Best Public Speakers Series: Laszlo Bock
- Stephanie Bickel
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
by Kat Evans
Laszlo Bock’s current roles include Co-Founder and Chairman of Gretel.ai, Advisor at General Catalyst, and Co-Founder and Co-Faculty Director of the Berkeley Transformative CHRO Academy at UC Berkeley.
We included Laszlo Bock on our Best Public Speakers list because of his love of humanity, his humble and approachable persona, and his ability to create positive change and infrastructure everywhere he works and leads.
Born in Romania, Bock is a Hungarian-American businessman who has founded two AI companies and served as the SVP of People Operations at Google, where he pioneered the field of People Analytics.
He is also the author of Work Rules!, a practical guide to helping people find meaning in their work and improve the way they live and lead. Before Google, Bock held executive roles at General Electric and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
We reviewed Bock’s Talks at Google lecture from September 13, 2017, shortly after his book launch and his departure from Google to found Humu. The invited audience was primarily educators.
Communication Habits That Make Laszlo Bock a Best Public Speaker
Storytelling:
Bock uses warm, human-centered stories, like when he and a Wegman’s representative surprised a conference audience by agreeing on people practices despite radically different industries (10:20), or when he attached deeper meaning to fundraising (14:44).
Collaborative Credit:
He consistently cites others who’ve shaped his thinking, including Amy Wrzesniewski (6:53), Judy Gilbert (4:47), and Adam Grant (13:39).
Audience Interaction:
Bock engages his audience directly, often pausing to ask questions before revealing key statistics (16:01).
How He Could Improve as a Speaker
Filler Words:
Bock frequently adds a nervous “um” while gathering his thoughts.
Vocal Clarity:
He speaks quickly with low articulation, which can make him difficult to understand.
Generalizations:
Some statements are vague or confusing. For example:
“I went to Japan to teach English like everyone does.” (3:45) It’s unclear whether this is meant to be relatable or ironic. Later, he claims “Kindergartners just want to learn everything” (12:53) a statement that’s debatable for anyone familiar with five-year-old, and describes a “first slope experience” (13:12) as a monumental educational moment, which may leave listeners puzzled.
Great speakers aren’t born, they’re trained.
At Speak by Design University, you’ll learn how to lead every conversation with clarity, warmth, and executive presence.