The Why Behind WhoAi
It started with a simple question: What would the world look like if everyone loved their job?
That thought hit WhoAi CEO and former ghSMART Managing Partner Randy Street on a train to downtown Atlanta in the early 2000s. Surrounded by commuters that looked weary and uninspired, Randy imagined a world where people were energized by their work, where they were in roles that matched their strengths and passions. The ripple effects, he thought, would be enormous: people would bring their best efforts to work, companies would produce better goods and services, and the which would raise the standard of living would rise for everyone. The impact would be immeasurable.
But reality looked different. “Somebody’s got to be doing do something about this,” Randy remembers thinking. That “somebody” turned out to be Dr. Geoff Smart, whose early vision for ghSMART was to solve this problem from the top down — helping leaders hire and develop the right people to drive impact from the very top of an organization.
The Method That Works But Isn’t EasySimple, But Not Always Easy
Randy joined Geoff over 20 years ago, and together they codified The result was the Who methodology, a remarkably effective system for hiring A Players. They co-authored the New York Times bestseller Over the past two decades, Who: The A Method for Hiring, which has remained become one of the top 100 management books on Amazon for nearly two decades and a go-to resource for CEOs across the globe.
Why? Because it works. Companies that follow the method can raise their hiring success rate from 50% (typical) to 90%. But, simple doesn’t mean easy.
Leaders who believe in the true value of talent and the Who methodology often struggle to bring it to life across an entire organization. It takes training, discipline, and time, luxuries most fast-moving companies don’t have. As Randy put it in a note to the WhoAi team: “Just because it’s simple to understand doesn’t mean easy to implement. Almost since the book came out, readers have told us it’s hard to implement at scale and asked us to create technology to bring it to life.”
The Idea That Wouldn’t Let Go
That challenge stuck with Randy. He recalls a conversation years ago with a Fortune 100 CHRO, who said, “I love what ghSMART does for my leadership team, but I need a solution for further down in the organization. If I have a thousand marketers in corporate alone, but , when a job opens up, I have no way of knowing who’s the best fit. If you could give me a way to solve that, you’d change everything.”
The need was clear: organizations believed in the Who Method but lacked the tools to apply it easily and consistently at scale.
Why Now, and Why WhoAi
For years, the technology to make that possible didn’t exist. Today, it does. AI can finally do what leaders have wanted all along, makinge great hiring easier, faster, and more consistent.
WhoAi That’s where WhoAi is comes in. It’s the next step in the evolution of a two-decade mission: to help every leader hire A Players and, ultimately, create a world where more people are a great fit for their role. , make impact, and love what they do. It’s not about replacing human judgment; it’s about freeing hiring managers and recruiting teams to focus on what matters most: people.
“True success,” Randy says, “will come when we find ways to make it easier for a leader to hire A Players using WhoAi than it it would be for them to hire hiring B or C Players using standard interview methods and tools.”
That’s what drives WhoAi — bringing to life an idea belief that began on a crowded Atlanta train: Wthat when people love what they do, everyone wins. Companies grow. Communities strengthen. Lives improve.
Two decades later, the vision remains the same. Only now, technology makes it possible.
