AI-Native Organization / Founder Coaching / China–Japan

AI-Native Leadership & Organization Coach.

Shen Laoban Sean | I help founders and leadership teams make AI useful in the way their companies actually operate.

The work goes beyond tools: clearer decisions, roles, working habits, and the conversations a team needs to have.

See works and public proof Start with a question

AI Shen Laoban / Connecting

I am Shen Yihan. In China, some people call me “Village Chief.”

I lived and worked at Vanke Liangzhu Culture Village for 17 years, served as the first director of the Big Roof, and helped residents establish a community foundation
At Alibaba's Hupan University, I was employee No. 32 and worked on admissions and the new campus. It was also where my attention shifted from projects to people and organizations
Currently a coaching partner at Hangchuang (AI Camp) and an MBA industry mentor at Alibaba Business School, Hangzhou Normal University
Author of Into Dream Town and Cultural Field: From Vanke to Alibaba
I now move between China and Japan, watching how AI is changing work, people, organizations, and local communities
I love rowing, mountaineering, writing, landscapes, people, and building in public

2023 / Now

Credentials / Coaching Practice

Professional credentials & coaching practice

2,000+hours of executive
coaching practice

01 / Leadership

LCP Certified

Qualified to administer the Leadership Circle Profile and Manager Edition

02 / Coaching

ICF Member · Level 1

Completed 77 hours of ICF-accredited coach training

03 / Community

Cornell · AoU

20-hour community engagement course · Academician

Works / Proof

Works and public proof

Community building, school operations, coaching, and writing may look like different fields. For me, they have always come back to one question: how do people come together and do meaningful work?

Cover of Cultural Field: From Vanke to Alibaba

2014 / 2016 / 2020

Publications and research

In 2014, Sean co-authored an Architectural Journal study of functional integration at Vanke Liangzhu Cultural Village. He later published Into Dream Town and Cultural Field: From Vanke to Alibaba, each selling more than 15,000 copies.

Academic article · Architectural Journal, 2014 no. 2, pp. 28–31 Academic citation · University of Tsukuba Heritage Studies master’s thesis (2018)

Asian Rowing Federation and rowing club development

2015

Asian Rowing Federation (ARF)

Former assistant to the ARF president and member of the promotion committee, supporting the growth of grassroots rowing clubs in China. Competed in more than 50 races and led 5 international events.

Zhejiang University SOM · ARF president's assistant (2016) Oriental Sports Daily · Marketing committee and university tour organizer (2015) Xi'an Jiaotong University · ARF president's assistant at the Bahe Regatta (2015)

2018

Liangzhu Culture Village Community Foundation

As founder and second-term board chair, I worked with residents to discuss local issues, fund community projects, and build ways for people to take part. My community work totals more than 3,000 hours.

Official website · lzcf.org.cn China Philanthropist · Board chair keynote (2024) Dunhe Foundation · Board chair and community philanthropy collaboration (2025)

2019

Hupan University team

As a team member, admissions interviewer, and new campus director, I worked on candidate interviews, philanthropic giving, and development of the new campus. At the center is Hupan University founder Jack Ma, then executive chairman of Alibaba Group.

Yasha / Sohu · Hupan University new campus director (2020)

2020

Hangzhou Normal University Alibaba Business School

MBA industry mentor, including courses such as “Product Thinking in the AI Era,” with more than 350 class hours taught.

2023

Alibaba Group 2023 Public-Interest Star

Alibaba Group selected me as one of 2 alumni named Public-Interest Stars from 20 projects that year.

2025

Hangchuang AI Camp

As a coaching partner, I help AI founders build teams, make decisions, and establish ways of working while their businesses are still changing quickly. A total of 64 companies have joined the program.

Operator website · Spark Ideation (SIR) Official program report · Hangzhou Talent Group Public record · Xinhua app (committee-supplied)

Now

Founder of Goichi Inc.

From Japan, I study what Chinese AI companies meet when they enter the market: differences in culture, management, business practice, and trust.

Company website · heyi.jp

International Publication / Third-Party Research

Liangzhu Cultural Village in international urban research

Colleen Chiu-Shee of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines Liangzhu Cultural Village in the Routledge open-access volume Designing Signals of Inclusion, drawing on field research from 2015 to 2025 and 68 interviews. The chapter directly quotes Yihan Shen (Shen Laoban), documents the 2018 founding of the Liangzhu Foundation, cites his 2016 book Into the Dream Town, and credits part of its visual material to Yihan Shen’s personal collection.

Colleen Chiu-Shee · “Inclusion as Innovation in Privatized China” · Routledge / Taylor & Francis

Read the open-access chapter on Taylor & Francis

Writing

Recent thinking and writing

I write about what I see in coaching, organizations, communities, and the space between China and Japan.

OPC is not just a one-person business The novelty of an AI-era OPC is not the one person, but the company: customers, cash flow, products, repeat business, and workflows genuinely amplified by AI.

At IVS Kyoto, I saw Japan's AI market moving at a different pace Three days at IVS 2026 Kyoto: what policy, large companies, and startup teams revealed about Japan's AI market.

The best partnerships are complementary What John Lennon and Paul McCartney can teach founders about working with someone whose strengths are different from their own.

Annual-ring management: growth that takes time A Japanese management idea about growing one year at a time without weakening the people and relationships underneath the business.

When AI knocks, it rewrites how we connect A field reflection on how AI may reshape community, work, everyday social life, and the value of real human connection.

The eight migration waves of Liangzhu Culture Village A 20-year observation of how one community was reshaped by different populations, generations, and social movements.

What “sunao” taught me about luck A visit to the Matsushita Institute prompted a question: how much of luck is shaped by the way we face reality and treat other people?

The AI-era pattern: the US creates, China scales A reflection on AI product controversy, technical invention, and industrial amplification.

Contact

Let’s
Connect

You do not need a polished brief. Tell me what is actually stuck: an AI initiative that has not changed the work, a leadership team pulling in different directions, a founder carrying too much, or a company that has outgrown its old way of operating.

X / @sweeetmonkee rowingshen@gmail.com shenlaoban.com

What can we talk about? Putting AI into real work, leadership-team relationships, founder pressure, and changing how an organization operates

Where do we start? A first conversation, a focused working session, or a longer coaching engagement

How to reach me X or email. You can also begin with AI Shen Laoban above

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