Leslie Chen

I attribute my success to three things: my work ethic, my ability to cultivate trusted relationships and my willingness to be bold and take risks.

As a child of Chinese immigrants, it was instilled in me that you always give 110% and work as hard as you can. My work ethic has been consistent. I take my commitments seriously and always deliver what I say I will, with high quality. This makes it easy for people to depend on me and trust that I won't let them down.

I'm a natural people person, so I have the ability to establish rapport quickly and gain trust easily with new colleagues, managers and leadership. I'm very authentic, transparent and direct, so no one needs to question where I stand or if there's something I'm not saying. I also strive to treat people with respect and kindness.

Lastly, a willingness to be bold and take risks. While I grew up being quite cautious as a young Asian American woman, when I reached my 30s I started asking myself - what do I really want? Asking that question led to me taking some big, bold risks. These include resigning from Microsoft in 2013 to move to Maui with my fiancé (now husband) to pursue careers outside of tech, changing career paths after 15 years from Product Management to Chief of Staff in 2019 and leaving Microsoft in 2024 to found my own company, Leslie Chen Coaching.

That feedback is truly a gift. When I was younger, I was a perfectionist. It was very difficult for me to receive any feedback that wasn't positive. A manager could give me 17 things that I did amazingly well and 1 thing to work on and I would only be able to focus on the 1 constructive thing.

Over time, I realized that if you only ever heard good feedback, then you will never get better. We need to get constructive feedback in order to learn and grow. That is why my #1 criteria for any job is: "Who is my direct manager? Do I trust them to give me honest feedback? Will they support me with stretch assignments? Will they be a sponsor/advocate?"

If you can learn not to take feedback personally and instead receive it with maturity, appreciation and gratitude, it can change the trajectory of your career.

I'd tell them to figure out what their differentiating superpowers are and leverage those strengths hard.

Early on in your career, it is much easier to get promotions and high review scores compared to later on. You can really set the foundation for a strong career trajectory in the first 5 years of your career and start to establish your personal brand.

Find peers and managers that you trust and start cultivating mentors and sponsors - not just in your direct management chain but find ways to gain exposure to leaders and executives outside your immediate team. This can lead to more varied opportunities and movement within your company or even a direct path to a different company.

Cast your net far and wide and start building your network of mentors, coaches, fans and sponsors.

Sponsorship combined with exceeding expectations on your impact is the secret sauce for getting on a steady cadence of promotions, good review scores and also being considered for other recognition like special awards/bonuses.

The tech industry is rough right now. With the prevalence of AI, the pace and intensity has become relentless. Job security is no longer assured. There has been an abundance of layoffs in tech - some that can be justified and explained and some that make no sense at all.

That means that finding jobs in tech is infinitely more difficult than in the past, because there are so many qualified candidates looking for work.

I would encourage women in tech to really push outside their comfort zone. Companies are looking for different skills than they were before.

At the top of the list now? Curiosity, being willing to try new things and fail fast, being flexible and adaptive and also being a great partner and collaborator. How you show up has become just as important as what you do. Your HOW matters just as much as your WHAT.

Project confidence and competence and be willing to say yes, even if you're afraid. A can-do attitude with an openness to not always getting it right the first time is essential to survive in today's fast-moving, uncertain tech culture.

Freedom, Purpose and Connection.

Leaving Microsoft after 20 years to start my own business was about freedom. I wanted a more flexible lifestyle where I could be the one in charge. I wanted to choose when and how much I work, what projects I say yes to and what clients I want to work with. While still in the early years of building a business, I work more now that I intend to in the long term, but I know that this is temporary. Even with all the demands I have right now, I still always take Fridays off. Eventually my goal is to work no more than three days a week but still earn six figure income.

Purpose is about feeling fulfilled and satisfied by what I'm doing. At the core, it's simple. I want to help people and make a difference. This could be an executive coaching client, helping a team overcome their current challenges or giving a great talk that resonates with the audience. I'm speaking again at the 2026 Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference worldwide for women in tech. I can't wait to return to the Grace Hopper stage. These things give me purpose and bring me energy.

Connection is about being in community. Life as a solopreneur can be extremely isolating and running your own business is truly a roller coaster of emotions, sometimes you'll hit a high and a low in the same day! I've always found comfort and strength being around other kick ass like-minded women. Because...they JUST GET IT. You don't have to explain the context because they live it every day, just like you do. When I'm feeling discouraged or down, I have my squad of women who I can reach out to. I even have an understanding of sending out "the Bat Signal" when I'm feeling especially low. That signals an "emergency", meaning I need someone to call or show up with Kleenex, wine, chocolate, and hugs! Cultivate these relationships from early on and collect these trusted friends like they are priceless gems - because they are.