#400 Jean Zhou: Flipping the Script—From Spreadsheets to Storytelling
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What inspired Jean Zhou's journey into storytelling?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist humility for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. In today's episode, I'm thrilled to interview Jing Zhou, a TV and filmmaker from China. Filmmaking is a multi-billion dollar industry that thrives on the art and business of storytelling. and for sure that shares stories from characters all around the world, how could I not feature someone who has mastered the craft of telling profitable stories? Jean's journey is nothing short of remarkable. From a small town girl to a sociology major, She later transitioned into accounting and even moved to the U.S. to work as an accountant. But that wasn't the end. She went deeper into the business world, earning an MBA from Chicago Bull. Another bull privet took her into venture capital and then back to China. where she built her network and credentials from scratch in the entertainment industry.
Jin has written books, scripts, and produced both movies and TV series. How did she achieve all this? And more importantly, why? It all started with a simple childhood dream. which is a love for TV series. That passion transformed into a devoted career. Let's listen to the story of a storyteller.
How did Jean transition from accounting to entertainment?
My name is Jing Zhou, and I stayed in a small town in China until 18 years old. And for college, I went to Shanghai. I studied sociology. And when I was a junior, I transferred to Indiana University Bloomington in America and picking up accounting and finance as my second and third majors. And after my graduation, I became a financial analyst in an engine manufacturing company called Cummins. And I did the financial analyst work for three years and went to Chicago Booth for my MBA. And during my MBA, I did some venture capital internship, including in SQL Capital China, Innovation Works, and Capital Today. After my graduation of MBA, I went to a pre-IPO company called iReader Technology. It's a digital reading company, and I was in charge of strategic investment.
Meanwhile, I was rotating among several business departments, overseeing APP, product design, operations, writer relationship, and copyright sales. In 2019, I started my own company called Wind Entertainment. It's my current company. First, we incubated writers, and later on, we did several best novel awards. In 2020, we entered the drama series area and wrote our first script, which was released last year on four TV stations in China and distributed to more than 30 countries. The name is The Stereo Love. Every year we have two to three projects under development right now. And we will start our first movie in a quarter and it's about gambling and crime. Above is the listing of my transitions.
So when I look back, I figured I never planned all these because I just couldn't plan from a financial analyst in the engine manufacturing company to a producer. Tell us how you made through this transition. I got into sociology in Shanghai, and first I just didn't know what I should deal with. So when I picked up accounting and finance as my second and third majors, I figured one day I need to know more about business, know more about entrepreneurs. I chose to intern in all these venture capitals in China. I wanted to know how the entrepreneurs, what they're thinking about every day and how they run a business because I have a goal to start my own business one day.
Can AI truly create compelling narratives?
So in my family, we have a travel company and also running a medical company. So that's how we have such a tradition. So I formed this kind of goal when I was very young. So in Chicago Booth, I set a framework for the business analysis and the accounting and the finance helped me understand the business knowledge. And through the venture capital, I learned how entrepreneurs, how they swim in competitive world and how they run their companies. So this is a foundation set up for my future plan. Later on, I found that sociology helped me open my world to the world and also know more about people. So the help of the sociology is the business world is finally a world between people and people.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What inspired Jean Zhou's journey into storytelling?
0:13–2:41
2
How did Jean transition from accounting to entertainment?
2:41–5:30
3
What role did sociology play in Jean's storytelling?
5:30
4
How did Wind Entertainment come to fruition?
4:39
5
Why do emotions matter in storytelling?
3:45
6
Can AI truly create compelling narratives?
3:12–6:24
7
What challenges did Jean face in the entertainment industry?
6:24–23:37
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Chief Change Officer™: Ensemble
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