Michael S. Hyatt

Hyatt's publishing career began at Word Publishing while a student at Baylor University where he graduated with a degree in philosophy.[1] He started his own publishing company, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, with Robert Wolgemuth in 1986. In 1992, Word Publishing acquired Wolgemuth & Hyatt.[2]

He was a literary agent from 1992 until 1998, after which he joined Thomas Nelson.[2] 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.[3] Hyatt was promoted to president and COO of Thomas Nelson in February 2004[4] and was made CEO in August 2005.[1] He began blogging in 2004.[5]

By 2006, Hyatt was serving as chairman and chief executive of the Nashville, Tennessee-based Christian books publisher[6][7] as it became a private company.[8] His tenure as CEO ended in April 2011 but he continued to serve as chairman of the company.[9] The same year, Thomas Nelson was acquired by HarperCollins.[10][11] 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,[5] a New York Times Best Seller,[12] and four Wall Street Journal Best Sellers:[13][14] Living Forward,[15] Your Best Year Ever,[16][17] Free to Focus,[18] and The Vision Driven Leader.[19]

In 2012, Hyatt founded the organization that would later become Michael Hyatt & Company (and then Full Focus). Under his leadership, Michael Hyatt & Company has been featured in the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America[20] for three years in a row. The company was also listed in Inc's 2020 list of “Best Places to Work.”[21] Michael Hyatt & Company is a leadership development firm helping successful, but overwhelmed leaders get the focus they need to win at work and succeed at life.[22] Hyatt announced in 2021 that he would step down as the company's CEO and his daughter, Megan Hyatt Miller, would take the helm. [23]

In 2017, Hyatt created the Full Focus Planner[24][25] The Full Focus Planner is a physical planner designed to help people plan their year, design their days, and achieve their goals. It claims to be built from a proven goal-achievement and productivity framework, it’ll help you end chaotic days and establish peace, confidence, and success.[26]

He and his wife Gail live in Nashville, Tennessee. They have five daughters.[1] He is an ordained deacon in the Eastern Orthodox Church.[27]

• Hyatt, Michael S.; Grant, George (1998). Y2K: The Day the World Shut Down. Word Pub. ISBN 978-0-8499-1387-7.
• Hyatt, Michael S. (March 1, 1999). The Y2K Personal Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Get from This Side of the Crisis to the Other. Regnery Publishing. ISBN 978-0-89526-301-8.
• Hyatt, Michael S. (1999). The Millennium Bug: How to Survive the Coming Chaos. Broadway Books. ISBN 978-0-7679-0374-5.
• Hyatt, Michael S. (2012). Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 978-1-59555-503-8.
• Hyatt, Michael (2013). The Virtual Assistant Solution : Come up for Air, Offload the Work You Hate, and Focus on What You Do Best. Los Gatos. ISBN 978-0-9910244-0-7.
• Hyatt, Michael; Harkavy, Daniel (March 1, 2016). Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want. Baker Books. ISBN 978-1-4934-0325-7.
• Hyatt, Michael (January 2, 2018). Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals. Baker Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8010-7525-4.
• Hyatt, Michael (2019). Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less. Baker Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0801075261.
• Hyatt, Michael (2020). The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business. ISBN 978-0801075278.