Synopses & Reviews
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERDo you think your life will get better in the future?
Geoff Smart had some doubts. He saw what you see—how broken government has become. He worried about his career, his family’s future, and our everyday quality of life.
Then one day, Geoff received an unexpected message that changed how he saw the problem.
Geoff was asked to help. His journey took him behind the scenes to work with other private sector leaders who had made the leap into government. What he discovered will surprise you.
Leadocracy will tell you
• Why great leaders avoid government
• How the “3 As of Leadership” can help us identify, hire, and become better leaders
• How we can avoid nonleader candidates like the Turtle, Bureaucrat, Screamer, and Idealist
• How the adrenaline rush of “flow” can offer leaders from the private sector the adventure of a lifetime
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense painted a vision that inspired a generation and changed the course of human history. The movement of our time is leadocracy—government by society’s greatest leaders. Leaders like you.
Review
“Leadocracy is a refreshingly simple solution to the problem of government dysfunction.” —H. Wayne Huizenga, chairman of Huizenga Holdings; former founder and CEO of three Fortune 500 companies
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“At a time of deep doubt about the ability of our federal government to manage our country, Leadocracy provides a reason for hope. As Geoff Smart demonstrates in this timely book, with great leadership no problem is unsolvable.” —Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel
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“As someone who has seen up close hundreds of companies succeed or fail, I can tell you that the quality of the leader is the number one driver of success. Leadocracy shows how to get more great leaders into government, which we sorely need.” —Stephen A. Schwarzman, chairman, CEO, and cofounder of the Blackstone Group
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“If we don’t have leadership in this country with the experience to develop a smart long-term economic growth plan, the guts to aggressively execute it, and the perseverance to stick with it over the long haul, we’ll never again see the economic prosperity we’ve come to take for granted.” —Ted Waitt, chairman of Avalon Capital Group and the Waitt Family Foundation; cofounder and former CEO of Gateway
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“Leadership is the key to human progress. Geoff Smart’s book leads the way.” —Charles Butt, Chairman, H-E-B
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“If we can systematically find ways to attract our best leaders to government, as Leadocracy describes, the quality of life of our society will improve.”
—John Malone, Ph.D., Chairman, Liberty Media Corporation
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“Our future, the world’s future, depends on attracting better leaders to government. Leadocracy provides a blueprint for how to do it. Reading it is an inspiration.”
—Governor John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado
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“Leadocracy documents what we in Indiana have learned firsthand: With leadership from citizens possessing the right mix of experience and vision, good government is not a lost cause.”
—Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana
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“Private sector leadership is badly needed in the public sector. Leadocracy shows us how to make this happen.”
—Mark Emkes, Commissioner of Finance & Administration, State of Tennessee; former CEO of Bridgestone Americas
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“Geoff Smart makes clear the compelling need for top talent to choose public service. Leadocracy demonstrates the difference strong leadership makes in the public and private sectors.” —Governor Jack Markell of Delaware
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“It is high time that we focus far more on improving the return on investment of our tax dollars. The best approach for accomplishing this is for successful business leaders to step forward and give back by applying their wealth of practical business experience and objective fact-based analysis to government leadership and decision making.”
—Fred Steingraber, President of Kenilworth, IL, and Chairman Emeritus, A.T. Kearney
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“Nothing we do in government is as important as who we hire into key leadership roles. Leadocracy and Geoff’s previous book Who, outline principles that we have applied with great success here in Colorado.” —Roxane White, chief of staff to Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado
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“What a ‘Smart’ book! Leadocracy redefines government leadership and what it should be, results-based and focused on why true leaders choose to work in government—to help better the lives of others in a streamlined, efficient, and accountable manner.”
—Lynn Johnson, Executive Director, Jefferson County, CO, Department of Human Services
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“Education reform and government reform are interrelated. I believe that leadership is the answer to both. I applaud Geoff Smart’s initiative and willingness to bring his hiring methods into the public sector with Leadocracy.” —Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach For America
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“We have used Geoff Smart’s methods for hiring here at KIPP with great results. We would love to see them applied to how government leaders are selected, the way he outlines in Who and Leadocracy.” —Mike Feinberg and David Levin, cofounders of the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), the largest charter school operator in the United States
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“A high-performing government requires high-performing leaders; Leadocracy convincingly shows that we have an under-tapped supply in the private sector and desperately need to engage them.”
—Professor Steven Kaplan, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
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“I am encouraged by the idea of more great private sector leaders going into the public sector, a trend which Leadocracy outlines.”
—Professor Morten Sorensen, Columbia Business School
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“The evaluation of any organization starts with an assessment of the leader. Geoff Smart has made a compelling case for leader-oriented government reform in Leadocracy.”
—Professor Stewart Donaldson, Dean & Chair of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University
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“Part diagnosis, part call-to-arms, Geoff Smart’s Leadocracy injects a thought-provoking new voice into the dialogue about how to improve our government. It will hopefully spark better leaders to seek key positions at all levels of government.”
—Professor Noam Wasserman, Harvard Business School, author of The Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
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“Geoff Smart is the world expert on the topic of hiring leaders. What he suggests we do in Leadocracy to get more great leaders into government is wise counsel.” —Marshall Goldsmith, winner of the 2011 Thinkers50 Leadership Award as the World’s Most-Influential Leadership Thinker; New York Times bestselling author or editor of thirty-one books, including What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
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“Geoff Smart is one of the nation’s top thinkers on how to hire great people. And he has put his finger on our fundamental failure as voters--we don’t hire great people into government. Leadocracy shows how that can change.” —Atul Gawande, MD, surgeon; bestselling author of The Checklist Manifesto
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“Leadocracy helps to demystify government, and shows how great leaders from the private sector can make a difference in the public sector, for the good of us all.” —Aaron Kennedy, founder, Noodles & Company
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“Geoff Smart’s previous book, Who, was the number one most impactful book on my career as a CEO. I am hopeful Leadocracy will be as impactful on society.”
—Craig Zoberis, CEO of Fusion OEM
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“It is about time this subject got the thoughtful treatment it deserves. The sad fact is our government is a source of competitive disadvantage for our country. The happy fact is Geoff’s book may start to change that.” —Kent Thiry, chairman and CEO of DaVita
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“One of my main goals in business is to find and grow great leaders. Our success depends on it. Sadly, there is no such training ground in government. We should expect more from our politicians and Leadocracy makes a strong case for greater private participation in the public sector.” —Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global
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“Geoff Smart is ‘the man’ when it comes to hiring. I am pleased to see him applying his methods to the daunting task of selecting government leaders. Leadocracy is a step in the right direction.” —Darrin Anderson, regional vice president at HD Supply
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“Thousands of successful entrepreneurs around the world know about Geoff Smart’s ideas about leadership and performance, and they apply them with great success. In Leadocracy, I am pleased to see the world of government is starting to take note.”
—Verne Harnish, Founder, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, and author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits
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“Geoff Smart’s book Who gave us the key strategies and methods that helped us hire top talent. This has allowed us to create an award-winning culture and excel in our social mission. Leadocracy shows how to hire great leaders for the public sector.”
—Scott Mesh, Ph.D., CEO, Los Niños Services
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“I used to say that I would never in a million years consider going into government. However, Leadocracy has changed my mind.” —Greg Alexander, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index; author of Making the Number
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“Geoff Smart’s methods have helped me hire a great team. I can only imagine how much good will be done for society when this approach is applied to hiring government leaders.” —Scott Clawson, president of GSI Group
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“I loved my job in the private sector. I love my job in the public sector. People seem to think that government is only about gridlock and dysfunction. It’s not, as Leadocracy illustrates. Great leaders can make a huge difference, and they can have a fun and meaningful chapter of their career in government.” —Ken Lund, executive director of the Office of Economic Development and International Trade; former managing partner at Holme Roberts & Owen
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“The world continues to grow in complexity while the democratic process we use to govern has become mired in bureaucracy and increasingly ineffective. Leadocracy offers a provocative new strategy to engage our strongest leaders, enabling government agencies to deliver more with less.”
—managing partner at Cresendo Capital Partners; former CEO of Peak Industries; author of Shortcut to Prosperity
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“I would LOVE to see more of Geoff Smart’s principles of hiring applied to how we choose our government leaders.” —Kevin Burns, managing principal at Lazard Technology Partners; former CEO of InterSolv
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“Great leaders go through stages in their careers. Leadocracy makes a great case for why one of those stages should be a stint in government.” —Chrismon Nofsinger, Ph.D., founder and CEO of the Nofsinger Group; author of The Shift From One to Many
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“Leadocracy is bound to be one of the most impactful books of our generation. Government desperately needs more great leaders. Great leaders need a sense of meaning and challenge in their careers. When the two come together, the game will change for the better.” —Eric Cohen, president of Power Plant Services
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“Geoff Smart’s approach to hiring was game changing for me as CEO, which allowed my team to deliver a 67 percent internal rate of return to our investors. I can only hope his expertise has the same kind of impact on the world of government leadership, which badly needs it.” —Panos Anastassiadis, former CEO of Cyveillence
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“Leadocracy signals a movement that is underway to hire more great leaders into government. I hope my fellow Brits figure this one out too; our way of life depends on it.” —Richard Bryan, managing director of BBH Properties
Synopsis
Leadership expert Geoff Smart wrote off government as hopeless. He saw what you see. Governments are failing. Everywhere. But something happened that sparked a year-long journey of discovery. And changed his perspective forever.
Geoff went behind the scenes and listened to great leaders who went into government at the national, state, and local levels. Many of them came from the private sector. And when you learn what he learned, you’ll have newfound hope for what government can become.
Yes, government is on the wrong path, one defined by increasing bureaucracy and dysfunction. But there is a better path: leadocracy. This path is based on the idea that a government is only as good as those who serve in it. If we answer questions about what defines great leaders and how to break down the obstacles that make them avoid government, we will set ourselves on the path to leadocracy.
A provocative manifesto in the spirit of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, Leadocracy could be one of the most talked about publications of the 2012 election year—and beyond.
About the Author
Geoff Smart, PhD, is passionate about great leadership. He is the chairman and CEO of ghSMART, the management assessment firm for CEOs and investors. His assessment, feedback, and coaching tools are used around the world. He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Who: The A Method for Hiring. And he has started two nonprofits focused on encouraging great leaders to grow and serve.