Each day, a little. A few minutes of quiet. A slower breath. A short meditation. A sharper decision. A better connection moment. That is where the transformation lives.
There is a particular kind of exhaustion that senior leaders rarely talk about. The kind where you have given everything to the work and somewhere along the way, you have lost track of yourself.
You skip lunch. You ignore your feelings. You react too fast. You snap at people you love. The numbers are fine. The performance is fine. But inside, something quiet is saying: I cannot stay like this anymore.
Two years ago, that was Hanh Vu.
Today, Hanh is Head of Business Development at Home Credit Vietnam. What you notice when you meet her now is her composure. Steady. Considerate. Quietly powerful.
However, this version of Hanh did not emerge after a single workshop or breakthrough moment. She arrived after two years of small daily practices, layered across different formats, with a great deal of patience and consistency.
The Country Manager who couldn’t slow down
In 2024, Hanh was the Vietnam Country Manager at a regional fintech. The team was junior and the targets were relentless. Her team was under a lot of pressure from the regional headquarters. She was carrying business direction, sales targets, hiring, team conflict, and people development — often at the same time, and often alone.
I was so focused on work, so caught up in external things, that I skipped checking in with myself.
If I was tired, I’d skip lunch and keep working. If I felt frustrated or irritated, I’d push it down. I was always bracing myself, trying to stay strong enough to handle the pressure.
From the outside, she looked composed. Internally, the strain showed up in quieter ways.
When something went wrong, she reacted quickly. Her tone could sharpen. Expectations became rigid. Decisions were made fast, sometimes too fast.
And beneath it all, there was loneliness.
The role demanded strength, but over time Hanh began to wonder what it was costing her.
Her first introduction to Green Tara Leadership
Hanh’s first experience with Green Tara Leadership came through a Leadership Within Circle that she could only partially attend, busy and curious. The program planted a seed: when she slowed down, she could see herself more clearly.
The real work came in the six 1-on-1 coaching sessions that followed, during the most intense stretch of her time at the startup company.
I thought a coach would be like a mentor — that they’d tell me what to do in each situation. Tara didn’t do that. She asked me questions and through them, I started understanding myself in a way no one had asked me to before.
Green Tara Leadership introduced her to the concept of mindful leadership. A few minutes of meditation each morning. A pause before responding. A breath before reacting. Paying attention to what she was actually feeling instead of rushing past it.
Slowly, her relationship to pressure began to change.
When something difficult happens, I don’t always need to decide immediately. I can pause. Connect with myself first. Then act.
Before, I reacted quickly. Now I slow down. The decisions are better. And I’m not as quick to anger anymore — not at work and not at home.
The changes did not happen all at once. They accumulated quietly. Five minutes of stillness in the morning. Giving herself permission to stop and eat lunch. Catching frustration before it spilled into conversation. Learning to name what she felt instead of pushing it aside.
Hanh describes herself as someone deeply committed to growth, having invested in many programs over the years. Green Tara Leadership was not the whole story, but an important part of a longer journey she had already committed herself to.
What slowing down made possible
Over time, that inner shift began showing up in very concrete ways at work.
How she gives difficult feedback
She describes her style of giving feedback as Style A and Style B.
Style A is the old way — sharp, fast, reactive. I’d call someone in and my voice would carry an edge. The work got done but the person wasn’t happy.
Style B is when I slow down. Focus on the issue at hand, not the person. I choose my words more carefully. In both styles, the work still gets done. But in Style B, the relationship stays whole.
For Hanh, this challenged something she once believed: that strong leadership meant intensity. She began seeing that calmness did not weaken accountability. In many situations, it strengthened it.
How she develops people
Before, Hanh held people to the same standard and expected similar ways of working. Now, she pays closer attention to each person she manages.
Each person has different strengths, personalities, and blind spots. My role is to understand what someone is naturally good at, where they struggle, and how I can support them differently. One leadership style doesn’t fit everyone.
Slowing down has allowed her to see herself and her team more clearly.
How she hires
During her startup years, urgency shaped many of her hiring decisions: results mattered most, and she focused heavily on experience and technical ability.
Then she had a high-performing salesperson who was not a culture fit. Talented. Results-driven. But dismissive of others, difficult to work with, and creating problems that Hanh repeatedly had to clean up.
That experience shifted how she evaluates people.
Culture fit matters just as much as technical skill. I used to focus mostly on capability. Now I also pay attention to the human behind the experience.
Today she asks situational questions grounded in the past. Tell me about a real conflict you faced. What did you actually do? She listens for character — ownership, humility, self-awareness, and how someone relates to others under pressure.
The Circle she returned for
By January 2025, Hanh had already changed in ways the people around her could feel. Wrapping up her time at the startup, she signed up for Green Tara’s three-day Influential Leadership Circle.
The Circle experience felt different from her 1-1 coaching experience. The coaching had met her during a difficult period, when she was overwhelmed and trying to find steadier ground. The Circle came at a different moment — when things were calmer and she wanted deep, transformational growth.
She took a small yet very important practice from the Circle.
After the Circle, I started asking my team: How do you feel today? And my husband too.
Sometimes I forget. Then I reminded myself. Little by little, it became a habit. People share more with me now. Not because I’m pushing them. Because I’m asking, and I’m actually listening.
Her friends began noticing too.
You’re naming feelings now, they told her. Bored, content, frustrated, wanting to walk away.
Words she rarely used before to describe her inner world.
Bringing the practice into a new chapter
When Hanh joined a new organization in 2025, she brought these practices with her.
As she settled into a new team and environment, she focused on understanding people before making assumptions, listening before reacting, and building trust through consistent day-to-day interactions.
The transition felt smoother than many of her previous career moves, not because the challenges were smaller, but because she approached them differently. The habits she had developed over the previous two years gave her a greater sense of steadiness while navigating change.
More importantly, they continued shaping how she leads, collaborates, and connects with others.
What she would tell another leader
Don’t expect to walk out of three days a transformed person. That’s not how change works.
The Circle plants seeds. What matters is what happens afterward — every day, every week, every month. Becoming a little calmer. A little kinder to yourself. A little slower to react. A little more honest about what you’re actually feeling.
For me, it took multiple touch points. The Leadership Within Circle gave me a glimpse. The 1-on-1 sessions helped me when I was carrying too much. The three-day Circle helped me continue growing. But the real work happened in between — five minutes of stillness, noticing my emotions, choosing how I respond.
These days, Hanh practices what she has learned in the smallest of spaces. Each night before bed, she asks her ten-year-old: How did you feel today? Over time, she has developed a vocabulary for emotions that surprises even her.
Joy. Frustration. Loneliness. Pride.
Feelings Hanh herself might once have pushed aside without naming.
Sometimes, she thinks that may be one of the most meaningful things this journey has changed — not just how she leads teams, but how she shows up as a parent.
I am raising a daughter who can name what she feels. That might be the most important thing I have learned to give her.
Written by Phuong Do, Program Manager at Green Tara Leadership