Comments on: What Is It About Your Leadership?

By: Are You Willing to Improve Yourself?

Are You Willing to Improve Yourself? — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:17:52 +0000

[...] faced with this great question from one of my mentors, author and CEO, Mike Hyatt. I was reading a past blog post by Mike where he recalled a challenging conversation regarding performance, results, and personal [...]

By: Bill Bliss

Bill Bliss — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:38:50 +0000

I just saw this post, even though it has been up for two years. I recently attended a conference where Horst Schultz, the co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, spoke on leadership. He said that one of the ways we could distinguish between a leader and a manager was that a leader did not offer excuses but a manager did. A leader will determine solutions. This is very much in line with your post of two years ago. As leaders, we absolutely can control our circumstances and get our teams prepared to face those circumstances.

Well done, Mike.

By: Shyju

Shyju — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:18:33 +0000

wow mic! Exceptionally good one!

By: Leadership and Accountability | Michael Hyatt

Leadership and Accountability | Michael Hyatt — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:56:20 +0000

[...] We also ask each division head to describe how their leadership succeeded or failed. We ask, “What was it about your leadership that produced these results?” The underlying assumption is that it is all about their leadership. [...]

By: Shift the Drift | Michael Hyatt

Shift the Drift | Michael Hyatt — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:24:14 +0000

[...] I said and started moving in that direction. (Such is the power of leadership.) I had to begin by taking responsibility for the [...]

By: Fazl Siddiqui

Fazl Siddiqui — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:04:22 +0000

Interesting article at a time when I have been researching on the subject of Accountability to be included in the leadership ‘values’ or ‘competencie’. I think the term accountability has a negative connotation to it and I would like to call it “Ownership” instead. However, can suggest any reading that would highlight leaders ownership for actions related to operations, financial, and people that I can include in my definition of the term for my proposal on leaders values/competencies.

By: Alastair

Alastair — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:26:49 +0000

Fantastic post, and a great reply from one of your former staff just now – just as important I think.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:59:19 +0000

Mike,
Ok….I’m all about the ‘The Buck Stops Here” philosophy. I have my own business, and, as you well know, there’s no one to blame in small business but yourself. But I would like to push back on your posting on two points. First, I know you. I worked for you for several years. And for your consultant to allow you to conclude that you don’t take responsibility for your business is, well, humorous to me. I always knew you as a guy that was realistic in his outlook. And, frankly, there are times where things are out of your control (albeit, I doubt gas prices are keeping people from buying your books). There are real issues that are affecting your business, and it is certainly your team’s responsibility to figure that out (i.e.-staying up with technology, which you do personally so well). But this leads to my second, point…. I was a bit bothered by your statement “I was letting them off the hook” (referring to your staff). That statement implied to me that you have not been diligent enough to hold your team accountable. Or (worse) that you had not been direct enough in holding them accountable. Well, once again, I would say this…..I used to sit in the monthly Business Review Meetings with you, representing a division that was having a tough time. I never felt you weren’t holding me accountable for my division’s poor business. Quite the opposite.

I share all this to remind you of something. One of the reasons you’re the leader of Thomas Nelson today is because of your managment style. You’re fair and levelheaded. Reasonable. PUH-LEEZE don’t start listening to consultants who are trying to turn you into every other executive in the publishing world. Yes, your business may be down right now from where you’ve projected (which leads me to questions, “Are Intermedia’s expectations too high?” and “Can your team not say ‘no’ to those expectations?”. But in the long run, your collaborative management style works. People WANT to work for you, and they WANT to do a good job for you. I THINK POSITIVE EMPLOYEE MORALE (WHICH YOUR MANAGEMENT STYLE FOSTERS) WILL SOLVE MORE OF YOUR REVENUE PROBLEMS IN THE LONG RUN THAN CHANGING HOW YOU MANAGE YOUR PEOPLE IN THE SHORT TERM. Please don’t loose focus of that. And please don’t let a business cycle or an industry shift cause you to change who you are.

When I left TNI, one of the hardest parts of the decision was leaving your management. While I didn’t always agree with you, I always trusted you.

By: Craig Gorc

Craig Gorc — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:03:02 +0000

You’re a good brother, Mike.

By: Gregg Stutts

Gregg Stutts — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:59:21 +0000

Thanks, Mike, for a great post. I admire and appreciate your transparency and humility. This will prompt me to take a good, hard look at myself.