having a large network.

She defines social capital as relationships where people are willing to collaborate and help each other over time, grounded in:

• trust
• respect
• safety
• friendship

She recommends intentionally curating these relationships and building community, noting a preference for smaller communities and combining one-on-one connection with community-building interactions.

Conclusion: Intelligent Risk Is a Learnable Skill

Nguyen concludes that intelligent risk-taking is a learnable skill, like learning to ride a bicycle—where you may fall at first, but eventually build balance and confidence.

She ends with a personal “lucky” moment: she was invited to meet President Barack Obama online. She attributes this not to luck alone, but to her willingness to take chances earlier.

Presenters / Contributors

• Ruby Nguyen (speaker)