Marcus Buckingham Module 1: Predictive Behavior: Extreme Positives

Summary

When it comes to building trust in organizations, the biggest institutions such as schools, hospitals, media and government have the lowest levels, says New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham.

Conversely, trust in small businesses is double that of big institutions, though still only around 30%.

Why is that? Because CEOs often ignore what Buckingham calls the most powerful force in business — Love — and that leads to missed opportunities for improvement.

Incorporating “Love” into your organization allows you to focus on strengths, and creating a strengths-based culture can lead to higher engagement, productivity, and profitability.

Leaders should seek to understand what employees and customers love the best, Buckingham says. In terms of using 5-point rating scales, for example, leaders should study the 5s.

“Fives are special. Fives are extreme positives. Become an expert in those fives,” he says. “That’s what we should all become experts in if we want to get more performance.” 

Discussion questions 

1. What about your business, products or service do customers love? How do you measure that?

2. If you measure sentiment from employees or customers on a 5- or 7-point scale, how have you looked at the results? Average? Top box? Qualitative interviews based on scores?

3. What success or challenges have you experienced in efforts to improve ratings over time?

4. In what areas of your business might you use the idea of studying extreme positives?

Related Resources

Marcus Buckingham on ‘Love + Work’ 

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