Meet Susan Conrad

Susan is a Partner at Chapman & Co Leadership Institute, an organization whose aim is to develop the TrulyHuman potential within companies to equip leaders to succeed, empower employees, and create lasting brand loyalty.  They focus on aligning people strategy to the business strategy.  Susan believes that to have a successful business, you need both a sound business model and a good culture, which becomes fuel for the business.

Susan's a serial entrepreneur with a background in finance. She refers to herself as a numbers person who relies heavily on her left brain. Even so, she saw there was more to business than the numbers and became fascinated by how the work gets done—by the people side of things. While working at a financial services company, she hired Chapman & Co and ultimately this led to her joining the team to help other organizations realize the same potential. 

Chapman & Co services are what many of us think of consulting firms providing: strategic planning, selecting great talent, developing leaders, building team culture and succession planning. What makes them unique, however, is the focus they put on the people; No matter what the business is about, it still comes down to people working with people. Susan believes that business leaders who understand the intersection of culture and operations create stronger, more sustainable, scalable businesses. 

With the current labor shortages and market challenges, Susan knows it’s even more important to develop and retain the people you have and strive to attract. While focusing on culture as a strategic priority used to be a “nice to have” for many businesses, now it is a critical necessity.

Susan's community engagement focuses on access to education and healthcare. She currently serves on both the Board of Governors and  Development Committee for SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital and is on the Board of Trustees and Nominating Committee Chari for Chaminade College Preparatory High School. She also sits on a private board for Pittsburg Pipe Company. 

Susan and her partner, Troy, have four children, share a love of cooking and an insatiable travel bug. Her recommendation:  Oliver Burkeman’s podcast: “Four Thousand Weeks.” It’s about how we can live more intentionally, making the most of the brief time (and life) we have on the planet. He debunks a lot of the time management hacks. He suggests our lifetime is about 4,000 weeks long and we need to transform our relationship with time, to focus more on  “JOMO” (joy of missing out) instead of “FOMO” (fear of missing out.)