[:en]There is no percentage in tentativeness. Success in strategic change belongs only to those who step into the fray. My recent visit to Hanoi reminded me of this, and below I explain why.<\/p>\n
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The streets of Hanoi are frenetic, the colors are vibrant, and the people make you want to know more about them. Walking around the city has its rewards, but seeing Hanoi on foot is not without its downside. Crossing the road in Hanoi is an ordeal for the uninitiated.<\/p>\n
Traffic is a free-for-all, or at least that is how it appears. There are few traffic lights, and even at intersections where there are, the signals appear only optional for scooters and bikes. The flow of traffic is incessant. At one intersection, I waited nearly ten minutes looking for a break in scooters, cars, buses, trucks, and heavily loaded bicycles. The break never came.<\/p>\n
Just as I was considering walking further up or down the road to find a better place to cross, an elderly Vietnamese woman walked up from behind me, and without a change in the cadence of her pace, to my horror, she stepped off the curb out into the traffic, barely giving a glance in either direction.<\/p>\n
I imagined the worst\u2014that she would be struck and injured, maybe even killed, the same fears holding me back at the curb, but nothing of the sort happened. The drivers of scooters and cars just maneuvered around her, most even without slowing down. She made her way steadily across the road in a straight line without changing her gait until she reached the opposite side\u2014unscathed and unperturbed.<\/p>\n