Jiezhen Wu: CEO Struggles, Leadership Lessons from Parenthood, and Why 5-Year Plans Fail – E587

"I think sometimes we don't, and in working with leaders, sometimes I feel like we get stuck in this idea of who we are—and that's the danger when we don't give ourselves the space to evolve. Even as leaders, right? Definitely more further down in their career, maybe in their 50s, some people in their 60s—'cause you have board members as well—and some people are very, like, you know, maybe more fixed in their ideas or belief systems about, 'Oh, I just don't do that, I'm just not a good communicator,' or, 'I always struggle with empathy, I always struggle with speaking to big groups and people.' But when we give ourselves the space to acknowledge where we are, but also the room to evolve our narrative identity, our story of ourself, I think it gives us so many more possibilities of who we can become—and we don't limit ourselves." - Jiezhen Wu, Leadership Coach and Community Builder

"Becoming a parent also made me think about these things. After Harvard, I was like, 'Okay, do I go work in-house in big tech or go into more corporate consulting and impact consulting?' Like, there's so many different paths I could have taken. But I think as a parent, one of the very clarifying questions for me was like, 'Okay, I really wanna be present for my kids.' I really struggled at first—like, do I have to choose between that or doing work that I loved in the world? And the work I've been doing now is really about that integration. How do I do both? How do I be present and do work I care about in the world and really look at the impact that I wanna create? But I think that thread was clarified in becoming a parent, because I was like, 'If there's any time I'm spending away from my children, it has to count.' So where am I going to get my biggest buck, right?" - Jiezhen Wu, Leadership Coach and Community Builder

"If I'm going to invest time coaching—and I coach a variety of leaders—but if I'm working with those top teams, the ripple effect can happen within their teams and organizations. I'm coaching, like, C-suite, right? The impact of their decisions affects so many people. And I've seen the shift that can happen when leaders really step into their full potential of who they can be, and that huge ripple effect of what that means for not just the organization and the teams, but their customers, their families, their communities." - Jiezhen Wu, Leadership Coach and Community Builder

Jiezhen Wu, leadership coach and community builder, joins Jeremy Au to explore how identity, leadership and parenting intersect in shaping purposeful careers. They trace her journey from nonprofit work and Harvard to coaching C-suite leaders across Asia. Together, they reflect on living by design rather than default, the trade-offs of relocating from the US to Singapore, and the internal clarity needed to define true success. Jiezhen unpacks how becoming a mother reshaped her professional lens, why Southeast Asia holds untapped potential for leadership development, and how frameworks can guide but not dictate growth. The episode blends candid stories, cultural nuance and practical reflection for anyone navigating career and life transitions.