Mike MichalowiczBusiness Author & Keynote Speaker Empowering Entrepreneurs

Pranking Bob Burg: The Secret Word Challenge!

19 Aug 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:46

In this short, informal YouTube segment, entrepreneur and author Mike Michalowicz recounts a backstage prank he played on fellow speaker Bob Burg, author of The Go‑Giver. Mike describes Bob’s polished, gentlemanly demeanor—his three‑piece suit, courteous habits, and poised stage presence. Before Bob’s talk, Mike whispers a “secret word” challenge, telling Bob to insert the phrase “skid mark” into his speech. Bob complies flawlessly, slipping the unexpected term into his presentation and then glances back at Mike with a triumphant look, effectively turning the joke back on him. Mike ends the anecdote by admiring Bob’s quick wit and playfulness, highlighting the camaraderie and light‑hearted competition among speakers at live events.

Chapters

One of my favorite speakers, Bob Burg. Bob Burg wrote the book called The Go-Giver. Bob Burg is the consummate gentleman. He wears the 3-piece suit, is perfectly primed. If he's sitting and a woman comes in the room, he instantly stands, he opens the door for everybody. But you can play with him. Bob and I are speaking at an event together and he's gonna go on right prior to me. And then there's some other speakers going after. I grab Bob, he's like, they're announcing him on stage. So that means he's got about 5 seconds before he has to walk out. I said, Bob, Bob, real quick. He goes, yeah, what was it? He goes, the secret word. I'm like, you have to say the secret word on stage. All of us have a secret word. And he goes, what's my secret word? I said, skid mark. You have to say skid mark. And he goes, he fixed it. Okay. He delivers a speech and he throws in skid marks so well, so perfect. And you see him kind of look offstage back at me. He's like, take that, you mofo. I was like, damn, Bob Burke. Bob Burke just schooled me.