Shane Leaning, organisational coach and author, working at his desk

I help school leaders lead change from the inside out.

Best-selling author of Change Starts Here, organisational coach and host of the chart-topping Education Leaders podcast. I work with leadership teams who've had enough of change that doesn't stick. Based in Shanghai. Working with schools worldwide.

You don't need another framework parachuted in.

Schools everywhere are tired of change that doesn't stick. Another consultancy arrives with another acronym, and a year later not much is different. I don't think that's down to your staff. Most of what you need is already in your community. Nobody has asked for it properly yet.

My job is to help you lead it out.

Work with me

Work with me directly, or step into something I lead.

Change Starts Here.

What if everything your school needed was right in front of you?

My book with Efraim Lerner (Routledge, 2025) lays out the full philosophy and an adapted Double Diamond framework, structured around 40 questions and case studies from real schools. It shows how to replace top-down directives with change your community drives and sustains.

Like so many of the best books, Change Starts Here has both universal and personal application.

Jim Knight · Founder & CEO, Instructional Coaching Group
Cover of Change Starts Here by Shane Leaning and Efraim Lerner

Working with Shane helped our team to consider the change that is inherent in education, and to lead it rather than be led by it.

Kent Wetzel · Leadership Development Specialist, Frederick County Public Schools, USA

Shane's approach is thoughtful and engaging. I highly recommend Shane to any school or organisation seeking a strategic, research-informed, and human-centred approach to professional learning and leadership development.

Dr Tamara Yuill Proctor · Head of Educational Research & Professional Learning, United World College, China

Shane's professional expertise and suggestions have been instrumental in guiding my academic decisions, and he consistently challenged me to grow as a school leader. It was a pleasure to witness the positive impact it had on our students and faculty.

Jakub Peciak · International Principal, NAS Shenzhen, China

Shane spent the day focusing on how teachers would grow in the coming year and I must say that all staff members had a lot to take away. The staff really enjoyed Shane's presentation methods as well as his openness and expertise in his field.

Trevor Godwin · Head of Upper Senior School, Sedbergh School Fuzhou, China

Schools and organisations I've worked with

Australian International School Saigon British International School HCMC Brighton College Hanoi The British School Kathmandu Dwight School Seoul Dulwich International High School Suzhou Hangzhou International School Harrow International School Shanghai ISA International Education Group Malvern College Qingdao Sedbergh School Fuzhou Sino-Canada School UWC Changshu China Wycombe Abbey School Hangzhou Yew Chung Yew Wah University of Warwick St Mary's University College Belfast Teaching WalkThrus Teacher Development Trust CollectivEd International Curriculum Association EducationScape Venture Education PD Academia The OLLIE Foundation
Shane Leaning speaking to an audience of school leaders

Shane Leaning.

Organisational coach, author, and host of the Education Leaders podcast. Based in Shanghai, working with schools across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, both international and local.

I spent over a decade in classrooms and middle leadership before moving into organisational coaching. I'm currently Regional Head of Teacher Development for Nord Anglia Education's China bilingual schools, a CollectivEd Fellow, and a TEDx speaker. I'm a member of the EMCC and adhere to its Global Code of Ethics.

I work with leadership teams using the Double Diamond framework, and have worked with leaders from more than 30 countries. The Education Leaders podcast grew out of those conversations and became the #1 education show in Hong Kong and Ireland.

Shane Leaning

Ways to work with me →

Easiest way in: book a call.

30 minutes, no agenda. We talk about where you are and whether anything I do would actually help. If it's not a fit, I'll tell you, and point you somewhere that is.