Does Self-Leadership Work in China Too?
We often picture self-leadership as a very Western idea: know yourself, listen to your deeper motivations, choose your own path rather than the one expected of you. So when the Self-Leadership Lab rolled out the University of Geneva's Self-Leadership program with executives at a major Chinese bank, a question hung in the air: what if all of this only "speaks" to a certain culture?
The answer lies in the participants' own words. And it's unambiguous: self-leadership not only travels — it lands, sometimes exactly where you'd least expect it.
"I finally understood who I was — and where I wanted to go"
The participants' first instinct wasn't to talk about techniques or models. It was to talk about themselves, with a new kind of clarity.
"This program allowed me to significantly deepen my understanding of myself," one executive told us. "I identified my personal characteristics and strengths far more precisely. It clarified my professional positioning and gave me valuable direction for the future."
Another participant describes the same shift, but takes it further: "My perception of myself gradually became clearer and more structured. I better understood my roles, my key skills, my limits, my preferred behaviors, and the deeper motivations that drive my choices." Then this line, which captures the whole point of leading yourself: "Most importantly, the program encouraged me to decide to make certain changes in order to become a better version of myself. And today, those changes are already underway."
That's the whole difference between understanding and transforming. Self-leadership doesn't stop at awareness — it triggers the decision, and then the movement.
The surprise: what matters most isn't always at the office
This is the most unexpected takeaway — and the most moving. Asked to analyze her personality traits and revisit her journey, one participant didn't stop at her career. She rediscovered a source of strength somewhere else entirely:
"My main lesson was a renewed conviction about the unique bond of interdependence and mutual growth within the parent-child relationship. For me, this relationship is a powerful source of inner strength that lets me face life's challenges with calm. I realized it had to come first in my future development plans."
This is what is so deeply universal about self-leadership. It doesn't mold people toward an ideal of performance; it helps them name what keeps them standing. For some, that's ambition. For this participant, it was first and foremost a family bond — and the program gave her the legitimacy to place it at the heart of her life plan.
The same journey also led her to an owned professional choice: "I realized that open-mindedness, tolerance, self-confidence and independence were my greatest assets. I chose to make the role of 'leader' my goal and my positioning." From introspection to decision: exactly the trajectory the program is designed to spark.
Why these reflections ring true
What's striking about these accounts is that none of them reads like a stock phrase. No impersonal "great training, very enriching." Each one tells the story of a specific, lived, dated change. A decision made. A strength rediscovered. A positioning chosen.
That's also what makes the program work, and the participants articulated it perfectly themselves. "The success of this program rests above all on honesty toward oneself and attention toward others," one explained. The format — theoretical learning, paired interviews, group discussions, then writing a personal report — works precisely because it alternates the inner mirror with the gaze of peers. "By drawing on both your own experience and what others share, each person can know themselves better, discover what makes them unique, and find their own path."
The guidance matters too. Several participants made a point of thanking their coach by name, Lirong Ren, who steered the journey step by step. A telling sign: when you remember the name of the person who guided you, the guidance was real.
What China reminds us
Three executives, one bank, a program born in Geneva. And in the end, words that could have been spoken in Zurich, São Paulo or Singapore. The need to understand yourself, to clarify your strengths, to choose your direction rather than have it imposed — that need carries no passport.
Self-leadership works in China too. Because at its core, it asks no one to become someone else. It simply gives each person the means to become, fully, themselves.
The University of Geneva's Self-Leadership program is offered by the Self-Leadership Lab. Coordination for China is led by Lirong Ren, coach and EMBA graduate of the University of Geneva. All testimonials have been anonymized at the participants' request.
