Adaptive Leaders was founded in the fast changing and growing market of Shanghai, China, in 2015 to help leaders and organizations accelerate growth and develop healthier leadership and teams.
From day one, Adaptive Leaders has been on your side, believing in your capacity, sharing in your dreams, and genuinely caring about you and your team.
Now, Adaptive Leaders has expanded to include coaches and consultants from diverse backgrounds across Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe.
Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. We genuinely trust and like each other, and your team will feel that and benefit from it!
Being Adaptive is in our name. Readiness to change, learn, and grow (the same thing we empower our customers to do) is part of our DNA.
We pride ourselves in being intentional to really get to know our clients and their particular challenges and opportunities. We care about you and your team as people. Your success is our greatest success.
Our motto is: Live it to give it! We practice adaptive behaviors individually, with each other, and with our clients.
Change can be hard, but it can also be a lot of fun. Being Adaptive is all about changing for the need of the moment and the needs of the future. We innovate our programs for our clients, and we help our clients innovate new ways to achieve their most important goals.
Aditi is an accomplished professional with 20 years in banking and financial services and a strong focus on Learning & Development (L&D) and Talent Management, she excels in Customer Service, Operations, Sales, Relationship Management, Marketing, Business Strategy, and Organization Development.
Formerly Head of Business Development & Chief Talent Officer at Morgan Stanley, Aditi transitioned to working full-time with leaders and executive teams as an independent consultant and executive coach. She has delivered L&D solutions to clients including banks, NBFCs, IT and ITeS firms, and international organizations like The World Bank Group and UN agencies (FAO, ILO, UNHCR).
Sample key initiatives include leading a global culture change for a major international bank across Asia Pacific. She has completed workshops such as “Blue Ocean Strategy” at INSEAD and the Empretec Training Workshop on Entrepreneurship under UNCTAD, where she also serves as a trainer.
Certified in MBTI, Hogan Assessment, Wiley’s Everything DiSC, BEI, and executive coaching, Aditi is also a Master Practitioner of NLP and Team Coaching. Her expertise includes large-scale interactive processes and virtual facilitation.
Aditi enjoys reading, traveling, and music. She lives in Delhi with her husband and two young adult children.
Albert is an accomplished executive coach with over a decade of experience in China, helping multinational companies boost leadership capabilities, improve team dynamics, and navigate cross-cultural challenges. His deep understanding of the Chinese business environment has made him a trusted partner for companies seeking to drive organizational growth and leadership effectiveness.
Fully bilingual, Albert facilitates and coaches in both Mandarin and English, effectively connecting with participants in the language where they communicate most authentically. His workshops are known for their energy and creativity, drawing from his background in improv and drama, which adds a unique element of engagement and interactivity.
He also serves as a part-time lecturer for graduate business students at Peking University, Shenzhen, where he blends practical business insights with academic theory to prepare future leaders.
Albert holds a master’s degree in Education and Linguistics, with certifications in Executive Leadership from Oxford University and Organizational Analysis from Stanford University.
With over two decades specializing in people and leadership development, Beth is an accomplished Executive Coach and Facilitator, and Inter-Cultural Consultant. Living in Asia for more than 20 years, she has honed her skills in leadership growth and is particularly skilled at empowering leaders in diverse environments.
Beth’s strategic management of diverse teams has been instrumental in fostering inclusive and innovative environments and outcomes for her clients. Her unique ability to leverage diversity has made a significant impact, positioning her as a key ally to organizations.
Her recent work includes designing and delivering a two-year program with a global Fortune 150 company designed to develop their senior executive leaders. This project exemplifies her ability to create impactful leadership initiatives for top-tier organizations.
Cathy is an experienced Executive and Team Coach. Over the past two decades, she has supported dozens of senior executives in their transition, particularly in cross cultural environments in the China market, where an adaptive and growth mindset are essential for success.
From 2001 to 2019, Cathy held key HR leadership roles at General Motors (GM) China. As the HR Director of Talent and Development and Joint Ventures, she developed and executed talent strategies during GM’s critical growth period. She supported GM’s joint ventures, including SAIC-GM, by selecting, transitioning and onboarding executives to succeed in a dynamic and competitive China market. Cathy herself has participated in strategic global assignments including the US.
Cathy’s coaching approach is rooted in her extensive experience with global and cross-cultural teams. She excels at fostering trust and collaboration among diverse groups, using her understanding of organizational dynamics to drive change. She is a First 90 Days® certified coach and facilitator, and a certified Developmental Sprint Coach, utilizing these tools to enhance team performance and individual growth.
Cathy has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Beijing University of Aviation and Aerospace and a Master of Economics degree from Renmin University of China. Recently, she completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. Outside of work, Cathy enjoys designing her own clothes.
Chris is an executive coach, leadership consultant, university professor, author, and innovation director. His leadership experience ranges from the corporate sector to non-profits and educational institutions. Since 1997 he has led diverse teams in North America, Asia, and Western Europe. Chris has taught in several different universities at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. At one point he led over 300 employees for a large non-profit.
He loves fostering healthy teams, managing complex projects, and empowering leaders who thrive.
He holds a BA from Texas A&M in Speech Communication and English, MAs in education and theology, and a Ph.D. in history. He is a certified facilitator for Immunity to Change and The Working Genius. In his free time, he loves attempting CrossFit, cheering on his daughter’s wheelchair basketball team, and supporting two “football” teams (Arsenal FC and the Texas Aggies).
Chris Zhuang is certified Executive Coach and consultant with over 20 years of leadership and operational experience. He has worked with a wide range of MNCs providing executive coaching, consulting and facilitation including General Motors, Mercer, Finnair as well as key Chinese companies including State Grid and Weimob, an investment of Tencent Group.
Chris has also collaborated with global thought leaders to introduce, translate and contextualize coaching, advisory and development resources and systems to executives and companies in China.
Chris is an ICF Professional Certified Coach and experienced coach of Immunity to Change (ITC) as well as the Developmental Sprint®. He is also a certified Peernovation Facilitator® and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator.
Howard Abe is an accomplished Executive Coach and Consultant with over 30 years of experience, currently serving as Adaptive Leader’s Organizational Health & Culture Transformation practice leader. Howard is based in Taipei, and has worked extensively in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. His notable career includes a 19-year tenure as a Partner at Kearney leading its Consumer Goods and Retail Practice for Asia Pacific and JMA Consultants, Japan’s largest consulting firm.
A second-generation Japanese American from Southern California, Howard holds an MBA from Wharton. He is a certified coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a Developmental Sprint® Facilitator. is approach leverages his global experience and academic insights to guide leaders and organizations towards their full potential.
Howard is the founder of Integrity Hub. This hybrid professional services and technology platform partners with professional coaches to transform cultures to health within global organizations. Committed to excellence, Howard empowers leaders to positively impact their teams and ensure organizations grow healthy to perform at their full potential.
Rong is an experienced Executive Coach, Leadership Coach and Talent Strategy Consultant. She has over 20 years experience in talent strategy, talent assessment, leadership training and coaching with MNC’s in APAC including GE, DHL, Honeywell.
Rong is an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and certified coach of Immunity to Change (ITC). She is also accredited to use the Myers Briggs Type Instrument, FIRO-Business Instrument, DDI Leader3 Ready executive assessment, and KornFerry 360 Profiler. Rong is a certified Scrum Master by Scrum Alliance, and a certified trainer of Situational Leadership.
Prior to coaching, Rong was APAC Talent Development Director for Honeywell to help grow leaders in Asia Pacific. Her work included executive succession planning, competency-based talent assessment, executive coaching, global leadership development programs, organization transformation and culture alignment in a diverse global team.
J.D. is an experienced Executive Coach, Consultant and Facilitator. He has 25 years of leadership experience in multi-cultural and international environments including C-suite experience and founding 2 companies. He has 20 years of coaching experience.
J.D.’s unique value proposition is his ability to combine executive coaching with team and organizational dynamics to help leaders lead and teams function well in changing global environments.
His passion is helping leaders and teams continue to level up by maximizing the effective and integrated use of facilitation and coaching, including helping those he coaches utilize those tools with those they lead.
J.D. has certifications as a Developmental Sprint® Facilitator, Immunity to Change™ Facilitator, Acceleration Coach, and Performance Leadership Coach.
Lance is a Harvard-trained executive coach, consultant and facilitator who has more than 20+ years of experience in leadership development, structured learning, and open process facilitation with senior leaders across the globe.
He serves as a principal consultant and senior facilitator for Adaptive Leader’s focal work in performance with senior and high-potential leaders in Hong Kong and Singapore.
His prior roles have included principal and partner positions at The Center for Creative Leadership (North America), Organizational Dynamics (Boston, London) and ExecCatalyst (Silicon Valley).
Lance is a seasoned and adept facilitator with a keen sense of presence, group dynamics and interactive learning processes.
His clients have included teams and individuals from the Tech 100 (Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft), Finance 50 (Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, UBS), and health conglomerates (Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente).
Motoki Asai is a highly experienced Executive Coach and Leadership Development Expert with a strong track record of helping Japanese executives succeed both in Japan and globally. With over 15 years of coaching experience, he has worked with senior leaders across industries, enhancing their leadership capabilities, improving team dynamics, and driving personal and organizational transformation.
Fully bilingual, Motoki coaches and facilitates in both Japanese and English, allowing him to connect deeply with clients in the language where they communicate most effectively. His approach to facilitation is rooted in authenticity, encouraging leaders to embrace their true selves, which fosters deeper connections and drives more sustainable outcomes. Motoki’s expertise is further grounded in neuroscience and behavioral psychology, drawing from his background in sports medicine, where he treated over 1,000 athletes, to create lasting behavioral change and performance improvement.
As the Managing Director of a coach training school, Motoki has mentored and developed over 100 professional coaches, further solidifying his role as a leader in the coaching industry. He is also an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and a Developmental Sprint® Facilitator, known for his strategic, results-driven approach to leadership development.
Norbert is a trusted advisor, organizational and leadership coach, and facilitator with 25+ years of experience in management and advisory in Asia and North America. He enjoys working with people and organizations to grow and improve, while achieving exceptional results through sharpened leadership, strategy and disciplined execution.
Over the years, Norbert has advised leaders and teams to pursue organizational and personal goals with greater clarity and effectiveness, and has also led organizations to strengthen and improve in areas of strategic planning and execution, finance, business development, sales and marketing, digital transformation, and supply chain management. Norbert’s natural strengths in performance leadership combined with his strategic CFO and COO experience enable him to partner with CEOs and cross functional leaders to draw upon different needs and viewpoints and make different components and contributions fit and work well together. Norbert also implemented and led management processes, systems and methodologies at Asurion, such as Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX).
Norbert has previously worked in senior leadership and management consultant roles for world-renowned multi-national corporations like Asurion, Microsoft, Coach, Rogers Communications, Merrill Lynch, and KPMG Advisory. He is also an accredited coach (Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership) and certified practitioner for several leading leadership tools and personality assessments.
Peter is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of diverse experience in Travel, Tourism, Hospitality, and Learning & Development. Known for his strategic thinking, relationship-building skills, and people orientation, Peter has held senior positions across various functions within the Travel & Tourism sector, including Customer Service, Operations, Sales, Relationship Management, Sales Management, Marketing, and Branding. He has extensive experience in managing global and complex accounts, delivering tailored solutions to meet diverse client needs.
Peter began his career at the Taj Palace Hotel, gaining valuable experience with discerning clients and travelers. He has worked with notable brands such as International Travel House, Classic Golf Resort, Le Meridien Kathmandu, Stic Travels India Ltd, Macau Government Tourist Office, and The Nijhawan Group. In his most recent role as Country Head of the Representations Business, he managed representations for leading international chains of hotels, theme parks, and resorts, including Aitken Spence Hotels, Constance Hotels & Resorts, Dubai Parks and Resorts, and The Armani Hotel.
Certified in Franklin Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Self-Empowerment through NLP, and Building a Successful Business, Peter is an evangelist for Learning & Development processes. As the co-founder of Arohan Solutions, he has leveraged his strengths to build visibility for the firm and enrich client experiences with insights from his extensive career.
Robert has nearly 30 years of working experiences in organization development, leadership development and business operations with exposure to 18 countries as well as cultures in Asia Pacific, North America and Europe.
Robert moved to China in 1997 and started his career as chief representative responsible for the operations and business of a subsidiary. Before 2007, Robert was accountable for the P&L of several companies driving a number of various degrees of change in business development. After that he shifted his gear into the arena of HR specializing in organization and leadership development for several MNCs such as Dow Chemical, DuPont and Parker Hannifin. Part of Robert’s clients include ABB, Bybit, Buhler, Caterpillar, China National Petroleum Corp, China Future Volt, Cummins, Haike Petroleum, ITW, Lanxess, Michelin, Novo Nordisk, Parker Hannifin, Santoni, United Grinding, etc.
Robert speaks native level English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
Roger is an experienced global executive leader who has led several large teams across multiple countries and cultures – often leading teams through transformational change while based in New Zealand, Australia or the United States. He now coaches leaders and teams towards maximizing their growth and impact, and is a certified and experienced “Working Genius” facilitator.
Roger’s most recent roles include being the Global Executive Director of LeaderImpact, a global leadership development organization active in over 70 countries. Prior to this Roger was a Global VP for a large non-profit, where he gave leadership to teams in 150+ countries and over 8000 staff.
Roger is passionate about helping leaders and organizations grow and maximize their impact. He enjoys coaching one on one, leading team facilitations, and speaking to groups.
He recently published his first book, “The Integrated Life of Leaders” where he shares about living and thriving as leaders in ways that create positive impact, yet don’t lead to burnout.
Roger studied Economics, Politics and Geography at the University of Auckland and early in his career worked as an Economist and Trade Policy Analyst for the New Zealand Government.
Sabine is one of China’s most experienced executive coaches, coaching since 2004. She has guided hundreds of C-Suite executives and their direct reports, overseeing thousands of FTEs and multimillion-dollar P&Ls. She has supported clients at critical points in their leadership, including leaders at SAIC Automotive, ICBC, AMD, LVMH, CBRE, Bosch, Sinodis, and Unilever across luxury, retail, automotive, and finance industries.
Sabine’s coaching approach blends deep empathy with a commitment to accountability. She is a First 90 Days® certified coach and facilitator, guiding leaders through critical transitions and driving sustainable growth. She helps senior executives “slow down to speed up” in fast-paced markets, leveraging insights into China’s market dynamics and the challenges of leading different generations and new teams.
Sabine has a proven track record of helping leaders succeed in China’s market by challenging limiting assumptions and crafting effective strategies. Her philosophy emphasizes adaptive leadership and mindset shifts, fostering continuous improvement.
Sabine holds credentials as an Executive Leadership Coach, Change Management Consultant, and Organizational Development Specialist. Outside of work, she enjoys sailing, cycling and exploring new cuisines with her family.
Sherry is an Executive Coach and HR Leader with over 30 years of MNC experience. She most recently transitioned from 15+ years as the VP, Human Resources of a Fortune 500 medical device company.
Sherry brings to our clients rich and practical experience in leading organizational change and culture transformation. She is specialized in strategic HR, and focuses on building OTC (Organization, Talent and Culture) for clients.
She strongly believes that organizations can and should build the environment where individuals could make their jobs more meaningful to express their life purpose and enhance their sense of happiness, resulting in sustained high performance to the organization. Happy employees lead to satisfied customers which ultimately bring strong and sustainable business results. Sherry is a Certified Executive Coach.
Steven Weathers is an experienced Executive Communications coach with a proven track record of coaching executives and managers on executive presence, storytelling, and influence. Having lived in China for over 18 years and traveled to all its provinces, he has a deep understanding of Chinese culture and business practices. As a well-known bilingual TV personality, he has hosted shows on TV channels globally, including Channel News Asia in Singapore, and all the major US networks. His video blog, based in Shanghai, reaches more than 80 million fans worldwide.
Steven has interviewed over 120 CEOs on the television program Minds of Millionaires, giving him a wealth of knowledge to help business leaders navigate multiple industries in China and abroad. He now coaches CEOs and managing directors on executive presence, storytelling, and adaptive growth with the Immunity to Change workshop. Steven’s expertise has been recognized with the Magnolia Award presented by the Shanghai Municipal Government in 2012. With his extensive experience as an Executive Communications coach and a respected media personality, Steven is a valuable resource for business leaders seeking to improve their communication skills and enhance their professional impact in China and beyond.
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