Theresa Shan
Executive Business Leader | Author of SOFT Leadership
Theresa Shan
About
Hi, I am Theresa!
Once upon a time I was a TV producer who walked into a yoga class and that was it. I quit my well-paying job at Lucasfilm to become a yoga teacher, and somehow ended up running multimillion-dollar fitness businesses across Asia. Life is funny like that.
I am an author of the book SOFT Leadership, a human-centred approach to leadership. In addition, I share about my leadership experience on various on my Instagram, LinkedIn page, and publish articles about leadership on my blog and Substack page.
I love travelling to obscure places no one really talks about. Wandering streets to people watch and take street photography. Occasionally I dabble in watercolour painting. And once a year I love getting into nature to soak up the fresh air and go on long hikes.
My Philosophy
THE SOFT METHOD
Everything I've learned eventually became a method — a way of approaching not just leadership, but work, decisions, and life. I call it SOFT.
Sense. Notice before you act --> the signal in the room, the thing the numbers haven't caught up to yet.
Open. Stay open instead of hardening. Listen longer. Receive what's true.
Flow. Move with what's actually happening, rather than forcing the plan.
Transform. Let the change land — in the decision, the team, the business, in you.
And then the Spiral, where you return to the start, and Sense again — but you've been round once, so you begin deeper.
SOFT is a spiral, not a ladder. The return is where the growth lives.
The Book
SOFT Leadership
My book, SOFT Leadership, gathers everything the years have taught me; honest reflections on what it actually takes to lead businesses and people without losing yourself in the process.
It launches at the end of October 2026.
I'm also building tools, courses, and an online workshops drawn from the book.