What happens when you put a university president who’s weathered pandemics, launched massive campaigns, and chairs the Bruce Springsteen Archives in a room with great questions?
Pure gold.
In this episode, Jon Schultz sits down with Patrick Leahy, president of Monmouth University, for one of those conversations that reminds you why leadership stories matter. Leahy takes us through his incredible journey from being the youngest of six kids outside Baltimore to running a $200 million university.
Schultz dives into the mentor who changed everything by pushing him to apply to Georgetown (spoiler: he thought he’d never get in), the poetry class with the university president that shifted his entire career path, and those messy years when he tried business and finance before finding his true calling in higher education.
But here’s where it gets really interesting. Leahy shares what it was actually like stepping into the president’s role just months before the pandemic hit, how he kept an entire campus community connected through weekly Zoom calls that people still don’t want him to stop and the bold moves he’s made to position Monmouth for the future.
We’re talking about partnerships with Hackensack Meridian for health care programs, building out film and TV production right as Netflix constructs their massive studio two miles away, and chairing the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music.
The conversation gets into the real stuff too. How AI is going to reshape education, why being someone others want to work with might be the most critical skill you can develop, and what it means to lead through uncertainty while staying true to your values.
Leahy’s energy is infectious when he discusses servant leadership, the importance of asking better questions, and how every twist in your career path ultimately serves you later. His story reminds us that the most successful leaders aren’t those who follow predetermined paths, but those who remain open to possibility and aren’t afraid to bet on themselves and others.
It’s a conversation that will leave you thinking differently about what’s possible when you combine authentic leadership with strategic vision and the courage to act on both.
