ABOUT / RICK SMITH

About
Rick Smith

I’ve started a lot of companies and written a bunch of books. Most of them worked out. A few, exceptionally well. Several didn’t. I’ve learned more from the ones that didn’t.

The throughline across all of it: I’m obsessed with what makes leaders extraordinary, and with building the communities and tools that help more of them get there.

What I’m working on now

ONYX
A membership community for current and recent Fortune 500 CEOs. Incredible leaders from IBM, J&J, Ford, Lockheed Martin, Target, Aetna and nearly 100 others.
M1
A senior executive community enabled by AI that has become the largest CHRO forum in the world.
Writing
My next book, a playbook for designing a life after a meaningful career, is forthcoming from Forbes Books (2027).

What came before

World 50
Built it from scratch into the world’s premier senior executive network. A large majority of the Fortune Global 1000 eventually became customers, which still surprises me when I say it out loud.
Fast Radius
A digital manufacturing company backed by UPS. We took it public. It was later acquired by Sybridge. It was a wild ride and I aged accordingly.
CNEXT
A leadership inclusivity platform with 75+ current and former CEOs involved. Acquired by SHRM/Linkage.
G100 Next Gen Leadership
A CEO succession program where I somehow talked A.G. Lafley, Ron Sugar, Anne Mulcahy and 50 other iconic leaders into being faculty. Well over 100 Fortune 1000 CEOs are alumni. Acquired by World 50.
Bionic
Co-founded this innovation consultancy leveraging successful entrepreneurs to help corporations innovate. Acquired by Accenture.

Rick Smith on the TED main stage, with his image on the screens above the audience

I’ve written some books

Three of them. The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, The Leap, and The Great Disruption. They hit the WSJ and national bestseller lists, reached #1 on Amazon twice, and got translated into 13+ languages. My mother read all of them. Possibly multiple times.

I’ve given a lot of speeches

250+ keynotes, including the main stage at TED. My wife is still wondering when I will run out of things to say.

And then there’s this

For a 20 year stretch, my band Men Without Youth played house parties, a regrettable number of kids birthday events, and eventually opened for Zac Brown (twice) and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I sing (sometimes on tune), and play (still learning) guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. I’m also a certified music production engineer, which is a credential I earned mostly to justify buying too much equipment. I spend 1-3 months a year traveling the country with my wife in our Airstream working remotely and pushing the limits of a portfolio life.