Marcus Buckingham

Marcus Buckingham is a British-American New York Times bestselling author, researcher, motivational speaker and business consultant best known for promoting what he calls “Strengths.” Basing most of his writing on extensive survey data from interviews with workers in countries around the world, he promotes the idea that people will get the best results by making the most of their strengths rather than by putting too much emphasis on weaknesses or perceived deficiencies.

Buckingham graduated from Cambridge University with a master’s degree in political science. While studying at Cambridge, he was recruited by educational psychology professor Donald O. Clifton, the founder of Selection Research, Incorporated (SRI). Clifton had co-founded SRI to develop interviews that would allow businesses to identify talents in individuals, in order to match people to the right roles.

SRI acquired The Gallup Organization in 1988, and took on the Gallup name. As part of Gallup, Buckingham became a member of a team working on a survey that measured a broad range of factors that contribute to employee engagement. Based on those surveys and on interviews with thousands of managers, Buckingham published (with coauthor Curt Coffman) First, Break All The Rules. According to its subtitle, the book describes “what the world’s greatest managers do differently” The book became a New York times bestseller and has over a million copies in print.

He went on to write other business best-sellers, including Go Put Your Strengths to Work, StandOut, and Nine Lies About Work.