“In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” Laurence J. Peter wrote those words as satire in 1968. But as with most effective satire, it points to an underlying truth. The Peter Principle describes what can happen when an employee does well in one job and is subsequently promoted. She […]

May 6, 1954 was a cold and windy day in Oxford, England. It was far from ideal conditions for a race, but it was also the day Roger Banister broke a record. He wasn’t a professional athlete, but a medical student with a knack for running. He set out on a wet race track and […]

Apple made a great leap forward in communications and mobile computing in 2007 when it launched the iPhone. It couldn’t have done this by sticking to all the things that made it a pioneer in desktop computing. The company tried to launch the Newton handheld computer in 1993. The product failed and this setback stung. […]

Building a successful organization requires interpersonal skills as much as knowledge of finance or marketing strategies. Perhaps the most important tool in the relational toolbox is the tenacity to have tough talks that lead to the sort of necessary change that makes growth possible. Here, three individuals relate their most difficult conversations, revealing insights and […]

Former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward could have immediately and swiftly announced that the explosion of the British oil giant’s rig, Deepwater Horizon, had led to an environmental disaster that dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. But he didn’t. Over a 10-day period, Hayward would go from […]

Thanksgiving did not become an official national holiday until 1941, but it had roots that extended back to the founding of the first American colonies. The Plymouth colonists in 1621 did indeed have a thanksgiving harvest celebration with local Indians, and apparently ate eel and venison (but maybe not turkey) as part of the festivities. […]

This morning I had a list of four sizable items to accomplish. I knew it was an ambitious plan, but I tackled the day with confidence. I was determined to be a single-minded machine of efficiency, slaying tasks with unparalleled gusto. I started early, but it didn’t matter. As I write, it’s mid-afternoon and not […]

The journalist W. James “Jim” Antle III was pressed up against a deadline on a story. He had been working with the material long enough that he doubted he could look at it with fresh eyes any longer. So he sent what he had up the editorial chain with a note. The note said that […]

Legendary jazz composer Duke Ellington once said, “I don’t need time. I need a deadline.” If that was true for Sir Duke, it is also true for you. When you have set deadlines, you are more likely to stay on task, make the most of your time, and achieve success in every facet of your […]

Will this idea that you are considering lead to a product that sells? This is the hardest question you and your colleagues will ask yourselves every day. There isn’t always an easy answer. Certainly you can easily dismiss the most outlandish product concepts, say a restaurant chain selling freshly-prepared pizza that people then take and […]

I wouldn’t have wanted to be in Nintendo’s board meeting when they looked at the number of consoles Sony and Microsoft sold compared to the number of Nintendo Gamecubes sold. Sony alone sold over seven times more PlayStation 2s than Nintendo sold Gamecubes. The Xbox was a brand spanking new console and sold a few […]

It might seem strange that an iconic concert venue is offering a sneak peek at musicians rehearsing for upcoming shows. “As a valued corporate supporter of Carnegie Hall, your organization’s employees have the unique opportunity to observe the artistic process of a world-class orchestra as it prepares for a Carnegie Hall concert,” notes the famed […]

If you want to achieve your quarterly sales quotas, slash expenses, or reach some other important benchmark, it’s import to remember your why—why you started your company, why you spent long days and longer nights helping it grow, and why achieving greater impact is critical. But unlike personal goals that are often chased in isolation, […]

“Tell me about a time you worked with a team.” It is a common interview question, one many of us have heard before. If you’re like me, a flood of past teams comes cascading into your brain, some good and others not so good. There is the team where you had to the do all […]

Historically, the office wasn’t a place Americans strove to participate in endeavors larger than themselves. Go to the office to earn a living, the thinking went. Leave horizon-broadening for church and volunteer activities – or maybe a gardening club if you’re into that sort of thing. It need not be that way. With the right […]

Does this one ring a bell? You, reader, are your own worst critic. Your penchant for nitpicking every detail and harshly critiquing your accomplishments makes it difficult for you to make progress or sometimes even get simple work done. If it doesn’t apply to you or someone close to you, then you have a great […]

Big goals are often the seed for big success. Monica Louie knows this firsthand. The Facebook ad expert launched a new company and set an audacious goal of earning $100,000 her first year in business—despite having made only $8,000 the previous year with another venture. It was such a big goal, in fact, that a […]

I switched jobs for the first time at age 49. Well, technically, I had several jobs between graduate school and then, but they were all at one employer, a small Midwestern nonprofit that published a monthly magazine and ran educational programs. By the time I left that company in the spring of 2017, it was […]

I met Dave at a residential behavioral health center in Arizona. An older man with stories to match his years, he was great with the clients and even better with our young coworkers. One story he shared has stuck with me. He had been working with a particularly unpleasant young man for several months. Let’s […]

After years of tumult and uncertainty, major parts of Steve’s life were coming together nicely. For more than four years, the website designer had held a staff position at a prominent management consulting firm. Invitations to speak on digital trends at industry conferences flowed to him. Off of work hours, the 43-year-old completed a steady […]

“We really need an office space for our team.” It’s not something I ever expected to hear from our COO, Megan Hyatt Miller. After all, she loved working from home as much as any of us. I had recently stepped out of my role as Michael Hyatt’s Executive Assistant into the new role of Senior […]

Michael Hyatt & Co. recently landed on the Inc 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America for the second year in a row. That’s a huge honor, and it represents how fast our team of high-achievers moves from one project to the next. Managing a team of high-achievers in a high-growth company […]

Having your files stored in the cloud is one of the most powerful tools in your business when it’s done right. If not, you’ll find yourself and your team spending unreasonable amounts of time tracking things down. As with most teams that I work with, Michael Hyatt & Co was growing fast when they reached […]

Rumors at work can be surprisingly destructive. Rumors undermine the confidence of an organization, both within and without; encourage infighting, backbiting, and other HR department fever dreams; deep six morale; make strategic hiring like extracting wisdom teeth; scare off would-be investors; and tank stock prices. What start as whispers can build to whirlwind force. Because […]