About
Matt Smith is an executive coach and leadership advisor, working with senior leaders and their teams to help them raise their ambitions and unlock new levels of performance and growth.
Matt spent 16 years at McKinsey & Company, including nine years as a partner, and held a wide range of leadership roles within the firm. In his most recent global role, he served as McKinsey’s Chief Learning Officer from 2018 through early 2021, where he was responsible for the learning and development strategy and execution for more than 30,000 colleagues globally and led a team of 300 professionals.
Prior to serving as Chief Learning Officer, Matt served as Chief of Staff and was a member of McKinsey’s Global Operating Committee, working with McKinsey’s board and leadership team to set and execute the firm’s strategy and oversee critical operations, external partnerships, and strategic initiatives. Earlier in his career, he led McKinsey’s Pharmaceutical Organization Service Line globally and helped design and lead many transformation and culture change initiatives with clients during his years as a partner. He served for three years on McKinsey’s global Partner Election Committee, and for 10 years as an evaluator and development coach for pre-partner colleagues.
As an executive coach, Matt combines his experience as an executive with deep expertise in leadership development and culture change to support leaders to define bold aspirations, identify the most important mindset and behavior gaps they need to address to unlock their potential, and design and execute plans to embed meaningful changes in how they operate.
He is certified as an ontological coach by the Newfield Network, one of the top coaching schools globally, as well as by the International Coaching Federation (PCC level). He also is a certified practitioner for the Leadership Circle Profile and the Hogan suite of personality assessments.
Matt writes a regular column for Forbes on leadership, and has published several articles on leadership and talent topics, including “Reviving the Art of Apprenticeship to Unlock Continuous Skill Development” (McKinsey Quarterly, 2021), “Intentional Learning in Practice” (McKinsey Quarterly, 2021), “The Most Fundamental Skill: Intentional Learning and the Career Advantage” (McKinsey Quarterly, 2020), “How Companies Are Using Simulations, Competitions, and Analytics to Hire” (Harvard Business Review, 2016), and “The Hidden Value of Organizational Health” (McKinsey Quarterly, 2014). He was the research director for the book Talent Wins (Charan, Barton, and Carey, 2018).
Matt has served as a member of the Conference Board Learning and Development Council, the Consortium for the Advancement of Adult Learning and Development, and the Enterprise Learning Council. He is a frequent speaker at conferences on learning, professional development, and transformational change. He serves as Master Faculty for McKinsey’s Partner Learning programs and Transformational Faculty for Mobius’s Voyager leadership development programs, and previously was Senior Faculty for McKinsey’s “Change Leaders Forum” program for senior client executives. He has lectured on talent management and learning and development across the globe, including at Cornell University in the U.S., HEC in France, and Tsinghua University in China.
Matt holds a B.A. degree in Government from Harvard University and a Master of Professional Services degree in Human Resource Management from Cornell University. He lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with his wife and two sons.
Publications
How To Set Development Goals That Drive Your Business Objectives
A simple and quick approach of “crossing the streams” between business and development goals can unlock new levels of creativity and work-life integration by helping us grow in ways that directly advance our business objectives.
The Secret Weapon In A Tight Labor Market? Investing In Career Development
In a recent report, the consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that the top reason that workers left their jobs between April 2021 and April 2022 was a lack of career development and advancement, which was cited by 41% of those who had quit their job.
Want To Build A High Performing Team? Start With Better Sleep
It turns out that the key to fostering psychological safety in organizations may start with leaders finally following the advice to get more and better sleep.
Reviving the art of apprenticeship to unlock continuous skill development
Postpandemic skill gaps need filling, and formal learning alone won’t do the trick. Scaling the lost art of one-on-one learning can make the difference.
Intentional learning in practice: A 3x3x3 approach
Learning can be honed through practice. Here’s an effective strategy to continually learn, grow, and achieve development goals.
Building a Learning Culture that Drives Business Forward
Too often, training programs fail. Here’s how businesses can create a learning culture and invest in the capabilities that will help individuals and organizations thrive.
The Most Fundamental Skill: Intentional Learning and the Career Advantage
Learning itself is a skill. Unlocking the mindsets and skills to develop it can boost personal and professional lives and deliver a competitive edge.
How Companies Are Using Simulations, Competitions, and Analytics to Hire
The rise of the corporate tryout.
The Hidden Value of Organizational Health
New research suggests that the performance payoff from organizational health is unexpectedly large and that companies have four distinct “recipes” for achieving it.
Beyond Hiring: An Integrated Approach to Talent Management
The US government must aspire to a world-class talent-management system—one that addresses not just recruiting and hiring but also performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, and HR capability building.
Interviews
What are the core habits of effective learners?
Matt discussed the habits that make a successful learner, techniques for developing intentional learning, plus ideas to help CLOs work with business leaders.
Intentional Learning and the Career Advantage
In today’s competitive job market, it is now more important than ever to recognize that learning itself is a skill.
“The Growth Mind-Set Is Almost a Ticket to Entry to Becoming an Effective Learner”
Matthew Smith, chief learning officer at McKinsey, opens up about simple and actionable learning practices that will make you an intentional learner in no time.
Intentional Learning and How People can "Learn How to Learn" more Effectively
In this episode of the HR Leaders podcast, I’m joined by my guest Matthew Smith, Chief Learning Officer at McKinsey & Company.
Intentional Learning: A Fundamental Skill
Learning is a skill and considered the most fundamental skills of our time.
McKinsey and the Future of Learning: The Era of “Capability-Led Transformation”
An interview with Matthew Smith, McKinsey’s Chief Learning Officer on the Future of Learning.
