ghSMART began as a vision, shaped by a childhood of freedom, early mentorship from one of the greatest minds in management, and a core insight: it’s people decisions, not ideas, that drive performance. For founder Dr. Geoff Smart, building ghSMART was never just about launching a business, it was about fulfilling a mission to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.

Raised by a service-driven mother and an industrial-organizational psychologist father, Smart was immersed early in the twin values of purpose and performance. His mother modeled generosity and gratitude through tireless community involvement. His father, through working from a solo psychology practice, introduced him to the science of assessing leaders, work that captivated Smart enough to read hundreds of reports from the family basement before his teenage years. “I read 500 assessment reports in the basement of my parents’ house before I turned 15,” he recalls. “I was fascinated by learning people’s successes and failures and what makes for good leadership.”

In college, a private equity internship sparked a pivotal insight. While everyone acknowledged that people were the key to investment success, no one had a clear way to assess leadership talent. A quote from venture capitalist Arthur Rock reinforced the idea: “Nearly every mistake I’ve made has not been in picking the wrong idea, but in picking the wrong people.” Yet the business world lacked a methodology to get the people part right.

Smart saw an opportunity to bridge the rigor of psychology with the high-stakes world of finance. He envisioned a firm that would bring structure, data, and insight to leadership selection, helping investors, boards, and executives make smarter people decisions.

This vision was sharpened by his PhD program studying directly under Peter Drucker, the father of modern management. Drucker’s challenge to “build a culture that’s unparalleled” would become a guiding principle in the firm’s design. Professor Drucker was intrigued, if skeptical. Smart had no clients, no money, and no employees. But he had conviction, and a plan.

With persistence, including four follow-up phone calls and a fax, Smart secured his first major source of research data from PE powerhouse KKR, leading to a landmark study involving dozens of firms and 76 deals. The findings were striking: firms that used disciplined management assessment practices saw a 4x return over those that didn’t. His dissertation won awards, gained industry attention, and validated the firm’s founding thesis.

Smart officially launched and incorporated ghSMART by mailing in a $250 form clipped from the back of Inc. magazine. From the start, he was determined to build a different kind of firm, one with the high standards of top consultancies, but with a culture rooted in transparency, freedom, and meritocracy. Drawing on Drucker’s teachings, Smart rejected the traditional tradeoffs between excellence and autonomy. “What if we build a firm with a culture that’s unparalleled?”

Thirty years later, ghSMART has grown into a premier leadership advisory firm, earning recognition not just for its impact, but for its culture. Harvard Business School has written three cases on the firm, with the most recent focused entirely on how ghSMART has built one of the strongest cultures in professional services.

As Smart reflected recently, the firm’s founding was made possible by standing on the shoulders of giants: his parents, Peter Drucker, and the generosity of KKR. But its growth and impact are the result of a team committed to a shared purpose: using leadership as a force for good. It’s a mission born in a basement, tested in boardrooms, and still unfolding—with liberty, transparency, and service at its core.

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