Too Broke for Bankruptcy: How Michael Hyatt Rebuilt Success Without Sacrificing His Life | E80
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Who is Michael Hyatt and what is his story?
Michael Hyatt, from the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publisher, now he's the founder of Full Focus, author of several bestselling books. You're a podcaster, you're a speaker, and you're all about showing leaders that they can win at work and succeed in life.
If you're less stressed, if you're more healthy, you make better decisions. I do private coaching too, and a lot of my clients, I'll say, what are your hobbies? And the most common answer I get is, well, my work's my hobby. Sorry, that doesn't count. In July of 2000, my boss quit, and the CEO came to me and asked me if I would be the new publisher for that division. It took us about 18 months, but we went from number 14 in revenue growth to number one. All of this came at some expense to me because I was working nights and weekends. My wife said, you're never home. I feel like a single mom. That was like a gut kick.
How do you recover from that? And how do you find balance?
First of all...
Michael Hyatt, from the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publisher, all the way to the acquisition of HarperCollins, which I think we all heard of. Now he's the founder of Full Focus, author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, bestselling books. I don't know how you do it all. You're a podcaster. You're a speaker. Michael, it's incredible. And you're all about showing leaders that they can win at work. and succeed in life. So first of all, it's so great to have you on the show with us, Michael.
Thank you so much for having me, Ilana. It's a privilege.
I think you studied philosophy, religion. Take us back in time. How did that shape your career path?
Well, it's funny because I was a music major initially, but it didn't take me long to figure out that I probably wasn't going to make a living at that because the competition was fierce. And I thought I was good till I got to college. And then I was around people that were brilliant. And so I thought, plus I need something practical. So I decided to major in philosophy, which of course isn't practical at all. But I think the great thing that I got from that was that it taught me how to think and got me really acquainted with sort of the Western canon of literature and was really helpful and has really served me well in my career.
You came from a pretty religious household, or is that something that came later?
That actually occurred when I was 18. I didn't grow up in a particularly faith-based home, but I was drawn to it when I was about 18 and right before I went into college. And so I took a couple of theology courses and I said, I really think that what I need to understand is first principles and worldviews and delve into philosophy. So that's what I did. And I contemplated going to seminary after that. I thought about going to law school after that, but I got really intrigued by business and I love entrepreneurialism and business. So that's what I did. Even in college, I was doing entrepreneurial things and I still, to this day, love business.
And I love that because the truth is, Michael, you started at word publishing, but very quickly you got to entrepreneurship, honestly, before the word even existed. Right, Michael? Like, I mean, I don't think that word existed. And you co-founded your own publishing company. So talk to a little bit about that route from Baylor and how that formed into your own company.
Well, it's funny. My boss at Word Publishing in Waco, Texas, took a job at Thomas Nelson Publishers in Nashville. where I live to this day. And so he invited me to come on as the vice president of marketing. Now I'd kind of gone back and forth in the early part of my career between marketing and editorial, and I was really good at marketing, but I really loved editorial because I loved shaping ideas and interacting with authors on their ideas. And I, by that point, considered myself to be a bit of a literary midwife. You know, I just loved the idea of helping people give birth to their best ideas.
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