Thomas Daniels, Partner at Spencer Stuart

In this episode, Willy welcomes Thomas Daniels. Previously a managing director and senior banker for investment banking recruiting at JPMorgan, Thomas is motivated to “discover and develop talent for a better future.” As a senior director and partner at Spencer Stuart, he has served on the firm’s audit and risk and cybersecurity committees and worked on executive search, succession planning, executive assessment, and board assignments for large multinationals, midcap private equity, and asset management firms. He is a speaker and panelist and has contributed to several articles, such as “Recruiting the Next Generation of Financial Experts to Boards” and “Lessons and Advice for Today’s CFO”. The podcast begins with Thomas explaining how the Great Resignation has impacted Spencer Stuart. Although negative on the surface, he believes there is “more liquidity than ever in human capital markets,” as Gen Z and millennial employees are upskilling and more concerned with work-life balance. To retain top talent, enlightened companies are proactive in getting people engaged and prioritizing a culture of purpose, mentorship, and recognition. Despite the surge of remote meetings, more people are moving across states for greener career pastures. Spencer Stuart experienced a 19% surge of board meetings in 2021, which Thomas connects to unprecedented issues caused by the pandemic. The hybrid model has expanded the firm’s pool of potential directors. As 70% of CEOs in the S&P 500 had no prior C-level experience, the criteria for effective CEOs have shifted from an extensive background experience to self-awareness and thinking agility. Thomas enumerates the firm’s methods for spotting the outstanding ones: deep dive assessments, off-channel references, and executive intelligence interviews.

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