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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Hiring Government Leaders: Lessons from the Private Sector

I’m proud and happy that my ghSMART colleagues and I today published a landmark study on “Hiring Government Leaders” at the request of a Washington D.C. think tank.

A new administration’s #1 priority is hiring a talented and diverse leadership team that will elevate the quality of life of its citizens. However, this is easier said than done. Approximately 50% of hiring decisions are considered mistakes.

We drew on a half-century of research and practice in the private sector and public sector, and propose a practical framework to improve the speed and accuracy of hiring cabinet and senior staff, and reduce the chance of costly mistakes. While this article was primarily written for “presidential hiring,” the actionable take-aways are relevant for elected and appointed government leaders to use at the federal, state, or local levels to improve the performance of their administration, department, or agency, for the good of us all.

Please click to read our new article here: https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/hiring-government-leaders-lessons-from-the-private-sector/

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Dr. Geoff Smart is Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, the leadership advisory firm. The firm exists to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world. In 2020, Vault named ghSMART the #1 company to work for in its industry, in overall satisfaction.
ghSMART has published four bestselling leadership books: Who: The A Method for Hiring (by Smart and Street, #1 in the category of “hiring”), Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) into Government (by Smart), Power Score (by Smart, Street, and Foster), and The CEO Next Door (by Botelho and Powell).
Geoff can be reached at geoff.smart@ghsmart.com.

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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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