Dr. Geoff Smart

Geoff Smart is the #1 thought leader on the #1 topic in business. He is the Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm, and his purpose is to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.

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ghSMART Turns 25

The firm I founded, ghSMART, turned 25 years of age today.

Click here to listen to a 60-minute podcast about the story of ghSMART.

And below is the celebration message I just sent to my team today. We are hiring.

If you know anybody whose professional talents and interests match up with what you read here, please send them my way! Thank you!

ghSMART’s 25th Anniversary Message

Today is our 25-year anniversary, ghSMART! As your proud Chairman and Founder, I have some reflections on our past, present, and future.

PAST: In the beginning, I wanted to build a special kind of firm unlike any other. For colleagues, I wanted there to be a place for wildly talented and good-hearted people to do meaningful work in the area of leadership and management and to have a life outside of work. It was selfish—I wanted to found a firm that I’d actually want to work at! The kind of place where you could sit in a boardroom with colleagues and the CEO of an influential company, providing life-changing advice and counsel on her most challenging leadership issues. And then to be able to sit the very next day with your family on a blanket in a park watching the leaves change, or sit with a sick friend in the hospital who is getting his next course of chemo, or sit with a rising young leader at a not-for-profit you volunteer on the board at, and help her chart her career strategy.

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How Crisis Revealed the Cultural Roots of the #1 Consulting Firm to Work for

At 7am this morning as I was writing this blog, my phone blared that jarring “Amber Alert” noise. But there was no missing child.

Instead, my state’s governor smartly alerted everybody to stay at home to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. What a weird experience; I felt like I was in an apocalypse movie.

The first thought that crossed my mind was gratitude that my family was healthy, at least at the moment.

The second thought that crossed my mind was how much “great leadership” matters in times of crisis. I’m proud of how our Managing Partner, Randy Street, and my other colleagues are leading through this crisis. And I realized how this crisis has revealed some of the cultural roots of ghSMART, the leadership advisory firm I founded 25 years ago.

Why you should care
If you are reading this article, you likely run or own a company or not-for-profit, or you aspire to lead an organization one day. ghSMART is a leadership advisory firm whose clients include CEOs of some of the largest companies in the world, influential entrepreneurs, and enlightened government and not-for-profit leaders. We help them to confidently hire, develop and lead talented and diverse teams that succeed.

You already know how much “culture” matters in propelling any organization forward. ghSMART recently won the “#1 company to work for” award in our industry for overall employee satisfaction, according to Vault. Vault said the main reason we won that award was due to the firm’s culture. And it’s during challenging times like these that a culture’s true DNA becomes crystal clear. So, I wanted to share with you 3 cultural roots that help ghSMART to power through crisis.

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Successfully Convince a CEO in 3 Steps

Here is your chance. You don’t want to blow it.

You have a meeting scheduled with a CEO. Your goal is to convince her…

to spend $1m on your product or service, or to make a large donation to your cause.
to hire you, to promote you, or to give you your dream job.
to invest in your idea.

What are ineffective ways to convince a CEO?

Many people “show up and throw up” and push a lot of information at the CEO—either verbally, or by PowerPoint. I’m not sure what the reason is why many unpersuasive people follow this approach. Maybe it’s to “show you know what you are talking about.” But it does not make a CEO say yes. I recall when my firm was interviewing law firms. Two partners from one firm came to a lunch meeting at a restaurant with a thick glossy marketing brochure. I remember the ominous “thud” the document made as it hit the table. By the end of the lunch, I understood a lot about their firm and their goals, but they did not know much about mine. We did not select that firm.

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