Michael S. Hyatt

Michael S. Hyatt is an American author, podcaster, blogger, speaker, and the former chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson. He has written several books about leadership, planning, and goal setting.

Career

Hyatt's publishing career began at Word Publishing while a student at Baylor University where he graduated with a degree in philosophy. He started his own publishing company, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, with Robert Wolgemuth in 1986. In 1992, Word Publishing acquired Wolgemuth & Hyatt.

He was a literary agent from 1992 until 1998, after which he joined Thomas Nelson. During this period, he wrote several books about the Year 2000 problem, including the fictional Y2K: The Day the World Shut Down as well as non-fiction books The Millennium Bug: How to Survive the Coming Chaos and The Y2K Personal Survival Guide. Hyatt was promoted to president and COO of Thomas Nelson in February 2004 and was made CEO in August 2005. He began blogging in 2004.

While Hyatt was at Thomas Nelson, he created the highly controversial WestBow Press imprint, a white label vanity press. Hyatt claimed that vanity publishing would replace traditional publishing, which of course it did not. While at the height of Hyatt's tenure at WestBow 3,869 titles were published in 2012, Hyatt used kickbacks, including offering agents a bounty for referring writers to WestBow, to achieve these numbers.

By 2006, Hyatt was serving as chairman and chief executive of the Nashville, Tennessee-based Christian books publisher as it became a private company. His tenure as CEO ended in April 2011 but he continued to serve as chairman of the company. The same year, Thomas Nelson was acquired by HarperCollins. Hyatt then began hosting the weekly podcast This is Your Life dedicated to intentional leadership.

Hyatt also wrote several more books including Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, a New York Times Best Seller, and two Wall Street Journal Best Sellers: Living Forward and Your Best Year Ever.

Hyatt uses affiliates to sell his books and programs. However, Hyatt has cut loose several affiliates who had been with him from the beginning because they were not big enough influencers.

Personal life

He and his wife Gail live in Nashville, Tennessee. They have five daughters. He is an ordained deacon in the Eastern Orthodox Church .