Productivity experts are a dime a dozen. It seems like every other person who starts to follow me on Twitter is a self-proclaimed productivity expert of one kind or another. It’s definitely one of those industries where it can be very hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, to find a productivity expert that isn’t just “self-proclaimed”, but actually is a bona fide expert who can help people and companies alike to increase their productivity.
So, what makes a great productivity expert, anyway? It’s a combination of results, writing/professional credentials, and a unique take on the world when viewed through the lens of increasing and dissecting productivity.
The list below is by no means comprehensive, so don’t take it to heart if your favorite productivity expert didn’t make the list below. If you were going to make a list of every single great and renowned productivity expert, the list would be too long to read.
Without further ado, here are a few of the best productivity experts, along with information about their credentials.
1. Jason Jennings
Author of: “LESS IS MORE: How Great Companies Use Productivity as a Competitive Tool in Business”, “Hit the Ground Running”, “Think Big, Act Small”, “It’s Not The Big That Eat The Small – It’s The Fast That Eat The Slow”
Credentials: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week Magazine Top 10 Bestseller
Personal History: Early in his career, he founded he consulting firm Jennings-McGlothlin & Company, which eventually became the largest media consultancy in the world.
Today, he does as many as 80 keynote speeches in a year. In “Less is More”, Jennings profiled companies from a bunch of different sectors, and was able to determine how they were able to function consistently at peak productivity, allowing them to be incredibly successful.
Quote: “The 10 most productive companies in the world…believe that you make incredible amounts of money as a byproduct of the incredible things you do.” In other words, the purpose of business isn’t to make money, it is to make money by making great products.
2. Jim Collins
Author of: “How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In”, “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies” (on the Business Week best-seller list for more than six years), and “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap…And Others Don’t” (sold 2.5 million copies has been translated into 32 languages.)
Credentials: Degree from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Published in USA Today, Former senior executive at CNN International.
Personal History: After graduating from Stanford, Collins founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado in 1995. He has worked with Johns Hopkins and the United States Marine Corps. He is perhaps best known for being a proponent of “fixed-schedule productivity”, and maintaining your work-life balance by dividing your work time into percentages based on long-term career and life goals.
Quote: “A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit — to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort — that distinguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company or, most important of all, a life.”
3. David Allen
Author of: “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity”, “Making It All Work”, and “Ready for Everything”
Credentials: Featured blogger at the Huffington Post, one of the “Top 100 thought leaders” by Leadership Magazine, one of the top five executive coaches working in the United States according to Forbes magazine.
Personal History: Founder and CEO of the David Allen Company, he has been called “One of the world’s most influential thinkers” by Fast Company. His works have been published in 28 languages, and he has worked in a wide variety of fields prior to starting his company, including jobs as a karate teacher, travel agent, and moped salesman.
Quote: “You don’t actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it “done.”
Wrapping Up
We could go on and on. We haven’t even scratched the surface of other big names like Roger Martin or Peggy Duncan. It takes serious cred to become a noted productivity expert, and there are plenty of smart people out there who definitely deserve that designation.
Which productivity experts do you respect the most? Tell us who you think really puts the “pro” in productivity in the comments below!
That’s a pretty short list and the only one I’m familiar with is David Allen who I respect tremendously.
My list looks a little different from yours. Mine would include Leo Babauta (Zen Habits), Stephen Covey (7 Habits), or Benjamin Franklin (read his Autobiography–it’s a gem!).
All these people deserve to be on the list. Maybe one day I will ;)
I’m with Ammon. My favorite, hands down, is Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. He distills productivity down to its essence, and gets far more done with his zen approach than most of us accomplish with our rush-rush approach to living.
Interesting article! I should learn more from these “certified experts” in productivity. I’m trying my best to be productive in my work and taking notes from their experiences will definitely help me a lot. As part of my quest to be more productive I tried to set and track my goals – Goals On Track comes in handy – an application I swear to help me “get things done”
Jasmin @ GoalsOnTrack
These are just some that we should get inspiration from. How long do you think it took them to be where they are right now? With all the success they achieved at the same time sharing what they know to others will only make them better and better.
You have to be real careful with some of this information as it tends to be over-hyped in order to sell books. For example, when good statistical analysis and some critical thinking are applied to things like Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great,” as Phil Rosenzweig does in his book “The Halo Effect,” you find things don’t quite measure up. Rarely does a single attribute or trick account for more than a very small percentage change in what you are trying to affect. I highly recommend the latter book for purpose of staying grounded and not feeling inadequate or out of the loop. There are numerous ways we all deceive ourselves and Rosenzweig does a good job of exposing us to those weaknesses in a very informative and entertaining way. Getting things done is hard work and there aren’t many shortcuts for that. Peace.
What is the point of this post? I just read it and got nothing out of it.
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