Tom Monahan, CEO, Heidrick & Struggles

[Archive Interview from Mar 27, 2024]

Tom Monahan has always been curious. In childhood exploring his grandparents’ carnival (still in the family today), he’d pepper each guest with questions about the rides and games. “If you ask people, they’ll tell you stuff.” Mr. Monahan, who was recently tapped as CEO of the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, keeps his inquisitive nature front and center, always ready to be inspired by a friendly conversation.   

This week on HOW Conversations, Mr. Monahan spoke with Dana Born, Distinguished Fellow at The HOW Institute, about fueling that curiosity and embracing humility. “Anyone who’s lucky enough to lead people and have had professional success, who doesn’t work the word “luck” into their first twenty words of their story has some soul-searching to do.”  

Even after years of success across various sectors, Mr. Monahan has a tenacious passion for developing and impacting emerging leaders.

READY TO START YOUR MORAL LEADERSHIP JOURNEY? Moral leadership is more imperative today than ever before. The HOW Institute for Society was founded on the belief that those in positions of formal authority should also have moral authority.  We are creating the tools leaders need to make principled, ethical and values-based decisions.  We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a world rooted in deep human values and trust in our social fabric. The Institute channels philosophical reasoning to address modern problems. Today, HOW we do what we do matters more than ever and in ways it never has before.  

Learn more at https://thehowinstitute.org/