Michael Hyatt's Blog, page 19

4 Reasons to Model Good Character in the Workplace

While fighting in the Korean War, my dad’s tank was hit by a missile. Shrapnel knocked him out, and he lay in a coma for months. When he finally stood up from his hospital bed, he learned he would limp for the rest of his life.

 As a young boy, I didn’t know about his injury. I just knew I wanted to be like my dad. So much so that when I was 5, my mom noticed I was walking with a limp. I wasn’t even conscious of this decision. My dad was the model of adult manhood. I had unwittingly followed in his footsteps.

My mom explained his injury to me, and after some time, I gave up my limp. But I never gave up the resilience, positive outlook, and unbridled curiosity he modeled for me.

For better or worse, you’re going to replicate yourself in your organization. The only question is whether you’ll do it intentionally. Keep reading below to learn four reasons every leader must consistently model good character.

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You’re going to replicate yourself in your organization. The only question is whether you’ll do it intentionally.

—MICHAEL HYATT

Reason 1: Character has consequences.

Much of the world acts as if competence is enough for successful business, but character matters. Eventually, it catches up to you. Research studies say the better your character, the better your quality of life.

Christian Miller explains, “When gratitude goes up, life satisfaction goes up and anxiety goes down. When hope goes up, worrying about the future goes down. There are these correlations between good character traits and actually living a better life.”

Several studies state people who display greater character strengths have greater satisfaction in their relationships, greater coping skills in the workplace, higher productivity, better exercise habits, and greater resilience. All from character.

Good character from leadership creates an environment of trust for employees. Bad character negatively impacts people and profit.

Reason 2: The leader sets the tone for the organization.

Culture trickles down from the top. Leaders must take responsibility, recognize their impact, and adjust behavior accordingly. Modeling is not always formal. Character lessons are more likely to be caught than taught.

If I show up late to meetings or stare at my phone during presentations, I’m giving the green light on this type of behavior. Disrespect will replicate throughout the workplace.  

A tone change in the skybox impacts performance on the field. Fix the issues with yourself, and you will fix issues below.

Reason 3: People do what you do regardless of what you say.

If I say I prioritize rest and margin but don’t pursue those things myself, my team won’t believe me. But if I give myself permission to take healthy breaks, they feel freedom to do the same. Refusing to check emails while on vacation and leaving the office at a reasonable time communicates what I value.

People are taking cues from you. The gap between your words and actions will be obvious. When leaders do their best to live up to what they say, they can make a huge impact. 

Reason 4: The law of replication is nearly impossible to break.

Breaking replication is difficult but not impossible. If you’re part of a negative organization, not all hope is lost. Throughout my career, I’ve worked in several negative cultures. In these situations, I had to intentionally stand for something different from the norm.

Maybe you’ve been the cause of bad replication. If that’s true, own up to it. Apologize as needed and don’t make excuses. Some of the leaders who impacted me the most were those willing to volunteer their shortcomings.

To change your own behavior, you may want to list out standards of compliance for yourself. Leaders tend to get busy and make exceptions for themselves. This is dangerous. State your standards. Then follow them.

As Benjamin Franklin said, “Well done is better than well said.” When you model good character, you will see it replicated across your entire organization. Want to lead well? Care about character.

How to Adjust to the New Normal

You’ve been biding your time until things get back to normal. But this year has brought us one crisis after another, and there seems to be no end in sight. It’s frustrating—and a little scary—to lead your business into an uncertain future. 

How to Make Fewer, Faster, & Better Decisions

Science proves it: decision fatigue is a real thing. By the end of your workday, your emotional and intellectual horsepower is depleted. When leaders invest precious energy in low-impact decisions, everyone pays a price. Hoarding decisions undervalues employees. It also keeps you from making bigger decisions that really matter. You can’t escape decision-making, but you can separate the high-leverage decisions from the rest.

When my team transitioned from fully remote to a physical office space, there were a thousand decisions to be made. Many employees joined Michael Hyatt & Co. for the remote flexibility and margin. It was essential that the new space continue to support these values. Morale hung in the balance.

I knew the impact the office design would make on our team. I also knew I wasn’t the best person to make these decisions. So, I delegated the entire design and decoration of our coworking space to our Chief Operating Officer. I didn’t see any part of the office until the day before we opened it to our team.  This freed me up to focus on the overall vision and financial strategies. The critical areas within my responsibility.

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When leaders invest precious energy in low-impact decisions, everyone pays a price.

—MICHAEL HYATT

There are certain kinds of decisions that only you can make. That’s true for everyone in your organization. When you activate people to lead within their sphere of influence, you get the best result across your entire business.

To maximize the return on daily decision-making, follow these four simple strategies.

Strategy #1: Never make the same decision twice.

Many decisions are recurring choices. When you’re determining which vendors to use or what schedule to follow, simply make the decision once. Then automate it or document it.

When you are asked about vacation approvals, parental leave, or compensation changes, documented policies can save immense amounts of brainpower.

Here’s an example. A few years ago, I decided to no longer do one-on-one consulting. Now, when the request comes in, my executive assistant knows to decline on my behalf. I benefit from this strategy every day.

Strategy #2: Let others choose for you.

Many leaders fall into the trap of micro-managing. This not only zaps your mental energy but also negatively impacts your employees. It’s tempting to overthink non-essential choices. Instead, ask yourself: Can someone else answer this for me?

Dawson Trotman says, “Never do anything that someone else can and will do, when there is so much of importance to be done which others cannot or will not do.”

This was my strategy with the office design. Holding onto trivial decisions is costly and foolish. Hire talented people and let them lead with excellence.

Strategy #3: Use a defined process for making tough decisions.

Build a process that considers all variables. Years ago, I started using a recommendation briefing form. When someone on my team has an idea for our business, they write up a one-sheet summary of the recommendation. This sheet includes background information, rationale, resources needed, and the projected financial impact. Instead of pitching an idea and leaving me to do the profitability analysis, my team knows to do their own leg work. At this point, my job is simply choosing yes or no. No follow-up meetings are needed for the deliberation process.

Similarly, we use a budget template when considering new products and events. We spend the money on paper before we do so in reality. The process makes the decision for us. It’s not only a time-saver but more importantly, it improves the quality of each decision.

Strategy #4: Take care of yourself.

Your thinking is manipulated by biochemical reactions in your body. In fact, there’s a direct correlation between inadequate sleep and poor decision-making. To make the best decisions, you must be in a good place. This includes getting proper rest, regular exercise, and adequate nutrition. Take time to rejuvenate so you can lead your company well.

When you add these four simple strategies, you’ll gain the confidence to make fewer, faster, and better decisions. For more on decision-making, see my post on decision-making pitfalls.

The One Trait You Need to Lead Through Crisis

When you’re leading through a crisis, it can feel like you’re making it up as you go along. You’re reacting to a new set of circumstances almost every day, and you never have all the facts. Are people following you? Are they doubting your authority? It’s unnerving.

3 Elements of Effective Decision-Making

When I was CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers, we spent half a million dollars to attend an annual trade show. For several years, we invested in this event without stopping to ask whether or not it was the best use of our resources. Everyone assumed it was an essential expenditure. After all, our competitors would be there. Then I realized our assumption might not hold up to the facts. Upon quick investigation, the numbers revealed we had burned thousands of critical dollars on an ineffective marketing move. Ouch!

Decision making may be the toughest part of leadership. You are responsible for crucial choices that affect the livelihood of the business and your employees. Often, each dilemma is packed with conflicting information.

Sound familiar? If that hits home, you may be wishing for a formula to become confident in your decision-making. Through agonizing stories like the one I shared above, I’ve learned a thing (or three) about making better decisions.

I’ve narrowed it down to these three essential elements of a great decision.

Element #1: Information

Get the facts. When I reviewed the facts for the trade show, I found that we could host our own event for 20% of what we’d been spending as a vendor. At a fraction of the cost, we paid for our top customers to join us in our own space with our best authors. In the end, this investment was one hundred times more effective.

Sometimes it’s hard to get to the facts, but it’s absolutely essential. The facts are friendly. Even when they tell a story you don’t want to hear. Without them, you make bad decisions.

As you consider the facts, be wary of data limitations and confirmation bias. Your job is to separate the relevant facts from the irrelevant. It’s tempting to arrange the facts to tell a positive story. Instead, get the facts on the table before assembling your conclusion.

Element #2: Counsel

Get advice. You’re not good at everything. Face this reality and invite outside voices into your decision-making process.

Leaders get derailed all the time because of arrogance and single-minded decisions. The higher you rise, the greater your risk for disconnecting from essential perspectives on the ground. Counter this issue by asking for recommendations from trusted experts in other departments. You may not end up implementing their ideas, but you will be better informed for your verdict. This also increases the likelihood of team alignment for whatever direction you take.

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There’s nothing more expensive than a bad decision.

—MICHAEL HYATT

Another route for wise counsel is through an outside consultant. Some leaders are skeptical about spending money on input. But think about it this way: it’s cheaper to pay an outside consultant than to use your time to solve the problem.

There’s nothing more expensive than a bad decision. When you add outside perspectives to the facts, you are well on your way to an effective solution.

Element #3: Intuition

Trust your gut. Data and input from others will not get you to 100% certainty on your decision. You must look inward and ask yourself what feels right.

Your intuition gives you permission to make the call—even if it opposes the other elements. As you move up in your organization, you will realize the limitations of data and biases in perspectives. Decision-making becomes grayer with every promotion. You have to tap into your gut instinct for complex problems.

When the next decision comes down the pipe, follow this framework. Ask yourself, “Do I have the right data? Have I sought the advice of trusted experts? What does my gut say?” Once you arrive at those answers, you can confidently state your decision. And I bet it will be a great one.

The Leadership Superpower of the Post-Pandemic World

As a leader, you’re used to being on top of your game. But this crisis has been more draining than any of us expected. As the weeks become months, you become more and more exhausted. Is this thing ever going to end?

Get Free of Goal Shame and Achieve Your Impossible Dream

“Someday I’m going to climb Everest.” In the early 1940s, professional beekeeper Edmund Hillary shared his seemingly insurmountable goal with the world. At this point, no climber had successfully reached the Everest peak. The mountain’s difficulty level echoed loudly through 30 frozen bodies lying on its route. Louder still was the public criticism for Hillary’s impossible goal.

Yet, even in the heaviness of public shaming, he succeeded. On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay solidified their place in history as the first people to summit Mount Everest.

Hillary learned to stop playing small, but it was no easy feat. Likewise, overcoming your own Everest will take intentional planning and awareness.

Many leaders never admit their biggest goal because of invisible barriers. What if we told you that you can dissolve those barriers and unleash your greatest dream today? To run free toward your goal, we need to define the villainous elephant in the room: goal shame.

Goal shame is embarrassment about the things you want to achieve. Sometimes it results from internal thoughts like, “Who am I to do this?” or “Who am I to attempt something so big?” Self-doubt, fear, and insecurity fuel this internal shame. Imaginary naysayers add to the embarrassment. Your faith may contribute to your goal hushing. The Christian pressure to “be humble” might remind you not to want too much.

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Successful and selfish are not synonyms.

—MICHAEL HYATT

We all face goal shame. Instead of succumbing to it, try eliminating three bad habits and adding three empowering actions to your daily life.

Bad Habit 1: Stop Being Your Own Worst Critic

Aspirations are fragile. Your inner critic is capable of wreaking more havoc than a whack-a-mole. Self-criticism and self-judgment keep many leaders from greatness.

Another way to describe the inner critic is imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome says, “I don’t deserve this. It’s only a matter of time before everyone figures out I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.”

When we focus on the gap between our current state and the goal, we let imposter syndrome win, and progress stops dead in its tracks.

Empowering Action 1: Begin Measuring the Gains

Instead of measuring the distance to your goal, start focusing on how far you’ve come. Here’s the difference:

In the past, on my way to speak at an event, I’ve caught myself thinking, “They’re not going to like me. They’re not going to think I’m funny. What if they hate me?” Imposter alert! I hit myself with pre-criticism before I even stepped on the field.

With the measuring gains approach, I flip this bad habit on its head. Instead, I tell myself, “Oh my gosh. Look how far I’ve come. The very fact that I get to stand in front of an audience and speak is a privilege. This is not drudgery. It’s an opportunity.”

The difference in this inner dialogue helps me smash through major barriers. I can either run on autopilot and let the inner critic show up, or I can intentionally choose confidence and optimism. Start measuring your gains. You’ll find the same freedom.

Bad Habit 2: Stop Listening to Cynics

There are people in your community who will try to cut your goals off at the knees. This attack says more about your naysayers than it does about you. The disappointment in their own lives leads to a razing of others’ dreams. While it would be unwise to earmuff every external comment, you need to filter through the noise to divide the personal attacks from the practical critiques.

On the Everest ascent, you must stop listening to cynics. Be wary of the trolls who are uninterested in your growth, and remember, if it’s anonymous, it’s probably not worth considering.

Empowering Action 2: Enlist Coaches

As you quiet the critics, you’ll need to replace the voices with coaches. In other words, find people who are in it for you. This support system will include equippers, coaches, and encouragers that are committed to your betterment.

When you share your dreams with others, you’re giving them power. This is why it’s vital to heed caution when choosing your core team of coaches.

Coaches come in all shapes and sizes. You may select formal executive coaches, informal mentors, and close friends with a history of constructively speaking into your life. The key is in the construction. Deconstructive coaches are not invited to the progress party.

Bad Habit 3: Stop Playing Small

I wonder how many prospective Everest climbers chose to place their boots on an anthill instead of scaling the cliff face. There are two major reasons someone might play small:

Fear of Failure. Big goals are intimidating. They require risks and the willingness to enter our discomfort zone. It’s safer to not try than to try and fail. This risk management keeps us playing small.

Fear of Success. Buried deep inside, many believe they aren’t worthy of achieving huge goals. When this negative thought takes root, it can lead to self-sabotage. Psychologist Gay Hendricks says, “I have a limited tolerance for feeling good. When I hit my Upper Limit, I manufacture thoughts that make me feel bad . . . I do something that stops my positive forward trajectory.”

It’s unconscious sabotage with very real and painful results. You may be completely unaware of your own Upper Limit problem. This is another reason enlisting coaches is essential to your goal achievement.

Empowering Action 3: Own Your Goals

Contemplate the measure of success for a baseball player. In reframing failure, Donald Miller says, “If [a batter] fails 70% of the time, he will end up in the Hall of Fame. I think life gives you even better statistics. If you fail 90% of the time on ambitious goals . . . you’re going to end up in the human being hall of fame.”

If you believe you’re not supposed to fail, you’re doomed. When you realize failure is necessary for progress, you can own your goals. You won’t reach the peak by simply wanting it. You must own your summit. It has to be integral to who you are, who you see yourself as, and where you see yourself going.

Goal shame will strengthen your limits. Owning your goals will shatter them. As you go on with your day, keep this in the forefront of your mind: Successful and selfish are not synonyms. If you feel the effects of goal shame, you’re not alone. And you hold the power to defeat it.

4 Things I Wish I’d Known Before the Pandemic

You’re an experienced leader, but the current crisis has left us all a bit shaken. Some industries that seemed unassailable just weeks ago are gasping for air. What just happened? And what if it happens again?

What Does This Moment Require of Me as a Leader?

Every generation or so, a moment presents itself that demands something extraordinary from us as leaders. These occasions are more than a problem to solve. They are tests of our leadership in a broader sense, in our families, in our communities, and in the world.

4 Things I Wish I’d Known on March 10

You’re an experienced leader, but the current crisis has left us all a bit shaken. Some industries that seemed unassailable just weeks ago are gasping for air. What just happened? And what if it happens again?