The Release of Eva Wong and the Future of Coaching in China

The mystery that persists around coach Eva Wong—whose dramatic rise and sudden disappearance raised concerns among coaches about the safety of coaching in China—may soon be replaced with fresh insight and information as Wong, according to several sources, has emerged and begun meeting with coaching colleagues to tell her story.

“I’ve heard that she’s been released and also that she’s living back in Hong Kong,” said Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland, CEO of International Coach Academy, who also lives and works in Hong Kong. “I’ve also heard that she’s planning on taking six months to reflect.”

Wong, who shot to fame in China with her “Top Human” coaching company, catering to China business—and reportedly also government—elite, quickly earned headlines as a trendsetter bringing Western style coaching to China’s huge population. At the peak of her power, she vanished.

By most accounts, an arrest on tax charges brought a sudden end to Wong’s coaching career and her entire company, which ceased to exist almost overnight.

Wong has yet to speak publicly about the arrest or the charges that were brought against her. But Bowery-Ireland, in an interview at the ICF’s annual conference in Orlando, said Wong’s arrest and subsequent release have had little impact on the spread of coaching in China and throughout Asia.

Eva Wong herself wrote about the possibilities of spreading coaching in China in her 2006 book, “The Power of Ren.” “I began to think about ways that modern Western concepts of self-actualization and coaching could be introduced into a Chinese environment and not sound like an artificially imported philosophy from the West,” she wrote. “In actual fact, the more I thought about it, the easier I realized it was. All the ideas I had been exposed to on my personal journey already existed in the Chinese tradition. It was just a matter of reminding my Chinese audience of their own history.”

What went wrong with that message? And what led to Wong’s imprisonment? The coach herself may soon answer those questions.

In the meantime, coaches working in Hong Kong and throughout China report no shortage of interest in coaching—specifically Western style corporate coaching. Bowery-Ireland insists it may be no more than five years before China becomes the epicenter of coaching in the world, supplanting North America, creating an issue for any coaching group that fails to see the shift overseas.

Bowery-Ireland pointed out a lack of coaches at the ICF conference from Asia: “I think the representation here is of an international coaching federation that’s predominantly based in the U.S.”

Bowery-Ireland believes there are communication issues and challenges for the ICF as it publicly states its mission of expanding its reach around the world. “The perspective in the market is that the ICF is very U.S.-centric.”
For its part, the ICF told us that international name-recognition and consistency of product from country to country are paramount as the group expands into developing nations. “It’s really important that there is consistency around the globe,” said ICF president-elect Giovanna D’Alessio.

Watch a CoachReporter interview with Bronwyn Bowery-Ireland here:

CoachReporter: The Release of Eva Wong and the Future of Coaching in China from Mark Joyella on Vimeo.