@entmagazineme with Born and raised in Beijing in the midst of China's transition from a planned to a market economy, #DidiChuxing President #JeanLiu earned her B.A. from Peking University and her M.S. from Harvard University, both in computer science, and spent a decade climbing up the corporate ladder to the position of Managing Director at Goldman Sachs (Asia), before joining Didi in July 2014, two years after its foundation. However, it was obviously inevitable for her to experience hurdles, and describes her early career along the following lines. “There are some stereotypes, like women should act more gently, speak more softly and take on more family responsibilities. This is not unique to China. It is totally universal. Because of such stereotypes, more women than men tend to be quiet in the decision making situations- I was like that when I started my career: I usually sat in a corner, didn’t want to raise my hand and join the discussion. I worried so much about how other people who looked at me would judge me,” she says. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Her mindset is now irrevocably altered, to say the least, as she leads the company of an unprecedented scale- it boasts 450 million passengers, 25 million rides per day, and 9,000 employees, and is reportedly valued at US$56 billion, with a backing by Chinese internet giants Alibaba and Tencent and Japan’s #SoftBank, among others. Furthermore, the woman, once afraid to make her voice heard, in 2016, had the last say in a years-long market battle with Travis Kalanick, former CEO of #Uber, which ended with Uber taking a 18% stake in Didi Chuxing, but also handing over its China operations to Didi Chuxing, and Kalanick heading back to California, defeated. The same year, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, looking for a strategic ally in the Chinese market, invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, which has remained the single largest investment it has ever received. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ On what she considers crucial for concluding deals of this importance, Liu stresses empathy, cooperation and emotional intelligence as main drivers of her approach to both partners and opponents in business. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Read the feature on the site! Link in bi
