Marcus Buckingham, Empowerment, Oprah, Women, and "So What"

In a couple hours I'll head into Boston to see Marcus Buckingham speak at the Mass Woman's Conf. Marcus is the former Gallup researcher who found that people and teams do better work when they spend energy doing what they do best, rather than working on improving weaknesses. (I became familiar with his work for the first time during one of my maternity leaves, 2002 I think. Then I saw him speak at an EMC Leadership event a couple years ago where I fell in true, intellectual lust with the concept - especially as it was backed up by so much compelling data!) Since then, I've been reading more on the concept in Gallup world, and applying the wisdom in my job at EMC.

[Image: Marcus Buckingham and Oprah Winfrey] 

Marcus has now been on Oprah, and realized, it seems, there was a jackpot waiting in what might be called the "women's empowerment market." He just wrote a book targeted to women, with notable data that could capture anyone's attention, and now is a touring phenom at Women's conferences. I think I heard there will be 5,000 women expected today, alone, in Boston.

Hey Marcus! I think we should collaborate! I have a growing list of real world case studies displaying the beauty of this concept in action within a FORTUNE 200 company. (guess which?!) It is this list of what's happened over the last year alone that actually got me jumping out of bed tonight at the ripe hour of oh-dark-thirty -- I've got to share it on the blog. Crazy good. All free, or near free, to deploy for the company. All delicious for the people involved.

"So what," you might say?  Here's the so what:  Pumped up people pump up good vibes in those around them -- allowing everyone to do better work. Better work from passionate people pumps up prospects and customers, who pump up revenue, profit and ultimately, shareholder value!  This isn't just about the cuddles, it is about unleashing goodness for both people and business!

So while I remain disappointed with the fact that the world apparently still needs women's conferences and empowerment pitches for women in business at this state in the game (women are, as we know, more educated and remain the majority of the population!), I can see the beauty of unleashing more wonder, and enhanced business results by indoctrinating and unleashing the legions of ready and willing business women in the world with the power of this information. 

--Polly
http://www.pollypearson.com; @pollypearson