Steve Nguyen, Ph.D.

Steve Nguyen, Ph.D., is an Organizational and Leadership Development Leader. He partners with senior & executive leaders on ways to improve human behaviors in the workplace and on how to make people and organizations more effective. As a business advisor and organizational development expert, he provides expertise and guidance around learning, organizational, and talent development solutions, and leads the strategizing, designing, execution, and evaluation of employee, leadership, and organizational development workshops, initiatives, and programs.

While working overseas training educators in crisis intervention, he became fascinated with behaviors in the workplace. That fascination inspired him to make a career shift to industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology. I-O Psychology studies people, work behavior, and work settings to understand how behavior is influenced, changed, and enhanced to benefit both employees & organizations. 

Born in Vietnam, he and his family escaped the war-torn, Communist-controlled country, becoming part of the 1.5 million “boat people” who left (between the mid 1970’s through the 1990’s) after the fall of Saigon to Communism. Their journey and their stories recount one of the largest mass exoduses of people by boat in history.

By the grace of God, they were rescued and brought into a refugee camp on an Indonesian island called Galang. After spending 11 months there, he and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Nguyen and his family's escape from Vietnam, their refugee experience, and life in the United States provide valuable lessons about courage, determination, resilience, hope, gratitude, and faith.

Dr. Nguyen is certified in several assessments and methodologies including: Hogan Assessments Certification, Emotional Intelligence (EIQ) Inventory Certification, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Instrument (TKI) Certification, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Step I & Step II Certification, DISC Assessment Certification, Leadership Effectiveness Analysis 360 (LEA 360) Certification, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification, and Prosci Change Management Certification.

He received coaching training through Coaching Out of the Box® (COTBx), an award-winning, ICF-approved program based in British Columbia, Canada. The six-month curriculum covered core coaching competencies, ethical practice, and practical application — including a five-step coaching conversation framework, multi-dimensional listening, powerful questioning, and cultivating client trust and growth — while preparing participants to meet the ACC credential requirements. Practical skills were further reinforced through the Advanced Coaching Skills Practicum, a virtual classroom where participants coached and received real-time feedback from an ICF-certified coach, and the COTBx One-to-One Mentor Coaching Program, consisting of three individual mentoring sessions focused on demonstrating the competencies required for the ACC and PCC credentials.

Dr. Nguyen has a bachelor’s in philosophy, a master’s in counseling psychology, and a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology. His interests include leadership development, learning & development, organizational development, change management, talent management, and industrial and organizational psychology.

As creator of WorkplacePsychology.Net (it is now defunct and is part of SteveNguyenPhd.com/blog), a blog about people and behaviors in the workplace, he’s been quoted in Fast Company, The Guardian, Monster’s Career Advice, and BBC Capital. Respected media and online publishers, including Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, CNBC.com, Inc.com, Nasdaq.com, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, and the Business Ethics Resource Center (a joint project of the Center for Ethics in Practice at the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas and U.S. Bank) have directly linked to one or more articles or resources on his blog.

Dr. Nguyen lives in Lavon, Texas with his wife and daughter. When not chasing his half-Godzilla daughter around the Dallas metroplex, he enjoys spending his quiet time reading books, listening to audiobooks, and writing on his blog.

CONTACT:

Email: stevenguyenphd@outlook.com

Professional Website: stevenguyenphd.com

Blog: stevenguyenphd.com/blog

Work Portfolio: stevenguyenphd.com/projects

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stevenguyenphd

Threads: threads.com/@stevenguyenphd

Instagram: instagram.com/stevenguyenphd

X (formerly Twitter): x.com/stevenguyenphd