About

I am the Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S.

This is my personal blog. It is focused on “intentional leadership.” My philosophy is that if you are going to lead well, you must be thoughtful and purposeful about it.

I write on leadership, productivity, publishing, social media, and, on occasion, stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories. I also occasionally write about the resources I am discovering.

My goal is to create insightful, relevant content that you can put to work in your personal and professional life. If you are in a position of leadership—or aspire to be—then this blog is for you.

I typically post three to four times a week. To make sure you don’t miss my newest posts, you can subscribe via RSS or e-mail. I also accept a limited amount of advertising.

My Top Posts

If you are new to my site, you might want to start with my most popular posts. Here are my top three in each category:

Leadership

• Creating a Life Plan
• The Importance of a Leaders Heart
• Five Characteristics of Weak Leaders

Productivity

• Yes, You Can Stay on Top of E-mail
• How to Shave 10 Hours Off Your Work Week
• Slay Your Dragons Before Breakfast

Publishing

• Advice to First-Time Authors
• Literary Agents Who Represent Christian Authors
• Writing a Winning Book Proposal

Social Media

• Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog?
• The Beginners Guide to Twitter
• 12 Reasons to Start Twittering

Miscellany

• My Take on the Vibram FiveFingers Running Shoes
• 20 Questions to Ask Other Leaders
• Whatever Happened to Modesty?

You can also check my blog’s archive for a list of every post I have written or use the search function below my picture in the sidebar to find other posts that might be of interest.

My Biography

I have worked in the book publishing industry for my entire career. I began at Word Publishing while a student at Baylor University. I worked at Word for a total of six years. In addition to serving as Vice President of Marketing at Thomas Nelson in the mid-80s, I also started my own publishing company, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, with my partner Robert Wolgemuth in 1986. Word eventually acquired our company in 1992.

I was a successful literary agent from 1992 until early 1998. However, I really missed the world of corporate publishing. As a result, I rejoined Thomas Nelson in 1998. I have worked in a variety of roles in both divisional and corporate management. I was CEO from August 2005 to April 2011, when I was succeeded by Mark Schoenwald. I am also the former Chairman of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (2006–2010).

I have also written four books, one of which landed on the New York Times bestseller list where it stayed for seven months. Thomas Nelson will publish my newest book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, on May 22, 2012.

I have been married to my wife, Gail (follow her on Twitter @GailHyatt), for thirty-three years. We have five daughters, four grandsons, and three granddaughters. We live outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

In my free time, I enjoy writing, reading, running, and golfing. I am a member of St. Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, Tennessee, where I have served as a deacon for twenty-five years.

My Contact Information

You can contact me via e-mail or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Please note: I do not personally review book proposals or recommend specific literary agents.

Colophon

My blog is built on WordPress 3.1 (self-hosted). My theme is a customized version of Standard Theme, a simple, easy-to-use WordPress theme. Milk Engine did the initial customization. StormyFrog did some additional work. I highly recommend both companies.

In terms of design, the body text font is Georgia. The titles and subhead fonts are Trebuchet MS. Captions and a few other random text elements are Arial. Keely Scott took most of my personal photos. Laurel Pankratz also took some. I get most of the photos for my individual blog posts from iStockPhoto. (You can get a 20% discount on stock photos by using the previous link.)

My site is hosted by Linode Cloud. My advertising is handled by Mindy Spradlin at BuySellAds.

Disclaimer

This is my personal blog. The opinions I express here do not necessarily represent those of my employer, Thomas Nelson. The information I provide is on an as-is basis. I make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this blog and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its use.