I have always been an avid reader, but over the last few years, I’ve become much more intentional and ambitious in my reading. In 2015, I set my first challenging reading goal: to read fifty-two books in one year. By the time the year was done, the total was seventy-six. I still read at least […]

In deference to easily scandalized students, Cambridge University has begun adding trigger warnings to English classes that teach some of Shakespeare’s plays. That’s a shame if it deters participation. Students—and the rest of us—could all benefit from what the Bard can teach us about personal growth. Declan Fitzsimons, Adjunct Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD […]

Leaders and entrepreneurs fail for a million reasons. The usual suspects include lack of cash flow, dearth of technological savvy, or insufficient planning. But according to researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, the cause behind a failure to thrive in both personal and professional settings may be much simpler to explain. At least for married folks. […]

Over the years, I’ve met many influential and successful people, and I’ve observed a common trait in nearly all of them: they were all lifelong learners. If you want to win at life, this is non-negotiable. You have to become teachable. And the more teachable you are, the more successful you become. One of the […]

After conducting an in-depth study of seventy-two high-performing CEOs, Cornell University researchers reached a surprising conclusion. The key predictor of success for leaders wasn’t grit, focus, education, decision-making skills, a knack for strategic planning, or even IQ. It was self-awareness. Many experts would say self-awareness is simply the ability to monitor and regulate our thoughts, […]

During the early days of the Vietnam War, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara wanted to know if American military efforts in Vietnam were effective. He charted the numbers of weapons lost, enemies killed, and so on. But there was a hole in his thinking. A critical colleague told McNamara he’d failed to count “the […]

When you see a group of friends roar with laughter after taking a selfie, you can bet they used a warp app to capture the moment. Like the funhouse mirrors of yesteryear, the app stretches our bodies and squeezes our faces to hilarious extremes. We have to laugh because the reflection has nothing to do […]

Whether we know it or not, we all rely on a few basic strategies for moving through the social world. Different people adopt different strategies. Some try to be helpful and friendly; others aim for perfection. Some try to be attractive and productive, while knowledge is the goal for others. The problem is that most […]

As leaders, we possess more power than we think. But we can only use it for good if we understand it and embrace it.

Unresponsive people drive me crazy. I hate sending an email or Slack message to someone and then waiting days to hear anything back. (Admittedly, I have sometimes been guilty of this myself.) This is particularly maddening when you don’t hear anything at all. One of the questions I always ask when interviewing executive assistants is […]

What is the single most important thing you can do to make your dreams become reality? In this post I share a critically important success principle and three ways to apply it.

I was recently talking to a neighbor about an ordinance being considered by our city council. She didn’t like it and felt strongly that it shouldn’t pass. She went on to make the case to me, raising several valid points I had not considered before. I reminded her that the city was holding a public […]

Take a guess: What portion of the American workforce said they were “most productive” at the office during normal work hours? According to a recent FlexJobs survey, the number could be as low as 7 percent. Many more said they get some things done at the office “because it’s not an option to leave.” Whatever […]

I spent an afternoon last week cleaning out my closet. It was high time I did. I had shirts, pants, shoes, and hats that I had not worn in months—in some cases, years. When I thought about it after, the whole experience became a kind of a metaphor for improvement. It occurred to me that […]

We often assume that people simply are a certain way. “She’s such a bright, sunny person.” “He’s always such a gloomy Gus.” Nature gives us optimists and pessimists, and that’s all there is to it. But according to Jon Gordon, that’s a myth, a limiting belief that may be holding you back. He says this […]

My team and I have been using Slack as our primary communication platform since June 2014. As we grew, email became unmanageable and other solutions like Basecamp weren’t a fit. After a full-immersion trial, we were sold! But then we unsold ourselves. It took three years. But, just as email didn’t scale with our growth, […]

Winston Lord is a former ambassador to China who once wrote speeches for Henry Kissinger. Looking back, he said he couldn’t “recommend that to anybody.” Why? “You’d have to go through about 20 drafts and many insults before you got to the final speech.” In one outrageous but true example, Lord took Kissinger a draft […]

Tell me you’ve had this experience. You assign a task but then forget about it. I sure have. As a leader, I am not a micromanager. That’s good news for my team. But I have to be intentional that delegation doesn’t drift into abdication. It’s not always disastrous when this happens. If we’ve hired well, […]

Sometimes I think that introverts and extroverts are from different planets. This is fine, until they find themselves married to one another or working in the same office. If they are not conscious of the differences, they can quickly frustrate one another—or worse.

I’m excited to announce that Michael Hyatt & Company was just named to the Inc. 5000, which ranks America’s fastest-growing private companies. The accomplishment not only makes me feel proud of our work, it makes me feel grateful for you: our readers and customers. To compile the list, Inc. magazine tracks three-years’ worth of growth. […]

I am good at a few things. But waiting is not one of them. In this post, I share five strategies I am currently using to cope in those situations where I don’t have a choice.

Sadly, I would have to say that I have learned more from bad bosses that good ones. Specially, they taught me what not to do. Here are 13 lessons.

Many words in the English language are difficult. In fact, there’s even a Dictionary of Difficult Words. But none are more difficult than these: “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Will you please forgive me?”

Years ago, I received some great advice about how to negotiate the deal you want. In fact, I would say this is the secret to successful negotiating.