Pressure and Possibility: How Difference Becomes a Source of Strength in Leadership

Leadership Is Forged Under Pressure

Born in rural China during the Cultural Revolution, Dr. Jian Zhang grew up in a village where higher education was rare. Out of 120 children in her first-grade class, she was the only one to attend a tier-one university. Years later, she arrived in the United States as a nursing student with limited English and few connections. Over the next three decades, she rose from bedside nursing to become CEO of Chinese Hospital in San Francisco, the city’s last ind...