Geoff Smart

Geoff Smart is the chairman & founder of ghSMART, a global leadership advisory, education, and analytics firm recognized as one of the world's top firms in professional services.

Founded in 1995, ghSMART helps Fortune 500 CEOs & boards, entrepreneurs, and heads of state to achieve their goals through hiring, developing, and leading talented teams. Under Smart's leadership, the firm has been consistently recognized for its excellence, including being named the best management consulting firm in its industry segment by Forbes for three consecutive years and being featured in the book "The Art of Managing Professional Services."

ghSMART’s Credo begins, “We exist to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.” The firm is known for offering extraordinarily talented, diverse, and good-hearted professionals the opportunity to work in a culture characterized by the freedom to choose, the chance to be a part of an exclusive yet inclusive team, and the opportunity to do meaningful work every day. ghSMART is ranked #1 on Glassdoor among top firms in consulting, finance, and tech, with a 4.7/5.0 overall rating. It is also ranked #1 on the Great Place to Work index among top professional services firms. In 2023, Vault named ghSMART the #1 consulting firm in its industry (ranked above McKinsey, Bain, and BCG) in the categories of overall colleague satisfaction, compensation, selectivity, challenge, client interaction, work-life balance, (few) hours in an office, best boutique, business outlook, and overall diversity.

ghSMART shares its knowledge about leadership through bestselling books authored by Dr. Smart and his colleagues. "Who: The A Method for Hiring" (Smart & Street) is a New York Times bestseller currently ranked #1 on Amazon.com on the topic of hiring talented teams. "Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success" (Smart, Street, and Foster) is a Wall Street Journal bestseller and was listed among the “10 Best Business Books of 2015” by an international newspaper. "The CEO Next Door" (Botelho & Powell) is a critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller. Additionally, "Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) into Government," also by Dr. Smart, is a New York Times bestseller that won the IPPY Award and the Axiom Book Award for #1 Best Business Book of the Year. Dr. Smart earned a B.A. in Economics with honors from Northwestern University, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, where he was a student of management thought leader Peter F. Drucker.

In addition to his role at ghSMART, Dr. Smart is actively involved in community and government leadership development. He founded the Colorado Governors Fellowship Program through his not-for-profit organization, The Leaders Initiative™, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of CiviCo. ghSMART colleagues also contribute hundreds of hours per year to advising leaders in education, public health, and government sectors, amplifying their positive impact on the world.