Greg McKeown
Greg McKeown is a British-American author, speaker, and leadership strategist best known for his 2014 book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, which became an international bestseller and a foundational text in the productivity and personal effectiveness space. Born in the United Kingdom and educated at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, McKeown has advised executives and organizations at companies including Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Essentialism argues against the common assumption that we should try to do more and have more, proposing instead that the highest returns come from doing fewer things at the highest possible level — from identifying the essential and systematically eliminating everything else. The book distinguishes between the “non-essentialist” approach of trying to pursue all things and the “essentialist” approach of deliberately choosing where to invest energy and time. It became a staple in business schools and corporate training programs and has sold millions of copies worldwide.
His follow-up book, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most (2021), extends the essentialist framework by addressing the question of not just what to do but how to make essential work feel less like a grinding struggle — arguing that the right strategy can make the most important work easier rather than harder. It also became a major bestseller.
McKeown is a popular speaker at conferences including TED, World Economic Forum events, and SXSW, and his ideas have been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review. He hosts the What’s Essential podcast and continues to work with organizational leaders seeking to build cultures of focus and intentionality.
