Marcus Buckingham

Originator of the strengths movement, who challenges and inspires people to find and apply their strengths. 

RANKED THINKER

Ranked #38 in 2019.

Previous positions:

#18 (2013), #8 (2011), #25 (2009), and #38 (2007).

SHORTLISTED

Shortlisted for the Thinkers50 2011 Leadership Award.

FAST FACT

Conquered a childhood stammer when asked to formally address 300 boys at school. He pretended he was speaking to just one person.

Ideas

A best-selling author, Buckingham posits that people should focus on their strengths – the areas of talent where they can contribute the most and maximise value creation – rather than worry about their weaknesses. A global researcher into people and performance and the power of hidden teams, he demonstrates the correlation between cultivating employee strengths and company success. His most recent research looks at how human beings really work, and he unpacks how job appraisals impact performance, finding that managers often give unconsciously biased and unhelpful feedback. 

Bio

Head of the ADP Research Institute – People + Performance since 2017, Buckingham spent nearly two decades as a senior researcher at the Gallup organization. In 2006 he founded The Marcus Buckingham Company. His assessments, StrengthsFinder and StandOut, have been taken over 10 million times around the world, helping individual contributors, leaders, and teams better understand and utilize their strengths to perform at their best, while his measurement tool, the Engagement Pulse, is used by companies worldwide to predict employee performance and engagement.

Content

Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World (with Ashley Goodall, HBR Press, 2019); The Feedback Fallacy (with Ashley Goodall, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2019); Standout 2.0: Assess Your Strengths, Find Your Edge, Win at Work (HBR Press, 2015); StandOut (Thomas Nelson, 2011); The Truth About You (Thomas Nelson, 2008); Find Your Strongest Life (Thomas Nelson, 2009); Go Put Your Strengths to Work (The Free Press, 2007); The One Thing You Need to Know (The Free Press, 2005); Now, Discover Your Strengths (with Donald O. Clifton, The Free 2001); First, Break all the Rules (with Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster 1999).

NATIONALITY: British

Media picks

Verdict

“A renowned thought leader and an influential talent executive.“

Adam Grant, author of Give and Take.

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest and greatest ideas in business, management, and thought leadership.

*mandatory field

Thinkers50 will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide news, updates, and marketing. Please confirm that you agree to have us contact you by clicking below:


You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at . We will treat your information with respect. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our website. By clicking below, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Privacy Policy Update

Thinkers50 Limited has updated its Privacy Policy on 28 March 2024 with several amendments and additions to the previous version, to fully incorporate to the text information required by current applicable date protection regulation. Processing of the personal data of Thinkers50’s customers, potential customers and other stakeholders has not been changed essentially, but the texts have been clarified and amended to give more detailed information of the processing activities.

Thinkers50 Awards Gala 2023

Join us in celebration of the best in business and management thinking.