1102. The Leadership Evolution Every CEO Must Make For 2026 with John Wang
The Kelly Roach Show
Kelly Roach
4.9 • 965 Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this powerful conversation, Kelly sits down with leadership teacher and author John Wang, author of Big Asian Energy, to unpack why so many successful leaders feel exhausted, disconnected, and stuck despite "doing everything right."
John shares his deeply personal journey from achievement-driven success to near-collapse, and the inner leadership shift that changed how he builds businesses, leads people, and teaches others to do the same.
This episode is for CEOs, founders, and business owners who know they've outgrown an old identity but feel uncertain about what's next.
Together, Kelly and John explore how authentic leadership, embodied presence, and aligned decision-making are becoming the defining advantages for leaders in 2026 and beyond.
TIMESTAMPS:
02:11 – 04:45
What Big Asian Energy is really about (and why this message actually applies to EVERY leader)
04:46 – 07:30
Achievement culture, "shoulds," and the hidden cost of self-abandonment
07:31 – 10:05
The moment everything broke: burnout, internal bleeding, and the body's warning signs
10:06 – 12:40
The real cause of burnout
12:41 – 14:55
Comparison, people-pleasing, and the "Frankenstein identity" many leaders build
14:56 – 17:10
The turning point: discovering purpose and leading from a single guiding word
17:11 – 19:30
Why leadership doesn't have to look loud, aggressive, or performative
19:31 – 21:35
The seven self-sabotage patterns leaders don't realize they're operating from
21:36 – 23:40
"There are no business relationships. Only relationships" (and why this matters)
23:41 – 25:20
Sitting in the puddle: how presence builds trust faster than problem-solving
25:21 – 27:10
How embodied leadership creates calmer teams, stronger cultures, and better results
RESOURCES:
- Get the Book Big Asian Energy: The UnapolageticGuide for Breaking Barriers to Leadership and Success by John Wang: https://a.co/d/fMNpdPE
- Connect with John Wang on Instagram: @johnwangofficial
- Website: https://bigasianenergy.com
-
Follow Kelly on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellyroachofficial/
- Follow Kelly on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelly.roach.520/
- Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyroachint/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to The Kelly Roach Show, the place for no fluff, easy to implement 20 minute or less business and leadership lessons to help you build a sustainable business that scales. |
| 0:15.5 | Lead with integrity and create a lasting legacy. |
| 0:19.8 | I'm Kelly Roach, former NFL cheerleader and Fortune 500 executive turned eight-figure entrepreneur. |
| 0:26.0 | Let's get started. |
| 0:28.3 | Welcome to the Kelly Roach show. |
| 0:30.0 | I recruited my new friend John Wang to come on the show today. |
| 0:34.2 | Hey, John, how are you? |
| 0:36.1 | I'm being great, Kelly. |
| 0:37.4 | It's so good to be here. I'm so excited to chat. I'm so pumped to have you here. So John and I met at an event and we started chatting and he was sharing with me about his book, Big Asian Energy. And I was like, well, tell me what this is really, really about. Like tell me about the movement. Why did you write the book? What's about? And I was like, wait a second. I was like, this is for all of us. We all need this. We all need this. So let's back it all the way up, John, and let's tell them a little bit about how you got into the work that you're doing with big Asian energy, why you wrote the book. And then why I really brought you here, which is that I |
| 1:11.6 | want the leaders and the CEOs and the business owners that listen to this show faithfully |
| 1:15.7 | every single week to hear some of these insights and perspectives that I know they can all use |
| 1:20.6 | to have higher levels of success in 2026. |
| 1:25.0 | Amazing. Okay. So you're absolutely right. |
| 1:28.1 | The book is called Big Asian Energy, but truthfully at the core, it's Big You energy. |
| 1:33.8 | It is how do we actually access our deepest authentic selves and then really lead from that place. |
| 1:42.0 | So, I mean, I grew up, that being said, I grew up in an Asian cultural family, |
| 1:47.0 | which means collectivism. And that means that oftentimes I was growing up, my parents always taught me, |
| 1:51.9 | you know, work hard and keep your head down, don't make waves. And what that taught me oftentimes |
| 1:59.2 | was the idea that there were parts of us that I had to hide, |
| 2:03.6 | you know, in order to better belong, in order to better succeed, in order to better excel. |
| 2:09.6 | And there was always a strong achiever mindset in me. |
| 2:13.6 | And it wasn't until later on that I went through a pretty, I would say life altering burnout period, |
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