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The One Thing You Need to Know: ... About Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success
Drawing on a wide body of research, including extensive in-depth interviews, THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW reveals the central insights that lie at the core of: Great Managing, Great Leadership and Great Careers. Buckingham uses a wealth of relevant examples to reveal that at the heart of each insight lies a controlling insight. Lose sight of this 'one thing' and all of your best efforts at managing, leading, or individual achievement will be diminished. For great managing, the controlling insight has less to do with fairness, or team building, or clear expectations (although all are important). Rather, the one thing great managers know is the need to discover and then capitalize on what is unique about each person. For leadership, the controlling insight is the opposite - discover and capitalize on what is universal to all your people, regardless of differences in personality, race, sex, or age. For sustained individual success, the controlling insight is the need to discover what you don't like doing, and know how and when to stop doing it. In every way a groundbreaking work, THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW offers crucial performance and career lessons for business people at every level.
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2005
About the author
Marcus Buckingham
89 books619 followersIn a world where efficiency and competency rule the workplace, where do personal strengths fit in?
It's a complex question, one that intrigued Cambridge-educated Marcus Buckingham so greatly, he set out to answer it by challenging years of social theory and utilizing his nearly two decades of research experience as a Sr. Researcher at Gallup Organization to break through the preconceptions about achievements and get to the core of what drives success.
The result of his persistence, and arguably the definitive answer to the strengths question can be found in Buckingham's four best-selling books First, Break All the Rules (coauthored with Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999); Now, Discover Your Strengths (coauthored with Donald O. Clifton, The Free Press, 2001); The One Thing You Need to Know (The Free Press, 2005) and Go Put Your Strengths To Work (The Free Press, 2007). The author gives important insights to maximizing strengths, understanding the crucial differences between leadership and management, and fulfilling the quest for long-lasting personal success. In his most recent book, Buckingham offers ways to apply your strengths for maximum success at work.
What would happen if men and women spent more than 75% of each day on the job using their strongest skills and engaged in their favorite tasks, basically doing exactly what they wanted to do?
According to Marcus Buckingham (who spent years interviewing thousands of employees at every career stage and who is widely considered one of the world's leading authorities on employee productivity and the practices of leading and managing), companies that focus on cultivating employees' strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses stand to dramatically increase efficiency while allowing for maximum personal growth and success.
If such a theory sounds revolutionary, that's because it is. Marcus Buckingham calls it the “strengths revolution.”
As he addresses more than 250,000 people around the globe each year, Buckingham touts this strengths revolution as the key to finding the most effective route to personal success and the missing link to the efficiency, competency, and success for which many companies constantly strive.
To kick-start the strengths revolution, Buckingham and Gallup developed the StrengthsFinder exam (StrengthsFinder.com), which identifies signature themes that help employees quantify their personal strengths in the workplace and at home. Since the StrengthsFinder debuted in 2001, more than 1 million people have discovered their strengths with this useful and important tool.
In his role as author, independent consultant and speaker, Marcus Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal and is routinely lauded by such corporations as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, Yahoo and Disney as an invaluable resource in informing, challenging, mentoring and inspiring people to find their strengths and obtain and sustain long-lasting personal success.
A wonderful resource for leaders, managers, and educators, Buckingham challenges conventional wisdom and shows the link between engaged employees and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction, and the rate of turnover. Buckingham graduated from Cambridge University in 1987 with a master's degree in Social and Political Science.
It's a complex question, one that intrigued Cambridge-educated Marcus Buckingham so greatly, he set out to answer it by challenging years of social theory and utilizing his nearly two decades of research experience as a Sr. Researcher at Gallup Organization to break through the preconceptions about achievements and get to the core of what drives success.
The result of his persistence, and arguably the definitive answer to the strengths question can be found in Buckingham's four best-selling books First, Break All the Rules (coauthored with Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999); Now, Discover Your Strengths (coauthored with Donald O. Clifton, The Free Press, 2001); The One Thing You Need to Know (The Free Press, 2005) and Go Put Your Strengths To Work (The Free Press, 2007). The author gives important insights to maximizing strengths, understanding the crucial differences between leadership and management, and fulfilling the quest for long-lasting personal success. In his most recent book, Buckingham offers ways to apply your strengths for maximum success at work.
What would happen if men and women spent more than 75% of each day on the job using their strongest skills and engaged in their favorite tasks, basically doing exactly what they wanted to do?
According to Marcus Buckingham (who spent years interviewing thousands of employees at every career stage and who is widely considered one of the world's leading authorities on employee productivity and the practices of leading and managing), companies that focus on cultivating employees' strengths rather than simply improving their weaknesses stand to dramatically increase efficiency while allowing for maximum personal growth and success.
If such a theory sounds revolutionary, that's because it is. Marcus Buckingham calls it the “strengths revolution.”
As he addresses more than 250,000 people around the globe each year, Buckingham touts this strengths revolution as the key to finding the most effective route to personal success and the missing link to the efficiency, competency, and success for which many companies constantly strive.
To kick-start the strengths revolution, Buckingham and Gallup developed the StrengthsFinder exam (StrengthsFinder.com), which identifies signature themes that help employees quantify their personal strengths in the workplace and at home. Since the StrengthsFinder debuted in 2001, more than 1 million people have discovered their strengths with this useful and important tool.
In his role as author, independent consultant and speaker, Marcus Buckingham has been the subject of in-depth profiles in The New York Times, Fortune, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal and is routinely lauded by such corporations as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, Yahoo and Disney as an invaluable resource in informing, challenging, mentoring and inspiring people to find their strengths and obtain and sustain long-lasting personal success.
A wonderful resource for leaders, managers, and educators, Buckingham challenges conventional wisdom and shows the link between engaged employees and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction, and the rate of turnover. Buckingham graduated from Cambridge University in 1987 with a master's degree in Social and Political Science.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
May 5, 2010
The One Thing You Need to Know: …About Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success (2005), Marcus Buckingham
I think the title of Marcus Buckingham's bestseller should be changed. It would more appropriately be called the "90 Some Odd Things You Need to Know: …About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success" or "The 5 Things About Great Managing, 10 Things About Great Leading and 4.5 Things About Sustained Individual Success You Need to Know". The title of the book is marketing genius. It sounds so simple yet so neccessary for everyone. However, the subtitle is the real meat and potatoes and not all of them.
As much as I was misled by the lack of my own emphasis on the subtitle of Buckingham's book, it turned out to be a solid read. Throughout each chapter he provided a balanced combination of interpreted research related to Oprah-style personal stories. More importantly the book makes you rethink our natural inklings about management, leadership and success and attempts to uncover the realities. And I couldn't agree with his accessments more. All too often I've worked for or with people that had traditional views about management and personal success, and while reading this book I caught myself saying "yes, yes, yes" to the descriptions perpetuated of these views.
Even though the title is a sore point for me, I will still highly recommend Marcus Buckingham's The One Thing You Need to Know. Even if you aren't interested in all three topics, skip them and read what he has compiled about the topic of your choosing.
I think the title of Marcus Buckingham's bestseller should be changed. It would more appropriately be called the "90 Some Odd Things You Need to Know: …About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success" or "The 5 Things About Great Managing, 10 Things About Great Leading and 4.5 Things About Sustained Individual Success You Need to Know". The title of the book is marketing genius. It sounds so simple yet so neccessary for everyone. However, the subtitle is the real meat and potatoes and not all of them.
As much as I was misled by the lack of my own emphasis on the subtitle of Buckingham's book, it turned out to be a solid read. Throughout each chapter he provided a balanced combination of interpreted research related to Oprah-style personal stories. More importantly the book makes you rethink our natural inklings about management, leadership and success and attempts to uncover the realities. And I couldn't agree with his accessments more. All too often I've worked for or with people that had traditional views about management and personal success, and while reading this book I caught myself saying "yes, yes, yes" to the descriptions perpetuated of these views.
Even though the title is a sore point for me, I will still highly recommend Marcus Buckingham's The One Thing You Need to Know. Even if you aren't interested in all three topics, skip them and read what he has compiled about the topic of your choosing.
January 2, 2012
Basics for managing: pick good people, set clear expectations, recognize excellence and praise it, and show you care for your people.
The one distinguishing factor for great managers:
Great managers play chess instead of checkers, they recognize the differences in people and play their people to their strengths (in checkers all the pieces have the same moves but chess the pieces have different capabilities).
Great leaders discover what is universal and capitalize on it.
A leader rallies his followers to a better future.
A leader provides clarity
The one distinguishing factor for great managers:
Great managers play chess instead of checkers, they recognize the differences in people and play their people to their strengths (in checkers all the pieces have the same moves but chess the pieces have different capabilities).
Great leaders discover what is universal and capitalize on it.
A leader rallies his followers to a better future.
A leader provides clarity
June 10, 2018
Book dragged a bit in the beginning (as is normal for this type of book) but overall was a good read. I picked up a number of ideas and changed my view points on a couple of things.
April 20, 2018
Nope, but the title is really good. The author lost me when he started discussing how your brain is going to get slow when you get older...and I don't even know wth...
January 17, 2016
I knew I was going to like this book by Marcus Buckingham when right at the beginning he introduced the angle this book would take, which was to find the main “controlling insight” for a few very important areas of business. He defines a controlling insight as the best explanation, which has to apply across a wide range of situations, has to serve as a multiplier (elevating performance from good to great), and has to guide action. Actually, I also knew I was going to like this because I found an article on Harvard Business Review that covers the management topic. I highly recommend this book for those in management and leadership positions. I found a lot of action items in this so this is a longer, more detailed post.
I love a good data-driven analysis that is carefully crafted into a concise, easy-to-remember phrase to guide action. In a bit of an odd twist, he goes on to explain that the controlling insight into marriages that last is when each spouse tends to rate the other more favorably and generously:
For a lasting marriage, find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior, and believe it.
The book then goes on to talk about management and leadership. Management is generally concerned with what individuals do, and actually producing a product and meeting goals. Leadership is about setting goals. The one thing that managers need to know is:
Discover what is unique about each person and capitalize on it.
Great managers turn talent into performance. Management is all about the individual, and helping them to succeed. The premise of the book is that talents (as opposed to knowledge and skills) are not learnable. So managers should find out what their employees talents are, and make sure their assignments align well. This will save time, increase accountability, and builds a stronger sense of team.
There are 3 things you need to know about your employees to manage them effectively:
Strengths and Weaknesses. Thinking particularly of talents, not knowledge or skills.
Triggers. What motivation gets them to do their best?
Style of learning. Analyzing, doing, or watching.
Questions to ask employees to understand how they work best:
Strengths: What was the best day at work you’ve had in the last 3 months?
Weaknesses: What was your worst day at work in the last 3 months?
Triggers: What was the best relationship with a manager you’ve ever had?
Triggers: What was the best praise or recognition you’ve ever received?
Learning: When in your career do you think you were learning the most?
A manager’s strongest talent is to coach others toward success. Managers should have 4 basic skills:
Select good people. When interviewing ask open ended questions and if they do the thing you’re looking for often enough, they’ll come up with an example from recent memory.
Define clear expectations: “What do you think you get paid to do?”
Praise
Care
Learn how each employee is different and then learn how each of these differences fit into your overall plan of action.
Marcus’s definition of leadership is that great leaders rally people to a better future. The one thing leaders must know is:
Discover What is Universal and Capitalize on it.
The better you do this, the better you will lead. Note that it tends to be the opposite of a manger, where they need to discover what is unique about each employee. According to researchers, there are 5 universal human needs: security, community, clarity, authority, and respect. The job of a leader is to provide clarity, particularly in the following 4 areas:
Who is our target customer? And it should not be the shareholder. Best Buy had great examples of having each store focus on certain segments, such as “mobile professionals.”
What is our core strength? The book shared examples of “knowledgeable retail staff,” and “the safest work sites.” Even if it’s not true now, it can be a clarifying vision of strength.
What is our core score? A prison system decided to change it metrics from measuring escapees to measuring repeat offenders. Best Buy measures employee engagement with surveys.
What actions can we take today? Direct leadership action sets the tone for other employees. Set up inter-organizational meetings to cut through politics. Strategic actions force employees to become involved in new activities. Symbolic action grabs our attention and gives us focus.
The talent of a great leader is to have optimism and ego. Otherwise you can’t lead people to a better future. If you want to improve your skills, there are 3 prevalent disciplines that will help leaders increase their clarity:
Take time to reflect.
Select your heroes (recognized employees) with great care. They should model behavior you want others to emulate.
Practice. Experiment with word combinations to find clarity.
The final part of the book focuses on how to achieve sustained personal success. He claims that only 20% of people report working in a role where they can do their best work every day. The one thing you need to know to sustain your success is:
Discover what you don’t like doing and stop doing it.
The reason why this is written in negative form, is because you’re constantly having a mix of talents in play in your work. You might like training, but hate public speaking. Well, you’d better not get promoted from curriculum writer to public speaker, despite the fact that you’d still be doing training (your strength). So while it’s pretty easy to find ways to do your strengths, it’s a lot harder to remember to avoid your weaknesses. Every 3 months ask yourself: “What percentage of your day do you spend doing those things you really like to do?” Four tactics that will help you find strengths and avoid weaknesses: Quit the role, tweak the role, seek out the right partners, or find an aspect that brings you strength.
I love a good data-driven analysis that is carefully crafted into a concise, easy-to-remember phrase to guide action. In a bit of an odd twist, he goes on to explain that the controlling insight into marriages that last is when each spouse tends to rate the other more favorably and generously:
For a lasting marriage, find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior, and believe it.
The book then goes on to talk about management and leadership. Management is generally concerned with what individuals do, and actually producing a product and meeting goals. Leadership is about setting goals. The one thing that managers need to know is:
Discover what is unique about each person and capitalize on it.
Great managers turn talent into performance. Management is all about the individual, and helping them to succeed. The premise of the book is that talents (as opposed to knowledge and skills) are not learnable. So managers should find out what their employees talents are, and make sure their assignments align well. This will save time, increase accountability, and builds a stronger sense of team.
There are 3 things you need to know about your employees to manage them effectively:
Strengths and Weaknesses. Thinking particularly of talents, not knowledge or skills.
Triggers. What motivation gets them to do their best?
Style of learning. Analyzing, doing, or watching.
Questions to ask employees to understand how they work best:
Strengths: What was the best day at work you’ve had in the last 3 months?
Weaknesses: What was your worst day at work in the last 3 months?
Triggers: What was the best relationship with a manager you’ve ever had?
Triggers: What was the best praise or recognition you’ve ever received?
Learning: When in your career do you think you were learning the most?
A manager’s strongest talent is to coach others toward success. Managers should have 4 basic skills:
Select good people. When interviewing ask open ended questions and if they do the thing you’re looking for often enough, they’ll come up with an example from recent memory.
Define clear expectations: “What do you think you get paid to do?”
Praise
Care
Learn how each employee is different and then learn how each of these differences fit into your overall plan of action.
Marcus’s definition of leadership is that great leaders rally people to a better future. The one thing leaders must know is:
Discover What is Universal and Capitalize on it.
The better you do this, the better you will lead. Note that it tends to be the opposite of a manger, where they need to discover what is unique about each employee. According to researchers, there are 5 universal human needs: security, community, clarity, authority, and respect. The job of a leader is to provide clarity, particularly in the following 4 areas:
Who is our target customer? And it should not be the shareholder. Best Buy had great examples of having each store focus on certain segments, such as “mobile professionals.”
What is our core strength? The book shared examples of “knowledgeable retail staff,” and “the safest work sites.” Even if it’s not true now, it can be a clarifying vision of strength.
What is our core score? A prison system decided to change it metrics from measuring escapees to measuring repeat offenders. Best Buy measures employee engagement with surveys.
What actions can we take today? Direct leadership action sets the tone for other employees. Set up inter-organizational meetings to cut through politics. Strategic actions force employees to become involved in new activities. Symbolic action grabs our attention and gives us focus.
The talent of a great leader is to have optimism and ego. Otherwise you can’t lead people to a better future. If you want to improve your skills, there are 3 prevalent disciplines that will help leaders increase their clarity:
Take time to reflect.
Select your heroes (recognized employees) with great care. They should model behavior you want others to emulate.
Practice. Experiment with word combinations to find clarity.
The final part of the book focuses on how to achieve sustained personal success. He claims that only 20% of people report working in a role where they can do their best work every day. The one thing you need to know to sustain your success is:
Discover what you don’t like doing and stop doing it.
The reason why this is written in negative form, is because you’re constantly having a mix of talents in play in your work. You might like training, but hate public speaking. Well, you’d better not get promoted from curriculum writer to public speaker, despite the fact that you’d still be doing training (your strength). So while it’s pretty easy to find ways to do your strengths, it’s a lot harder to remember to avoid your weaknesses. Every 3 months ask yourself: “What percentage of your day do you spend doing those things you really like to do?” Four tactics that will help you find strengths and avoid weaknesses: Quit the role, tweak the role, seek out the right partners, or find an aspect that brings you strength.
March 3, 2021
I waffled between a 3 and a 4 on this one. The title is rather misleading and he takes a while to begin delivering his discoveries. His case studies are really interesting though(but outdated). But that's my fault because I didn't read this when it was printed.
Feel free to stop reading here.
A man I respect once said "reach up, not across."
Far too many of these books are the equivalent of reaching across, and this one is no different. What does he or, for that matter, most business/life advice writers that I've read in the past couple years know about what it's like to really work/live in the outside world?
Do they know what it's like to really, really need that paycheck? Or look for your own insurance? Not everyone can afford to turn down a promotion 3 times(yep, he writes about that), or quit their job because it doesn't align with their strengths. As many people have discovered, it is just as easy to be miserable making $10/hour at a job that you love as it is when you make $80000/year at a job that you aren't particularly fond of.
But why don't we, as a society, put an emphasis on having the successful teach the students? Partially because teaching is a skill that doesn't always come with being successful. And partially because success is, well, not a significantly common occurrence.
I guess this just illustrates my pet peeve about this genre in general. Not that the principles aren't good... but they would be more valuable if there was a little more experience behind it.
Feel free to stop reading here.
A man I respect once said "reach up, not across."
Far too many of these books are the equivalent of reaching across, and this one is no different. What does he or, for that matter, most business/life advice writers that I've read in the past couple years know about what it's like to really work/live in the outside world?
Do they know what it's like to really, really need that paycheck? Or look for your own insurance? Not everyone can afford to turn down a promotion 3 times(yep, he writes about that), or quit their job because it doesn't align with their strengths. As many people have discovered, it is just as easy to be miserable making $10/hour at a job that you love as it is when you make $80000/year at a job that you aren't particularly fond of.
But why don't we, as a society, put an emphasis on having the successful teach the students? Partially because teaching is a skill that doesn't always come with being successful. And partially because success is, well, not a significantly common occurrence.
I guess this just illustrates my pet peeve about this genre in general. Not that the principles aren't good... but they would be more valuable if there was a little more experience behind it.
October 21, 2019
One of the best workplace-related reads I've encountered. Given my changing career paths over the past few years there was a lot that resonated about management, leadership, and individual satisfaction and success. Highly recommend!!
March 31, 2013
The One Thing You Need To Know
By: Markus Buckijngham
Copyright 2005
Reviewed March 2008
Listened to Unabridged Audiobook
There is not really one thing you need to know that is the same for everyone. The book explores many ideas of what the one thing could be, and then in the end admits it would be impossible to think that there could be one thing that is right for everything and every situation. There certainly can be one thing that a particular person should focus on, but that would be different for every individual and every situation.
Markus draws upon much research in this book. He, at one time, worked for the Gallup; organization, to which he often refers as a source of his data. Markus breaks down this piece into three main themes: managing, leading, and sustaining success.
The key about managing is to leverage the strengths of your employees, and not to try to change them into something they cannot be or force them to do something that is not within their core strengths. Markus tells a story of a drug store employee who did an excellent job when given a single task to do in the store: maintain one particular section of the store. However, when that employee is placed into a management position, they do not perform well.
The key to leading is to provide clarity for others. Many leaders have not and do not make the best decisions. BUT they make a clear decision and provide guidance to others. This, Markus feels, is the key to leadership. Related to leadership and management, Markus notes: “When you want to manage, begin with the person. When you want to lead, begin with the picture of where you are headed.”
To sustain success one needs to focus on what they do best and not let distractions get in their way. Markus gives examples of how to effectively get things off of you plate that you do not like to do or do well.
To give my own opinion, I think the book was quite lengthy for the content provided. I would recommend anyone reading this who has time constraints to search for an abridged version.
By: Markus Buckijngham
Copyright 2005
Reviewed March 2008
Listened to Unabridged Audiobook
There is not really one thing you need to know that is the same for everyone. The book explores many ideas of what the one thing could be, and then in the end admits it would be impossible to think that there could be one thing that is right for everything and every situation. There certainly can be one thing that a particular person should focus on, but that would be different for every individual and every situation.
Markus draws upon much research in this book. He, at one time, worked for the Gallup; organization, to which he often refers as a source of his data. Markus breaks down this piece into three main themes: managing, leading, and sustaining success.
The key about managing is to leverage the strengths of your employees, and not to try to change them into something they cannot be or force them to do something that is not within their core strengths. Markus tells a story of a drug store employee who did an excellent job when given a single task to do in the store: maintain one particular section of the store. However, when that employee is placed into a management position, they do not perform well.
The key to leading is to provide clarity for others. Many leaders have not and do not make the best decisions. BUT they make a clear decision and provide guidance to others. This, Markus feels, is the key to leadership. Related to leadership and management, Markus notes: “When you want to manage, begin with the person. When you want to lead, begin with the picture of where you are headed.”
To sustain success one needs to focus on what they do best and not let distractions get in their way. Markus gives examples of how to effectively get things off of you plate that you do not like to do or do well.
To give my own opinion, I think the book was quite lengthy for the content provided. I would recommend anyone reading this who has time constraints to search for an abridged version.
March 3, 2012
Since I truly believe you should read this book, or at least the two-page summary of it I posted to my website at www.WhatisCathyReading.com, the only thing I will tell you about the "one thing" is that it is actually three things: one for managing, one for leading, and one for success as an individual.
Buckingham has put the lid on the question of the difference between managing and leading. I suppose the debate will go on, but I am now clear in my own mind. Great managers are not necessarily great leaders and vice versa. Each requires a different skill set and different talents, also known as strengths to those of us who have read Buckingham's other works. People may be more naturally suited to one role or another, but skills can be learned and anyway it is always best to have a clear understanding of what we are already good at.
So, if I have a natural aptitude for reading people's unique characteristics and how they like to be treated, I might make a good manager. On the other hand, if I am very good at tapping in to what is universal among all people, I might be a better leader.
Oops. Have I said too much?
The One Thing You Need to Know About Sustained Personal Success has been my permission slip to have a great life of my own choosing. It'll be that for you, too. If you haven't read this one, add it to your list. You will be glad you did. And so will anyone you manage or lead.
Buckingham has put the lid on the question of the difference between managing and leading. I suppose the debate will go on, but I am now clear in my own mind. Great managers are not necessarily great leaders and vice versa. Each requires a different skill set and different talents, also known as strengths to those of us who have read Buckingham's other works. People may be more naturally suited to one role or another, but skills can be learned and anyway it is always best to have a clear understanding of what we are already good at.
So, if I have a natural aptitude for reading people's unique characteristics and how they like to be treated, I might make a good manager. On the other hand, if I am very good at tapping in to what is universal among all people, I might be a better leader.
Oops. Have I said too much?
The One Thing You Need to Know About Sustained Personal Success has been my permission slip to have a great life of my own choosing. It'll be that for you, too. If you haven't read this one, add it to your list. You will be glad you did. And so will anyone you manage or lead.
July 28, 2011
I liked it, it was recommended by a patron, so I didn't know what to expect.
Here is what I want to remember about this book:
A great manager transforms each employee's talents into performance. They create a state of mind in each employee such that the employee has a fully realistic assessment of the difficulty of the challenge ahead and at the same time, an unrealistically optimistic belief in their ability to overcome it.
Great leaders rally people to a better future. They discover what is universal and capitalize on it. We all need security, community, clarity, authority, and respect. What we need the most from our leaders is clarity.
Sustained success comes from discovering what you don't like doing and stop doing it. Develop your strengths, not your weaknesses. Quit the role, tweak the role, seek out the right partners, or find some aspect of the role that brings you strengths.
Here is what I want to remember about this book:
A great manager transforms each employee's talents into performance. They create a state of mind in each employee such that the employee has a fully realistic assessment of the difficulty of the challenge ahead and at the same time, an unrealistically optimistic belief in their ability to overcome it.
Great leaders rally people to a better future. They discover what is universal and capitalize on it. We all need security, community, clarity, authority, and respect. What we need the most from our leaders is clarity.
Sustained success comes from discovering what you don't like doing and stop doing it. Develop your strengths, not your weaknesses. Quit the role, tweak the role, seek out the right partners, or find some aspect of the role that brings you strengths.
January 4, 2009
I opened this book with considerable skepticism. Marcus Buckingham makes it look too easy. His books are bestsellers, his speaking fees are north of $40,000 per hour-long talk, and he's constantly on TV touting his wares. What's not to hate?
And yet, the book delivers. There really is a good argument for finding the one thing about managing, leading, and individual success that is more important than anything else. And by the end of the book you'll be persuaded that Buckingham has found each of these. His research is sound, his stories are apt, and he has a nice, fluid style that carries you effortlessly from one point to the next. Against my will, I got a lot out of this book.
And yet, the book delivers. There really is a good argument for finding the one thing about managing, leading, and individual success that is more important than anything else. And by the end of the book you'll be persuaded that Buckingham has found each of these. His research is sound, his stories are apt, and he has a nice, fluid style that carries you effortlessly from one point to the next. Against my will, I got a lot out of this book.
March 7, 2011
Focuses in on "the one thing" for managers, leaders, and individuals to attain success. The book ends with an argument for building your strengths by not doing the things that weaken you. Feeds right into Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance. #bookaday
October 31, 2022
Deeper than the title suggests!
There's some real solid advice here. The book is short, and does consist of just 3 sections each with "the one thing" to takeaway, which you could look up and wrote down. However, you'd be missing out on the depth and reasoning behind each "thing". It's an easy listen and well performed and I'm convinced everyone can take something from it.
There's some real solid advice here. The book is short, and does consist of just 3 sections each with "the one thing" to takeaway, which you could look up and wrote down. However, you'd be missing out on the depth and reasoning behind each "thing". It's an easy listen and well performed and I'm convinced everyone can take something from it.
January 5, 2009
As with most business/self-help books, this could be condensed to at least half of its length. There's some good ideas in here, some fresh, some not so much. It's a little heavy on the anecdotes and a little light on the supporting studies, which is why I really rate it as a 3 star.
February 25, 2013
Not very well-written, and full of trite quotes from sports legends. A much better and more useful read for those in management/leadership positions, as opposed to individual employees not charged with managing others.
August 14, 2012
You should always build great relathionships with your business partners. Simple!
July 16, 2019
The One Thing You Need to Know:... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success
Marcus Buckingham
Free Press
In each of his books, Buckingham heavily depends upon the wealth of research data that the Gallup Organization has accumulated over the years. In this volume, he introduces a self-audit mechanism which creates the StrengthsFinder profile, recently renamed the Clifton StrengthsFinder in memory of Dr. Donald O. Clifton to the chief architect of the items contained within StrengthsFinder, “He is considered the father of Positive Psychology, he was Gallup's leader for many years, and he was my mentor and inspiration for my entire tenure at Gallup. He was one of the few truly greats.” This tool does not actually measure strengths; instead it measures the respondent against thirty-four talent themes and then reveals the respondent’s top five. “These five themes explain how you engage with the world, and as such they are affirming for you and useful for those trying to deal with you. But these five themes are not your strengths. It is up to you to figure out how to take these themes and cultivate them into specific activities at which you excel, and for which you maintain a strong appetite to keep learning.”
"How can I take control of my time at work and rewrite my job description under my boss's nose?" This is a question Buckingham has been asked most frequently. As he confides, “pretty much every waking hour is filled with ‘how do you turn talents into strengths?’ thoughts. Years of research have found that only 17% of people within the workplace play to their strengths most of the time. For everyone’s sake this number needs to be higher. “ That is why Buckingham wrote this book: To provide counsel and recommend initiatives that can help as many people as possible to leverage their strengths, once identified, and to focus on developing them. “My goal is to get more people living most of their days out of a place of strength, rather than mundanely involving themselves in activities that continue to weaken them. Wouldn’t we all be more productive, happier people if this were a possibility? I’m determined to help make this happen.” This book will help many readers to do so and, hopefully, many of them will then help others to do so.
Marcus Buckingham
Free Press
In each of his books, Buckingham heavily depends upon the wealth of research data that the Gallup Organization has accumulated over the years. In this volume, he introduces a self-audit mechanism which creates the StrengthsFinder profile, recently renamed the Clifton StrengthsFinder in memory of Dr. Donald O. Clifton to the chief architect of the items contained within StrengthsFinder, “He is considered the father of Positive Psychology, he was Gallup's leader for many years, and he was my mentor and inspiration for my entire tenure at Gallup. He was one of the few truly greats.” This tool does not actually measure strengths; instead it measures the respondent against thirty-four talent themes and then reveals the respondent’s top five. “These five themes explain how you engage with the world, and as such they are affirming for you and useful for those trying to deal with you. But these five themes are not your strengths. It is up to you to figure out how to take these themes and cultivate them into specific activities at which you excel, and for which you maintain a strong appetite to keep learning.”
"How can I take control of my time at work and rewrite my job description under my boss's nose?" This is a question Buckingham has been asked most frequently. As he confides, “pretty much every waking hour is filled with ‘how do you turn talents into strengths?’ thoughts. Years of research have found that only 17% of people within the workplace play to their strengths most of the time. For everyone’s sake this number needs to be higher. “ That is why Buckingham wrote this book: To provide counsel and recommend initiatives that can help as many people as possible to leverage their strengths, once identified, and to focus on developing them. “My goal is to get more people living most of their days out of a place of strength, rather than mundanely involving themselves in activities that continue to weaken them. Wouldn’t we all be more productive, happier people if this were a possibility? I’m determined to help make this happen.” This book will help many readers to do so and, hopefully, many of them will then help others to do so.
July 17, 2019
The One Thing You Need to Know:... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success
Marcus Buckingham
Free Press
In each of his books, Buckingham heavily depends upon the wealth of research data that the Gallup Organization has accumulated over the years. In this volume, he introduces a self-audit mechanism which creates the StrengthsFinder profile, recently renamed the Clifton StrengthsFinder in memory of Dr. Donald O. Clifton to the chief architect of the items contained within StrengthsFinder, “He is considered the father of Positive Psychology, he was Gallup's leader for many years, and he was my mentor and inspiration for my entire tenure at Gallup. He was one of the few truly greats.” This tool does not actually measure strengths; instead it measures the respondent against thirty-four talent themes and then reveals the respondent’s top five. “These five themes explain how you engage with the world, and as such they are affirming for you and useful for those trying to deal with you. But these five themes are not your strengths. It is up to you to figure out how to take these themes and cultivate them into specific activities at which you excel, and for which you maintain a strong appetite to keep learning.”
"How can I take control of my time at work and rewrite my job description under my boss's nose?" This is a question Buckingham has been asked most frequently. As he confides, “pretty much every waking hour is filled with ‘how do you turn talents into strengths?’ thoughts. Years of research have found that only 17% of people within the workplace play to their strengths most of the time. For everyone’s sake this number needs to be higher. “ That is why Buckingham wrote this book: To provide counsel and recommend initiatives that can help as many people as possible to leverage their strengths, once identified, and to focus on developing them. “My goal is to get more people living most of their days out of a place of strength, rather than mundanely involving themselves in activities that continue to weaken them. Wouldn’t we all be more productive, happier people if this were a possibility? I’m determined to help make this happen.” This book will help many readers to do so and, hopefully, many of them will then help others to do so.
Marcus Buckingham
Free Press
In each of his books, Buckingham heavily depends upon the wealth of research data that the Gallup Organization has accumulated over the years. In this volume, he introduces a self-audit mechanism which creates the StrengthsFinder profile, recently renamed the Clifton StrengthsFinder in memory of Dr. Donald O. Clifton to the chief architect of the items contained within StrengthsFinder, “He is considered the father of Positive Psychology, he was Gallup's leader for many years, and he was my mentor and inspiration for my entire tenure at Gallup. He was one of the few truly greats.” This tool does not actually measure strengths; instead it measures the respondent against thirty-four talent themes and then reveals the respondent’s top five. “These five themes explain how you engage with the world, and as such they are affirming for you and useful for those trying to deal with you. But these five themes are not your strengths. It is up to you to figure out how to take these themes and cultivate them into specific activities at which you excel, and for which you maintain a strong appetite to keep learning.”
"How can I take control of my time at work and rewrite my job description under my boss's nose?" This is a question Buckingham has been asked most frequently. As he confides, “pretty much every waking hour is filled with ‘how do you turn talents into strengths?’ thoughts. Years of research have found that only 17% of people within the workplace play to their strengths most of the time. For everyone’s sake this number needs to be higher. “ That is why Buckingham wrote this book: To provide counsel and recommend initiatives that can help as many people as possible to leverage their strengths, once identified, and to focus on developing them. “My goal is to get more people living most of their days out of a place of strength, rather than mundanely involving themselves in activities that continue to weaken them. Wouldn’t we all be more productive, happier people if this were a possibility? I’m determined to help make this happen.” This book will help many readers to do so and, hopefully, many of them will then help others to do so.
September 16, 2026
ماذا لو أن النجاح لا يعني أن نتعلم كل شيء أو نحاول أن نكون جيدين في كل شيء… بل أن نعرف فقط أين نضع تركيزنا؟
من هذا السؤال يبدأ ماركوس باكنغهام كتابه، ويتحدث فيه عن ثلاثة أشياء مهمة: الإدارة، والقيادة، والنجاح في حياتنا الشخصية.
الجميل في الكتاب أنه لا يعطينا قائمة طويلة من القواعد، بل يحاول أن يصل إلى فكرة واحدة بسيطة تُحدث فرقًا حقيقيًا في كل جانب من هذه الجوانب.
في الإدارة، يقول باكنغهام إن المدير الجيد لا يتعامل مع كل أفراد فريقه بنفس الطريقة، بل يحاول أن يفهم كل شخص على حدة: ما الذي يجيده، وكيف يستفيد منه بأفضل شكل.
أما القيادة فمختلفة قليلًا. القائد لا يحتاج فقط أن يعرف من يعمل معه، بل يحتاج أن يجد ما يجمعهم معًا حول هدف واحد يريدون الوصول إليه.
ثم يتحدث الكتاب عن النجاح الشخصي، وهنا الفكرة تصبح أجمل. فالنجاح لا يعني أن نضيف مهارات ومسؤوليات جديدة إلى حياتنا بلا توقف، بل يعني أيضًا أن ننتبه للأشياء التي تتعبنا ولا تناسبنا، ونحاول التقليل منها أو التوقف عنها إن استطعنا.
وهنا فكرة أعجبتني كثيرًا: لست مضطرًا أن تكون جيدًا في كل شيء. أحيانًا التقدم الحقيقي هو أن تعرف أين تضع طاقتك، وماذا يجب أن تتوقف عن فعله، وما هو الوقت الذي يستحق فعلًا أن تعطيه.
ونفس الفكرة تنطبق على الإدارة أيضًا؛ ليس شرطًا أن يعمل كل أفراد فريقك بنفس الطريقة لينجحوا. ربما مهمتك الحقيقية هي أن تكتشف الطريقة التي تجعل كل واحد منهم يقدّم أفضل ما عنده.
لهذا أرى أن هذا الكتاب مفيد جدًا لكل من يعمل في الإدارة أو القيادة، لكنه في الحقيقة يخص كل شخص. لأنه في النهاية يسألنا سؤالًا مهمًا:
هل أقضي وقتي في الأشياء التي أستطيع أن أبدع فيها فعلًا… أم أنني فقط مشغول طوال الوقت؟
كتاب يجعلنا نفكر في النجاح بطريقة مختلفة؛ لا باعتباره سعيًا دائمًا للمزيد، بل باعتباره قدرة على الاختيار والتركيز، والتخلي عن الأشياء التي تشتت طاقتنا.
وأهم فكرة خرجت بها من الكتاب:
النجاح ليس أن تفعل كل شيء بإتقان… بل أن تعرف ذلك الشيء الذي يستحق أن تبذل فيه أفضل ما عندك.
من هذا السؤال يبدأ ماركوس باكنغهام كتابه، ويتحدث فيه عن ثلاثة أشياء مهمة: الإدارة، والقيادة، والنجاح في حياتنا الشخصية.
الجميل في الكتاب أنه لا يعطينا قائمة طويلة من القواعد، بل يحاول أن يصل إلى فكرة واحدة بسيطة تُحدث فرقًا حقيقيًا في كل جانب من هذه الجوانب.
في الإدارة، يقول باكنغهام إن المدير الجيد لا يتعامل مع كل أفراد فريقه بنفس الطريقة، بل يحاول أن يفهم كل شخص على حدة: ما الذي يجيده، وكيف يستفيد منه بأفضل شكل.
أما القيادة فمختلفة قليلًا. القائد لا يحتاج فقط أن يعرف من يعمل معه، بل يحتاج أن يجد ما يجمعهم معًا حول هدف واحد يريدون الوصول إليه.
ثم يتحدث الكتاب عن النجاح الشخصي، وهنا الفكرة تصبح أجمل. فالنجاح لا يعني أن نضيف مهارات ومسؤوليات جديدة إلى حياتنا بلا توقف، بل يعني أيضًا أن ننتبه للأشياء التي تتعبنا ولا تناسبنا، ونحاول التقليل منها أو التوقف عنها إن استطعنا.
وهنا فكرة أعجبتني كثيرًا: لست مضطرًا أن تكون جيدًا في كل شيء. أحيانًا التقدم الحقيقي هو أن تعرف أين تضع طاقتك، وماذا يجب أن تتوقف عن فعله، وما هو الوقت الذي يستحق فعلًا أن تعطيه.
ونفس الفكرة تنطبق على الإدارة أيضًا؛ ليس شرطًا أن يعمل كل أفراد فريقك بنفس الطريقة لينجحوا. ربما مهمتك الحقيقية هي أن تكتشف الطريقة التي تجعل كل واحد منهم يقدّم أفضل ما عنده.
لهذا أرى أن هذا الكتاب مفيد جدًا لكل من يعمل في الإدارة أو القيادة، لكنه في الحقيقة يخص كل شخص. لأنه في النهاية يسألنا سؤالًا مهمًا:
هل أقضي وقتي في الأشياء التي أستطيع أن أبدع فيها فعلًا… أم أنني فقط مشغول طوال الوقت؟
كتاب يجعلنا نفكر في النجاح بطريقة مختلفة؛ لا باعتباره سعيًا دائمًا للمزيد، بل باعتباره قدرة على الاختيار والتركيز، والتخلي عن الأشياء التي تشتت طاقتنا.
وأهم فكرة خرجت بها من الكتاب:
النجاح ليس أن تفعل كل شيء بإتقان… بل أن تعرف ذلك الشيء الذي يستحق أن تبذل فيه أفضل ما عندك.
August 18, 2018
I began by thinking this has surprisingly good insights for a management book but over the course of the book becamse less and less impressed, dropping this rating from a 3+ to 1-2. Overall it is just full of anecdotes. The author lost me as he continued to refer to research without giving any citations or references. In one section, he talks about genes, neutrons, and synapses with any references. Unacceptable. (p237). He claims our ability to improve on our weaknesses are controlled by our genes and can’t really be changed. This is a misunderstanding of how directly genes affect our daily behaviours, a misapplication of research results, and an exaggeration of how genetics control our behaviour and skills, especially social skills. The book has tips for things to try and ways to look at things but does not provide the reader with a lot of confidence that the tips are going to work.
July 11, 2019
Was this a bit gimmicky? Sure, a bit. Was the advice revolutionary? Not particularly. But, in the manager and the leader section, I thought there was solid enough advice to take notes and be mentally sticky. A good example of this is (paraphrased): "Mediocre managers play checkers; great managers play chess" meaning that a mediocre manager will try to use the same moves (motivation, incentives, feedback, etc) for all of their people. A great manager will know each of their people well enough to use the levers that will work best with that person. The continued individual success section wasn't useful to me. There were also several times in this book that it was repetitive which makes it feel more like a time waste to read than it ought. Overall, will continue to read Buckingham and this book had some interesting thought nuggets, if it was not overall consistent.
June 3, 2018
For years, Good to Great by Jim Collins has been for
me the quintessential guide to organizational success. I found Marcus Bunkingham’s work, while in no means related to or derived from Collins, a helpful and perhaps needed course corrective. Bunkingham boils managerial, leadership, and individual success each down to a single principle, and I was a bit surprised at what the principle turned out to be in each instance. There are some great takeaways here for those interested in learning how to better position others for success. The section on personal success was a bit more muddled for me, at times it was difficult to find myself in some of the examples.
me the quintessential guide to organizational success. I found Marcus Bunkingham’s work, while in no means related to or derived from Collins, a helpful and perhaps needed course corrective. Bunkingham boils managerial, leadership, and individual success each down to a single principle, and I was a bit surprised at what the principle turned out to be in each instance. There are some great takeaways here for those interested in learning how to better position others for success. The section on personal success was a bit more muddled for me, at times it was difficult to find myself in some of the examples.
December 9, 2018
So much of this books examples were tied up in retail field operations that it was hard to see how the core model was likely to play out in a technology firm. For me, working in a much smaller company, I suspect that there are some modifications necessary in the management model buckingham lays out. There’s rarely enough functional space in a small team to be able to isolate responsibilities and tailor work roles around individuals unique strengths, and a lot more need to hire utility players who can be good at, and learn to be good at, new things rapidly.
February 2, 2019
Fairly simple, very easy to read. It takes a little while to uncover the "One Thing" and spoiler alert, it's not ONE thing. There are lots of points and subpoints here. I'm not sure that this is anything new or groundbreaking, especially if you read a lot of leadership and management books. But his style is engaging. If you're a new leader, this is a fairly simple, basic book that will help you understand the value of people-intensive leadership. His stories are interesting, and it's both practical and straightforward.
January 4, 2020
I read this book rather quickly because, at one level, it is like bubblegum.
You don't get too much flavour.
There are some useful tips scattered through the book, and this is good. However, these are sometimes buried deep within some anecdotes that are a bit longwinded. There is no great insight.
Having said that, the tips that Marcus provides are commonsensical tips and, common sense is what many of us lack most of the time!
You don't get too much flavour.
There are some useful tips scattered through the book, and this is good. However, these are sometimes buried deep within some anecdotes that are a bit longwinded. There is no great insight.
Having said that, the tips that Marcus provides are commonsensical tips and, common sense is what many of us lack most of the time!
March 1, 2020
Buckingham is truly a master of strength. Rare is a leadership writer who writes with so much convinction and clarity. Rarer so for one to take a stand and stands steadfast on the values he preaches. His understanding of the topic is brilliantly distilled so few key points, and one can go back to his book just picking these observations for practice. Highly recommended to someone seeking to understand leadership in a simpler manner
May 26, 2018
it is a simple to read and share much good common sense advice.
But I do not find the contents are exciting enough for me to stay focus and continue from chapter to chapter. Anyway, if you are seeking for some simple ideas how you can be a better leader and maintained a discipline lifestyles this book is a good recommendation.
But I do not find the contents are exciting enough for me to stay focus and continue from chapter to chapter. Anyway, if you are seeking for some simple ideas how you can be a better leader and maintained a discipline lifestyles this book is a good recommendation.
July 15, 2021
Gostei muito deste livro, dá boas dicas (algumas contraintuitivas) no âmbito da gestão, liderança e sucesso indovidual sustentado (que o autor define como um estado em que conseguimos rentabilizar constantemente e de modo satisfatório as nossas capacidades específicas).
Fiquei a pensar em alguns pontos, pois faz uma distinção muito interessante entre os papéis de líder e de gestor. Recomendo.
Fiquei a pensar em alguns pontos, pois faz uma distinção muito interessante entre os papéis de líder e de gestor. Recomendo.
November 24, 2017
READ NOV 2017
I received an autographed copy of this book in 2005 at an event the author was speaking at in Arizona. Just now getting around to reading it...
Excellent!
A must read for managers, leaders, or individual contributors.
I received an autographed copy of this book in 2005 at an event the author was speaking at in Arizona. Just now getting around to reading it...
Excellent!
A must read for managers, leaders, or individual contributors.
November 12, 2018
Favorite Quotes:
“Partnership is not the crutch of the imperfect, but the secret of the successful.”
"...This controlling insight can serve as the One Thing you need to know about happy marriage: Find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior and believe it.”
“Partnership is not the crutch of the imperfect, but the secret of the successful.”
"...This controlling insight can serve as the One Thing you need to know about happy marriage: Find the most generous explanation for each other’s behavior and believe it.”
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