AUTHOR

Geoff Smart is a CEO, bestselling author, and social entrepreneur whose mission is to create, communicate, and put into practice useful ideas about leadership.

Geoff serves as Chairman & CEO of ghSMART. ghSMART is a leadership firm for CEOs and investors, which Geoff founded in 1995. The firm was named one the "world's top firms" in Broderick's The Art of Managing Professional Services. It is the subject of two Harvard Business School Cases that are taught to all 900 first-year MBA students, titled "ghSMART & Co.: Pioneering in Professional Services."

Geoff is co-author, with his colleague Randy Street, of the New York Times bestselling book Who: The A Method for Hiring. Who is one of the most-acclaimed books in the world on the topic of hiring leaders, which The Wall Street Journal calls "the most important aspect of business." Shanghai Daily named Who a "Top 5 Business Book in China" and Canada's Globe and Mail named it the "#1 Best Business and Management Book of 2009." Geoff is also author of Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) into Government. In the 1990s, he co-created the Topgrading philosophy of talent management.

As a social entrepreneur, Geoff is the Founding Chairman of two not-for-profit organizations. SMARTKids Leadership Program™ is a 501c3 not-for-profit foundation that provides a customized program of 10 years of leadership tutoring and a $100,000 scholarship to top students with leadership potential from low-income communities. Secondly, The Leaders Initiative™ seeks to elevate humanity by identifying, developing, and deploying society's greatest leaders into government. Geoff and his ghSMART colleagues also provide pro bono leadership advisory services to leaders in the fields of education, healthcare, and government to help them amplify their positive impact on the world.

Geoff earned a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Northwestern University, an M.A., and a Ph.D. in Psychology with emphasis in Leadership from Claremont Graduate University, where he was mentored by Professor Peter F. Drucker. Geoff was elected to Sigma Xi, the honorary society for holders of doctoral degrees, and is a member of Young Presidents' Organization (YPO).