Episode 020
Suzanne Hanifin
What can a recruiting firm tell you about the future of the economy? In this episode of Women’s Million Dollar Conversations, Alice Tang sits down with Suzanne Hanifin, Founder and President of Acumen Executive Search. With over 15 years in the industry, Suzanne explains why leadership hiring is a crucial forward indicator for financial markets.
Suzanne pulls back the curtain on running an organization led by eight dedicated women and why she believes the “tribe” you surround yourself with is what keeps you off the cliff during tough economic times. She also shares the “worst advice” she ever received—that she couldn’t have both a career and a family—and how that statement fueled her to prove the world wrong.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why “riding the wave” and going with the flow is a vital business strategy.
The internal bias that tells women they must do everything themselves—and how to prioritize better.
How “skin knees” in business are actually essential lessons for future growth.
The principle of “Givers Gain”: Why helping others without expectation leads to a tenfold return.
"Building a network of people you can rely on and talk to when you feel like giving up is invaluable!"
[00:00:20] Alice Tang: Good morning, Suzanne. How are you?
[00:00:24] Suzanne Hanifin: I am doing just fine. Alice, thank you so much for having me here today.
[00:00:28] Alice Tang: Welcome to the woman Million Dollar Conversations, and we interview guest who has either saved, earned, or made a million dollars, so that’s so exciting. Here I am with one of my wonderful friends, Suzanne Hanifin. Not only she’s a friend, she’s a power woman with generosity. A lot of people in the community know about her and she’s a founder of Acumen Executive Search. Suzanne, would you say [00:01:00] hi to our audience and also tell a little bit about you and your company?
[00:01:05] Suzanne Hanifin: Perfect. Yeah. So as Alice mentioned, I am Suzanne Hanifin, the President and Founder of Acumen Executive Search. We are a retained, high touch boutique, woman owned recruiting firm, and we’ve been around since 2007. Cannot believe it’s been over 15 years, and we are growing and expanding and things are going really well.
[00:01:28] Alice Tang: So, hunting the top level executive is what you do every day. That’s so exciting. We are here today to talk about Suzanne, her values, her inner emotions, and we’re gonna learn a few tips from you.
First question, what is the value of money for Suzanne?
[00:01:48] Suzanne Hanifin: It’s interesting. I think when you ask that question, the first thing comes to my mind is freedom. But as I kind of breathe a little bit and ask that question a different way, it makes me [00:02:00] really wanna say, It is a very complicated answer because, as you’ve mentioned it’s what we build, and all the work that it’s taken to get there.
And you would think, woo, we’re here, we’re at that million dollar mark. But there’s that backside to it and a lot of responsibilities that come with that imbalance. So I would say my relationship with money is really understanding and hoping to find that balance between enjoying and breathing and working and going.
[00:02:35] Alice Tang: No kidding. I think given the line of work that I do, I hear a lot of these balanced related question. Should I just save and eat only potatoes, right? No nutrient, no vacation, no Disneyland trip for my kids and just get to early retirement, or should I just give them a better life because I could. But [00:03:00] that could possibly delay my option to stop. It is really, like you said, a very complicated conversation. So it’s about choices, it’s about priorities. So you can’t be so greedy. Of course we want everything, right?
[00:03:15] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah.
[00:03:15] Alice Tang: But what is your first priority? If stopping, having the option to stop, then we need to make sure that we allocate the most resources to save. But, making sure kids are taken care of in a well balanced environment. You automatically saying to yourself I’m gonna delayed my option to staff running the business or working, but I’m gonna give of the best. So it’s a decision and you’re a woman. We are a woman. We can change our mind, but you can’t change it too frequently because if you serve two masters, neither one is being served well.
Well done. Thank you, Suzanne, for saying freedom and [00:04:00] balance. The next question. We are gonna focus on getting to the million dollar sell or Acumen. So tell us how long does it take for you to get to that million since you open the door, and then tell us how does it make you feel when you get there?
Did you even stop and pause and smell the rose or you said, I don’t care. Keep going because I’m too busy creating, really a wealth environment for my team and my business.
[00:04:29] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, it was very interesting because we’ve been around for so long that we’ve lived through some very hard economic times.
I think 2007, eight, or actually more eight, nine for us. Was a real huge struggle and we started off like a rocket ship just going. And then covid again, another huge economic, uncertainty. And when you have a staff and employees, and these [00:05:00] responsibilities that go beyond yourself, it’s hard to take that step and to say, wow, we did it.
And we have a saying here at Acumen. Ride the wave, keep going. Let’s enjoy this wave, ride it and see what beach we end up on. And and so I think once we really started going. It was probably July of 2020, believe it or not, is when people started saying, I need leadership. I need leaderships that align with my culture and values, and we’re still riding that wave.
COVID really changed that mindset of people of saying, this is my value in my life. I’m not gonna work here anymore or what have you. And so it has really been going. So I don’t know if we ever really stopped to smell the roses, enjoy it. But we do talk about it as an organization and as a team.
[00:05:57] Alice Tang: So what I heard is really go [00:06:00] with the flow when life is giving you whatever good is. Don’t feel like hesitant to grab it. Just go. Because business come in different cycle and you were the one who share with me. Your industry of recruiting is really the forward indicator of the economy because you can feel the slow down or speeding up. Before really, the world or the stock market or the financial market is indicating because people decided whether they wanna step on the gas and hire people.
[00:06:36] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah, especially in the leadership positions, I think, every organization needs people to get the work done and to produce whatever, or provide the service. But when it comes to leadership and investing into their leadership, they have to make those decisions.
And so then recruiting does become an economic indicator. Yes.
[00:06:57] Alice Tang: And how they make that decision, [00:07:00] suzanne, is based on how they feel about their business is going. Because if you know it’s going to slow down, why would you put $300,000 on the table to hire executive plus all this bonus commitment, right?
[00:07:14] Suzanne Hanifin: Absolutely.
[00:07:15] Alice Tang: So great. Then one questions that we always ask is on the road to success, and you are very successful businesswoman what is your biggest bias that you have run against and you have overcome?
[00:07:32] Suzanne Hanifin: Wow. I think the bias I place on myself, and I know that sounds very interesting, but I really do work hard in trying to balance being, a president of a company, growing company. We’ve just hired two new employees ourselves. We’re expanding geographically. Balancing that, and then the pressures I put on myself on being a mom. I’ve got teenage kids that are all in sports. I [00:08:00] end up missing a lot of their sports. And then I do have that bias that I am the female. I am the one who cooks every dinner, most of the dinners I should say. I love my husband. He does a lot.
So again, I think that the bias. Is, I think women feel like, and we’re told we can do everything and be everything. And really it’s again, finding that balance and reaching out for help when you need to. And so I think the biased I’ve put on myself that I do need to do everything. And that’s a hard realization as I’m talking about it out loud, going, wow, I, I need to prioritize a little better.
[00:08:43] Alice Tang: Yeah where we are all heading is we believe we needed to do everything by ourselves because that is what the world we thought is expecting us. But I know that you and I have wonderful spouses and we’re both [00:09:00] blessed. They are ready to help, but if you want to do it, seriously, I’ll let you do it. Right? I’ll let you do it. I can sit on the sofa and read the news if you really want to cook, but they’ve never said. Suzanne, you’re obligated to clean the floor or cook up a long day. They never said that, but just, like we come home and we expected that. So the limited belief in our head that we must do everything in order to be a loving mom, a loving spouse, plus a successful business owner.
What’s the one thing that you want to tell the people, the audience who said, I really think I can relate to Suzanne. I am exactly like 10 years before I hit her level and I aspire to be her. What’s the one thing you want to leave with them and say, do this.
[00:09:55] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah. It’s so funny I look back at my career and it has not been a [00:10:00] straight line. It has turned and weaved and Bob, sometimes dead ends. Sometimes it’s the freeway and you’re going, but I think it’s every time I’ve taken a leap of faith, a leap of faith in myself that I can do it.
Or why not? Let’s you know, taking that chance. It has been rewarded tenfold and it’s not just the business chance, it’s the chance on life and going for it. I’ve been terrified and scared and I lose sleep and I stress out. But looking back, it’s having enough faith to be able to take that leap.
And if you fall, you wipe yourself up and you go, okay. These skin knees are also a lesson. And and so the advice I would have is it is scary and everybody weighs out this risk reward. Do I do it? Do I not? Sometimes you just take that leap.
[00:10:59] Alice Tang: [00:11:00] Take the leap when you feel like this opportunity you want to walk into.
We got it, Suzanne. Wonderful. If there is one thing in your business, career or career of the past X years, so not to expose your age what would you do differently or is there anything you want to do differently?
[00:11:21] Suzanne Hanifin: I don’t think I’d do anything differently. I’m a true believer. We are who we are today because of everything that happened yesterday, and it’s the relationships that you build, it’s the connections.
It is all those experiences that makes me who I am today. And so I don’t think I would change anything.
[00:11:41] Alice Tang: We are who we are because of all those experience, whether it is quantitative setback. The success because they are weave together to formulate the beautiful Suzanne and audience. And of course, Alice.
I believe that I’m beautiful [00:12:00] all the time. I don’t care what people say.
Okay. On the road to build your success today. I’m sure there are a moment that is so hard that you are hanging in with your pinky finger on the cliff. You wanted to quit. I mean, That thought came through to any successful people because Rome is not built in one day, like you said, and we probably have sat back.
What kept you going?
[00:12:31] Suzanne Hanifin: Again, I think it’s my team I work with the most amazing, smart, dedicated women. They too inspire me. And if anybody thinks they can run an organization by themselves that’s silly. And I think we rely on each other. There’s eight of us women that run acumen and that’s an inspiration and a challenge both, but it’s the people you surround yourself with. That network [00:13:00] is so invaluable. When you do wanna quit, when you are scared, when you haven’t slept for days because you’re waiting for a big contract to come through and you don’t know how you’re gonna pay people, it is so stressful.
And without this tribe, whether it’s your employees your network, that has kept me going hands down.
[00:13:22] Alice Tang: Very good. Basically make sure that we have the network and the community to be there because when we didn’t have the belief in us, they are going to push us and tell us, okay, I’m gonna carry you through the extra mile.
Cuz sometimes you carry me, sometimes I carry you.
[00:13:42] Suzanne Hanifin: Absolutely.
[00:13:42] Alice Tang: We’re gonna, get through this together. Who’s gonna carry you if you don’t have no relationships with them. So there’s another time, another day we can talk about how best to be a relationship.
Two more questions.
What is the best or the worst advice [00:14:00] that you have ever received that has made the biggest impact in your life?
[00:14:07] Suzanne Hanifin: Oh, this is a funny story. When I finished college, I was so excited. I ended up with a big Fortune 100 company and even more excited. I got the one woman partner in the West coast and was so thrilled to think, oh my gosh, I’m gonna have this mentor and to age myself a little bit. This was early nineties, so we all come in with our big shoulder pads, our big hair. And I remember she looked at us and there was four of us women who, she took us out to lunch and she said, if you think you can have this job and a family think again.
And again, at 23 I remember turning to myself going, F you, I am gonna do it and I am gonna have it. And I, and again, that was the worst advice, but [00:15:00] it was so instrumental into my whole career, it was like, I am not compromising, I am not choosing one or the other. I look back and I go, did she do that on purpose just to motivate us or did she really believe that? Because, that was such a time that women really did emulate kinda that man and needing to be more masculine to be successful. And I think today we’ve evolved to say no, that’s not what we need to do.
But yeah, that was the worst advice I was ever given. But the biggest impact.
[00:15:36] Alice Tang: Yes, regardless, I think when you receive such a statement, what you just told us is that really conflict with my value, my belief. And you said to yourself, I’m gonna prove you wrong.
[00:15:51] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah.
[00:15:51] Alice Tang: And look at me. 30 years later.
[00:15:54] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah.
[00:15:54] Alice Tang: I can have it. I can have it.
[00:15:57] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah.
[00:15:58] Alice Tang: Who said I can’t? [00:16:00]
[00:16:00] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah.
[00:16:00] Alice Tang: It’s how I define success, what you just said.
[00:16:03] Suzanne Hanifin: Yeah.
[00:16:04] Alice Tang: And I’m not going to take that suggestion or advice because I know myself better. I run the show, my show. Not your show. Watching me.
[00:16:17] Suzanne Hanifin: Exactly. And just what we were saying, it’s confidence in yourself, your abilities, and not believing in those negative people in your life.
[00:16:28] Alice Tang: Yes, yes. What are you grateful?
[00:16:31] Suzanne Hanifin: Oh boy. I am so grateful in my life for everyone and everything. It’s amazing. I really do step back and appreciate it. I appreciate my girlfriends probably more than most, because again, without them I don’t know if I could be my strongest, best self. But I really am grateful to that network, that business network. It has helped me so [00:17:00] much. And if I could again, leave some piece of advice for the next gen or what have you, it’s build those trusted advisors. People you can cry to. Even if it’s personal professional, what have you or celebrate with, and it’s givers gain.
You give as much as you get. In fact, you probably get tenfold of what you give. And it’s coming at the world in that approach of it’s not about me, it’s about everyone. And and helping others. So I think that’s how I would leave this legacy.
[00:17:36] Alice Tang: This is a very strong close on what I think Suzanne’s superpower is. I’m putting words in her mouth. Her word is generosity. Help others without the expectation of return. Because at the end of the day those people who didn’t count at all I’ve given you 10 favors. You’ve only given me nine. That’s not Suzanne.
What Suzanne is saying is, I [00:18:00] don’t care if I give a hundred and get three back. Given what I have and I know you need it because I can, I am touching you, but at the same time, I’m honoring my value is helping others to be successful as I’m running for my journey to success.
So that’s really concludes the beautiful you in you. Thank you, Suzanne, for, having this short conversation with us. You have touched me in many different ways, and I’m sure many people are saying the same thing that I’m saying right now.
Thank you, Suzanne Hanifin.
[00:18:40] Suzanne Hanifin: Thank you, Alice.
Suzanne is the Founder and President of Acumen Executive Search, a premier boutique firm known for placing high-impact executives and building leadership teams that align with organizational purpose and culture. With over two decades of experience in executive recruiting and business leadership, Suzanne is an industry-agnostic, trusted advisor to companies seeking transformative talent.
She distinguishes herself by blending sharp business acumen with a profound sense of heart and purpose. This integrity-driven approach has resulted in exceptional long-term success: 93% of executives placed by Acumen remain with their companies three years later.
A champion for women in leadership, Suzanne co-founded Leaders and Executives Across Professions (LEAP), a mentorship initiative dedicated to empowering female professionals. She is also a recognized community leader, serving as a Past President and Board Member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Oregon chapter, a member of Vistage, an Executive Group Leader of ProVisors, and a Board Member of the Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition (PNDC). Suzanne also shares her insights as co-host of the Hiring for Good podcast.