About the Book

The Unlikely Leader: Leadership Lessons Forged by a Vietnamese Mother is a narrative-driven leadership book that reframes where leadership comes from, and who gets recognized as a leader.

Through the life story of her mother, a Vietnamese woman who survived war, abuse, poverty, and migration before rebuilding her life in the United States, Annee Bayeux reveals leadership as it is lived rather than taught. 

Long before she ever held a title or spoke English, her mother was making decisions under fire, protecting her children, choosing when to endure and when to walk away, and learning how to care for others without losing herself.

Blending vivid storytelling with reflective leadership insights, the book connects intimate moments of survival, including childhood under fire, forced marriage, escape, motherhood during war, and exile, to timeless principles that matter deeply in modern organizations. 

Each chapter invites readers to recognize leadership forged in necessity, often carried quietly by women, immigrants, caregivers, and others whose strength is rarely named or rewarded.

Written for business leaders, HR executives, women leaders, and immigrant professionals, The Unlikely Leader offers a more human and dignified vision of leadership, one rooted in lived experience, moral courage, and care rather than credentials alone.

What This Book Is About

The Unlikely Leader: Leadership Lessons Forged by a Vietnamese Mother reframes where leadership comes from, and who we recognize as leaders.

Through vivid storytelling and reflective insights, the book explores leadership as it is lived rather than taught. It draws on moments from my mother’s life, including childhood under fire, forced marriage, escape, motherhood during war, and exile, and connects those experiences to leadership principles that matter deeply in today’s organizations.

Rather than offering formulas or frameworks, this book invites readers to see leadership through a more human lens, one grounded in lived experience, dignity, and care.

Who This Book Is For

This book is written for:

• Women leaders who carry responsibility quietly and are tired of performative leadership models
• HR executives and people leaders seeking more human approaches to leadership development
• Immigrant and first-generation professionals navigating leadership across cultures
• Business leaders who value moral courage, empathy, and adaptability as leadership strengths

What You’ll Gain From Reading

By reading this book, you will:

• Reframe your own lived experience as a source of leadership, not a liability
• Recognize leadership qualities that are often invisible or undervalued in organizations
• Gain language for forms of leadership rooted in care, endurance, and moral clarity
• Walk away with a deeper, more dignified understanding of what it means to lead

What’s Inside the Book

The book is structured in three parts, tracing a journey from survival to voice:

Part I – Roots of Survival traces my mother’s early life in wartime Vietnam, from childhood under armed threat to laboring in the fields and fighting for access to education. These chapters show how leadership first took shape through fear, hunger, and responsibility at a young age, laying the foundations of composure, empathy, curiosity, and dignity.

Part II – Fire and Shadows follows her adult life as the pressures intensified: a forced marriage, moments of escape and return, raising children during war, and building a livelihood from nothing. Set against bombings, displacement, and scarcity, this section explores resilience as both staying and leaving, endurance in acute crisis, and credibility built through work and sacrifice.

Part III – Voice centers on the years when survival began to turn into agency. As a field interpreter for the US Army, caregiver of six, and eventually a woman preparing to leave Vietnam, my mother learns to use her voice to protect others, navigate power, and adapt to irreversible change. These chapters examine leadership as translation, care as strength, and adaptability as the courage to reinvent.

The book concludes with an epilogue focused on arrival, the threshold moment when my mother steps onto American soil and survival gives way to the possibility of a new beginning.

About the Publishing Process & Launch Support

This book is being published with Manuscripts Press, and I’m working closely with a dedicated publishing team to bring it into the world with care and intention.

Over the coming months, I’ll be collaborating with:

• A revisions editor, copy editor, and proofreader this spring to further refine and strengthen the manuscript
• A marketing specialist who is coaching and supporting me throughout the launch, helping me reach new audiences and build a thoughtful author community
• A cover artist and layout editor who will design the final look and feel of the book
  (The mockups you currently see are placeholders and will evolve as the book takes its final shape.)

Supporting the book at this stage means you’re joining me before the final polish, during the most meaningful part of the creative process.

What You Receive as a Launch Supporter

When you purchase a ticket to the book launch, you’re not just pre-ordering a book — you’re becoming part of its journey.

All launch tickets include:

• A physical copy (softcover paperback) or a digital copy (ebook) of The Unlikely Leader when it is published
• A handwritten thank-you note from me
• Your name listed in the Acknowledgements section of the book, with special thanks

As a supporter, you’ll also receive:

• An invitation to my Author Community, where I’ll share behind-the-scenes updates from the publishing process
• Early access to the Introduction and selected excerpts from the manuscript, with the opportunity to offer early feedback
• The chance to be involved in finalizing the book’s cover and title, if you’d like
• Additional surprises and updates as the book comes together

This early support helps fund the final stages of editing, design, and production. It allows me to bring this story into the world in a way that honors both the material and the people behind it.

Thank you for being part of this with me.

Other Ways to Support Me

Some people just can’t contribute, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help:

• Please share my presale campaign on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn with your friends, family and network. Please use #TheUnlikelyLeader and tag me so we can help amplify your efforts.
• Please recommend my book to five (5) friends, family members, or co-workers who you think would enjoy it via text or direct message on social media.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Thanks again,

Annee Daniel Bayeux

Author Bio

Annee Bayeux is a global HR leader, keynote speaker, and writer working at the intersection of leadership, workforce transformation, and human-centered organizational design. With over two decades of experience working with Global 2000 organizations and advising executives and HR teams across industries and geographies, she has built her career helping organizations navigate change without losing their humanity.

Born to a Vietnamese mother who survived war, displacement, and migration before rebuilding her life in the United States, Annee brings a deeply personal lens to her work. Her professional focus on leadership, resilience, and care is inseparable from the stories she inherited growing up. These are stories of endurance, moral courage, and leadership forged far from boardrooms.

Annee is the Co-CEO and cofounder of Ardoise.ai, an AI-native learning platform dedicated to keeping work human in an age of automation and intelligence. She lives in Paris and works internationally, speaking and advising on the future of leadership, work, and learning.

Contact Me:

• LinkedIn

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