No top-ten list of great contemporary business speakers would be complete without Marcus Buckingham. Marcus is a phenomenon – a polished speaker able to project a poised, conversational, comfortable demeanor on small screens and in big halls, and a bestselling author several times over. You can see him speaking here: http://tinyurl.com/ycl2ts3 and here: http://tinyurl.com/55wuam.

Marcus comes out of the Gallup organization, and he bases his work on one simple claim from years of Gallup polling and research:  you’ll do better to focus on your strengths (and your employees’ strengths) rather than trying to fix your (and their) weaknesses.  He has that great skill possessed of a few:  the ability to take reams of data and complicated psychological insights and ruthlessly pare them down into a very few key concepts.

He’s pursued that goal in First Break All the Rules, Now Discover Your Strengths, The One Thing You Need to Know, and Go Put Your Strengths to Work.  The title of the third book in that series – The One Thing You Need to Know – sums up the Buckingham approach and the secret of his success.  If you believe that the Devil is in the details, Marcus is not for you.  But if you believe, like the hedgehog proverbially does, in one idea, Buckingham’s message will satisfy you perfectly.

Comments

[Paul Flanigan]

Nick,

I was in the audience for the second link in your post. It was with the employees of Best Buy's corporate HQ in Minneapolis. (You can see then-CEO Brad Anderson in there smiling.) The talk was about 90 minutes in total length, but felt like 30. You totally lost time listening to him.

He has the VERY rare ability to take millions of bits of data and combine them into a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. His talks are, without question, well developed, passionate, and invigorating. He has that uncanny ability to utilize a "pregnant pause."

When watching him, he showed me the difference between a good speaker and a great speaker. A good speaker will get you to run through brick walls for him. A great speaker will get you to run through those walls for yourself.

Great post, Nick.