Dr. Linda Henman advises, speaks, writes, and coaches on the high-stakes decisions senior leaders can’t afford to get wrong.
As founder of Henman Performance Group, a St. Louis-based leadership consulting firm, Linda has spent more than 40 years advising executives on their most consequential decisions: profitability, strategy, hiring, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, and organizational transformation.
She has spent more than 40 years advising CEOs, business owners, boards, and leaders on business growth, CEO and leadership selection, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, strategy, and profitability. Among others, leaders at Mercy Hospital, Avon, Emerson Electric, Estée Lauder, Kraft, and Tyson Foods have trusted her advice. Her record speaks for itself:
97% of the candidates she has recommended have succeeded in the roles for which she recommended them, and none of her projects has failed.
An Unusual Beginning
Linda began studying decision-making in 1994 while conducting doctoral research involving 138 American prisoners of war who had survived five or more years of captivity in Vietnam. Her work included collaboration with former POWs, including Senator John McCain and Admiral James Stockdale, as part of a U.S. Navy longitudinal research initiative.
Her research revealed that leadership under extreme pressure influences resilience, survival, and success. Those discoveries continue to shape her work with leaders facing uncertainty, competing priorities, incomplete information, and decisions with expensive consequences.
Linda has also guided leaders through major corporate transitions. Following Tyson Foods’ acquisition of International Beef Products, she worked with John Tyson and his team, making Tyson Foods the largest protein provider on the planet and the deal the most successful of the 21st Century.
Today, Linda combines rigorous research, practical business experience, and independent judgment to help leaders challenge assumptions, evaluate alternatives, and act decisively.
Whether advising a board, selecting a CEO, navigating an acquisition, or delivering a keynote, Linda addresses one fundamental question:
What enables people to make sound decisions when the stakes are high, the information imperfect, and getting it wrong carries serious consequences?
