Michael Hyatt, President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing
It was Monday morning. The colorful leaves on the trees around campus, the crisp air with traces of pollen sparked the occasional sneeze, and the relatively warmer sunlight streaming through the windows somehow put a calm smile on people. I love this time of the year, it is a time that reminds me, humbly, that I am not in charge. It is a time that something greater than me instantly makes me feel like a better person when I wake up and look outside the window.
It was Monday morning, and I walked into Leadership class, found a seat and put my stuff away. We had a guest speaker that day, so I pulled out my Moleskine and got ready. A gentleman, with an aura of confidence and humility, sat across the table from me talking to Professor Dick Daft. When he saw me, he got up, reached his hand out to me and introduced himself. "Mike Hyatt," he said... "I love the Moleskine too!" We talked for a minute about blogs and the moleskine notebooks before class started.
There were a few things that Mike talked about in his presentation on Culture and Leadership that really resonated with me. He talked about the importance of history: learning how the organization was built, understanding the inspiration of the founders, and feeling the culture of the organization. Then he talked about the importance of taking the history, culture, vision, and mission into perspective and building a core set of values. While I have heard many leaders talk about this, I liked how Mike took it a step further... he talked about how it was important to map those values to behavior. While talking about values, Mike said,
"Its not good enough to have a fancy plaque in your lobby, it should be embodied by every single person in every single thing they do... and good leadership is showing how an organization's core values translate into behavior and everyday action."
Another aspect of Mike's presentation that I enjoyed was the spirit of intentionality and its effect on personal development. People in Mike's position are constantly pressed for time... in fact, most of us feel like there is not enough time in the day and we are constantly spinning our wheels trying to get things done. Mike talked about how he intentionally takes a retreat during the month to gather his thoughts and think about his organization and his personal life. For someone who likes to have a packed calendar, I enjoyed the idea of an intentional retreat...even if it is for a couple of hours where I just sit down, observe the world, collect my thoughts, and dream big.
Thank you, Mike, for taking the time to share your story with us.
You can read Mike's blog at: www.michaelhyatt.com
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