Rick Smith (author)

Rick Smith (born January 22, 1967) is an American entrepreneur, author and public speaker. Smith launched the World 50 global executive network.

Background

Rick Smith graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Finance.^[1] Smith earned an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Early in his career Smith worked for EDS in finance and marketing management, holding positions throughout the US and in Germany. After leaving EDS, he spent time as a strategy consultant with Gemini Consulting (formerly the MAC Group), and with Diamond Technology Partners. He worked as an executive recruiter with Egon Zehnder and Spencer Stuart.

In 2003, Smith co-authored his first book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers^[2] (Random House/2003), and left recruiting to lead the book promotion. During this time, he conceived of the idea for the company World 50. He founded World 50 in early 2004, growing the company as CEO to more than $10 million in annual revenue. He sold World 50 to Equaterra in 2007, and transitioned out in 2008. Smith's second book, The Leap (Portfolio/2009), chronicles the creation and growth of his company.^[3]

In 2010, he joined with partners Scott Miller (the former CEO of Hyatt) and Dave Fuente (former CEO of Office Depot) to launch Next Generation Leadership, an organization that seeks to reinvent executive education among upper management in the Fortune Global 500.

Smith lives with his wife Dr. Lori Smith and their 3 children in Atlanta, Georgia.

Business ventures

World 50, Inc.

Smith was the founder and CEO of World 50, an organization created to initiate and facilitate business conversations. The organization provides groups of senior executives a private peer membership for sharing insights on strategic and leadership issues. Smith founded World 50 in 2004 and was CEO for 4 years until he transitioned out in 2008. World 50 has hosted conversations with leaders in a variety of fields.

Next Generation Leadership

Founder/CEO of Next Generation Leadership- Next Generation Leadership's CEO Readiness Forum is an executive development program, created to help the CEOs and boards develop CEO-ready leaders. Next Generation Leadership was founded by Smith in June 2010 and is his most recent venture.

Other Projects

Techbridge

Smith was a founding board member of Techbridge, a nonprofit organization that provides expert technology and business consulting to other nonprofit organizations.

Atlanta Children's Museum

Smith was a board member during the capital campaign, construction and opening of the Atlanta Children's Museum.

Primary Color Assessment

In early 2000, Smith designed a model to map human ability and performance that was inspired by primary colors. After years of development with an industrial psychologist, the Primary Color Assessment was released online in 2009, free to the public. The personality test has received more than 1,000,000 page views.

Books

The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers was published in August 2003. It is a career development book that reveals the primary factors that determine how successful someone's career is. Research for the book is based on a survey of more than 2,000 business executives. The book exposes the patterns of thought and action most correlated with successful careers. 5 Patterns was featured on Business Week's Best Seller List in October 2003.^[4] ISBN 1-4000-8168-8.
The Leap examines the commonalities among individuals who have drastically changed the course of their careers from ordinary to exceptional. It is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Best Seller. The Leap has also been noted by several business leaders such as Huffington Post Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington ^[5] ISBN 978-1-61684-709-8.

References

External links

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