1051: What It’s Like to Go From English Lit Major to Corporate CEO With Tom Monahan, DeVry University [Main T4C Episode]

Tom Monahan is the President and CEO of DeVry University whose mission is to foster student learning through high-quality, career-oriented education integrating technology, business, science and the arts. Until 2017, Tom spent more than two decades as a leader, CEO and Chairman of CEB (NYSE: CEB) which pioneered the use of software as a service (SaaS) as a business model. The firm was one of the fastest growing professional/information service companies globally, serving more than 10,000 companies.  Tom began his career journey in consulting working for Accenture and eventually for Deloitte.  Tom graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in English Literature.  He earned an executive MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.  WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: How Tom uses meditation to enhance his work-life balance (6:40) How Tom’s English major actually helped his career in consulting and tech  (11:39) How success companies reinvent other successful companies (27:47) How SaaS (think Netflix, Dropbox) was created by Tom and his colleagues (28:38) What are the most important classes to take to support any career (38:15) Why most successful people fail all the time (41:49) How not assuming you know anything, and leading with curiosity, will help your career (44:55)