Greg McKeown

Penguin Random House

Author, "Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most"

Essentialism, Inc

Host, The Greg McKeown Podcast

For 20 years I've been fascinated with the question, "What holds people, teams and organizations back from breaking through to the next level?" The answer, to my surprise, is success.

The problem is not success per se but the undisciplined pursuit of more. The antidote is Essentialism or the disciplined pursuit of less. This enables people to figure out what is really essential, to eliminate everything else, and to make execution of what really matters as effortless as possible.

Author, "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less."

World Economic Forum

The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multistakeholder community of more than 700 exceptional young leaders who share a commitment to shaping the global future.

Nominated under 40, these young leaders are proposed through a qualified nomination process and assessed according to rigorous selection criteria that creates a diverse and truly representative body, while accepting only the very best leaders who have already demonstrated their commitment to serving society at large.

Out of the thousands of candidates nominated each year, between 100 and 200 extraordinary individuals are honored each year with the title “Young Global Leader” at which time they are invited to become Active Members of the World Economic Forum. 

I recently moderated a session for the World Economic Forum at the “Summer Davos” in China called, “Unpacking Social Innovation Models for Maximum Impact.” I also served as a panelist at the “Sharpening Your Creative Edge” working session at the Forum.

Young Global Leader

The Wiseman Group

Collaborated on the research and writing of management articles with Liz Wiseman including the HBR article, "Managing Yourself: Bringing Out the Best in Your People" and the bestselling book, "Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter".

Partner

Heidrick & Struggles

Provided psychological and executive assessments to senior leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Leadership Consultant

I teach people how to focus and simplify.

In this pursuit, I've written two New York Times bestsellers, “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”, and “Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most”. Together they have sold three million copies and been published into 40 languages. 

I've spoken to hundreds of audiences as I've traveled to 45 countries around the world. Clients include Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Nike as well as TED Fellows, SXSW and the Navy Seals.

I host The Greg McKeown Podcast which is consistently ranked as a top business podcast. Recent guests include Brad Smith (President of Microsoft),  Ed Catmull (cofounder of Pixar), Ron Jonson (creator of Apple Stores and the Genius Bar) Arthur Brooks (Harvard professor) and Matthew McConaughey (Academy Award Winning Actor).

My work has been covered in print media including in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Time, Fast Company, Fortune, Politico, Inc., and Harvard Business Review. It’s been covered on NPR, NBC, FOX, and many times on The Steve Harvey Show.

I'm an active Social Innovator. I served for 7 years as a Board Member for Washington D.C. policy group Resolve and as a mentor with 2 Seeds, a non-profit incubator for agricultural projects in Africa. I've spoken at non-profit groups including The Kauffman Fellows, Net Impact, and Stanford University (where I also co-created the popular class, Designing Life, Essentially).

Prior to this, I collaborated in the research and writing of "Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter" and worked for Heidrick & Struggles’ Global Leadership Practice assessing senior executives.

I did my MBA at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, my Global Leadership and Public Policy certificate at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and I'm currently doing doctoral research on deep listening and peacemaking at the University of Cambridge.

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