2016 / 2020
Two published books
Into Dream Town documents community idealists in China; Cultural Field: From Vanke to Alibaba explores the relationships among organizational culture, space, and people. Each title has sold more than 15,000 copies.
AI Native / Coaching / Organization / Japan
Organization architect for the AI era.
Shen Laoban Sean | Executive coach / Organization architect / Community long-termist
I help founders and core teams connect strategy, culture, and technology, then build organizations that can keep working over time. An organization does not grow from slogans. It needs foundations, structure, shared language, operating flow, and a culture people can actually use.
Connecting
Xiao Shen
/
Connecting
Start with a real question for Xiao Shen
Works / Proof
Works and public proof
Communities, organizations, courses, books, and fieldwork I have helped build or learn from. They all point to the same work: helping people form shared goals, shared language, and shared ways of collaboration.
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.
2018
Liangzhu Culture Village Community Foundation
Founder and second-term board chair, practicing public participation, trust building, and long-term relationships in a real community, with more than 3,000 hours of community participation.
2019
Hupan University team
As a team member and admissions interviewer, 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.
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.
Recent years
ICF / LCP / AoU credentials
ICF coach certification, LCP leadership certification, more than 2,000 hours of executive coaching practice, and Academician status with the UK’s Academy of Urbanism (AoU).
2023
Alibaba Group 2023 Public-Interest Star
Each year, Alibaba Group selects 2 alumni as Public-Interest Stars from 20 projects. A confirmation from the public-interest field, and a reminder of what long-termism asks of a person.
2025
Hangchuang AI Camp
As a coaching partner, I accompany AI Native founders as they build organizational capability in rapid change. A total of 64 companies have joined the program.
Now
Founder of Goichi Inc.
In Japan, I observe Chinese AI companies going global and record emerging cultural, organizational, and commercial markets.
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 & FrancisWriting
Recent thinking and writing
These pieces are how I keep thinking outside the immediate field. They come from coaching practice, organizational observation, community work, and movement between China and Japan.
Contact
Let’s
Connect
Many collaborations do not begin with a polished brief. They begin with one honest conversation. Come with the real question: AI transformation, organizational rebuilding, founder pressure, team slowdown, or the need to design a more durable system.
What kinds of questions fit?
AI transformation, organizational rebuilding, founder pressure, team slowdown
How can we begin?
An honest conversation, a diagnostic session, or a longer theme to work through
Fastest way to reach me
X, email, or starting with the AI Agent conversation on the homepage