Current and former Planned Parenthood officials describe Dr. Wen as a smart but alienating manager who wanted to significantly reorient the group’s focus away from the abortion wars and more toward its role as a women’s health provider.

Early in her tenure, for instance, Dr. Wen directed her staff to add new pages to the Planned Parenthood website about topics like asthma and the common cold — conditions that its clinics do not typically treat. One of her first major campaigns was simply called “This is health care.”…

Interviews with nearly a dozen current and former employees and officials — who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters — portrayed Dr. Wen as a leader viewed by many as a poor manager, perhaps unprepared to lead a nationwide organization with more than 600 health centers. Some employees chafed at a handbook for special assistants that circulated after she arrived, which featured one top bullet point reading, “All emails from Dr. Wen sent the night before should be answered immediately before anything else is done.”