Overview
Darren Ashby is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ London office and a member of the Performance Culture Practice. He advises CEOs, boards, and leadership teams worldwide on purpose-driven culture and strategy to realize the commercial and societal potential of their businesses.
Experience
Darren’s work with a diverse range of businesses often starts with aligning the top team around a compelling commercial purpose and strategic direction, then uses that to unlock the behavior change required to drive sustained performance.
Previously, Darren was the chief impact officer of businessfourzero, a leading next-generation consultancy acquired by Heidrick & Struggles in 2023. Prior to co-founding businessfourzero, Darren was a consultant at ?WhatIf! and Ernst & Young, where he specialized in the leadership, capability, behaviors, and operating models needed to deliver breakthrough innovation.
Darren co-authored Every Team Actually Doing Business Better with Atif Sheikh and has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, CEO Magazine, and others on creating truly purpose-driven businesses.
Before that, he briefly led aspects of post-acquisition integration at Kraft-Cadbury following a series of innovation and strategy leadership roles at Cadbury. Darren started his career working for several start-ups.
Education
University of Leeds, M.A., with distinction, in Cultural Theory
University of Leeds, B.A. in Philosophy