Our Vision and Expertise

Our Story

Helping You Adapt to the Shifting Marketplace

Helping you adapt to the shifting marketplace

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!

Mike Burns
Adaptive Leaders - Founding Partner

Coaching + Advisory

Why You Need Both

As a coaching company, we care about you, your goals, and we believe in your capacity. We love to listen and prompt.

As an advisory company, we have real world experience to help you with strategy, people leadership, and impact. We won’t hold anything back that we think will help you grow.

Along the way, you’ll accelerate your growth and learning trajectory, becoming even more adaptive. Your investment in your own growth will yield a return for years to come.

Why You Need Both

Collaborations

Helping You Adapt to the Shifting Marketplace

Helping you adapt to the shifting marketplace

Just as we love collaboration within our team and with our clients, we have developed key partnerships over the years to collaborate on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers:

  • First 90 Days® Transition Coaching and Acceleration Coaching with Genesis Advisers, based on the work of Harvard professor Michael Watkins

  • Developmental Sprint® and Growth Culture Indicator® with The Developmental Edge (TDE) rooted in the ground-breaking work of TDE Chief Knowledge Officers Dr. Robert Kegan & Dr. Lisa Lahey

Along the way, you’ll accelerate your growth and learning trajectory, becoming even more adaptive. Your investment in your own growth will yield a return for years to come. 

Our Core Values

Adapting to Our Fast Paced Marketplace

Adapting to our Fast Paced Marketplace

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.

Care

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.

Authenticity

Our motto is: Live it to give it! We practice adaptive behaviors individually, with each other, and with our clients.

Innovation

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.

Meet Our Team

Mike has several years and thousands of hours of successful coaching and advisory experience globally with large multi-national clients including Deloitte, Oracle, Lenovo, Fiserv, Honeywell, BASF, Lam Research, Agco, CBRE, JLL, Boehringer Ingelheim and Avery Dennison. Prior to coaching, Mike spent 15 years as a commercial and operational leader for several MNC’s including GE, Walmart, and Brady. As a Global and Asia P&L growth leader, he consistently outperformed comparison companies in terms of growth percentage. In 2015, he launched his global strategy and coaching practice, and currently serves as Master Coach for several coaches globally. Mike loves inspiring leaders and teams to realize their full potential by connecting goals to motivations to unlock new thinking, increased authenticity, and greater impact. He is a Certified Executive Coach, Developmental Sprint® and ITC Facilitator, Strategy Facilitator, Leadership Team Coach, and First 90 Days® Transition Advisor. His hobbies include fly fishing, golf, cycling and traveling with his family.

Mike Burns

Founding Partner

Originally from Canada, Ray Chow is a seasoned Executive Coach and Leadership Consultant with deep expertise in professional services. He spent more than 15 years at Ernst & Young (EY), where he held strategic roles across various regions, including Greater China and Asia-Pacific, and led global initiatives that drove innovation and growth within the firm. His leadership spanned client service, business development, and talent strategy, leaving a significant impact across the organization. Ray has a proven track record of transforming the leadership capabilities of senior executives, guiding them through complex challenges, and enabling them to lead with confidence. He has worked with leaders from firms like CBRE, Lenovo, EY, and Ford, helping them achieve significant breakthroughs in both personal and organizational performance. As Adaptive Leader's Asia Pacific Managing Partner, Ray oversees strategic accounts, delivering customized leadership solutions for global corporations. Certified as an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC), Developmental Sprint® Facilitator, and in Leadership Circle Profile, Ray is known for his personalized and strategic approach, helping leaders unlock their full potential.

Ray Chow

Managing Partner

- Coaches and Advisers -

What People are Saying

Hear From our Clients

Schedule Your Free Consultation Today

Confidential & No Obligation

Learn how our expert coaching and consulting services can transform your organization and accelerate your success.

Don't Miss Out

Join our Mailing list - Get Our Performance Leadership Guide Free
Want to Grow Faster?
Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign-up and receive our Performance Leadership Guide Free!”