Dan Cathy - Michael, thank you for joining us today, and we've we've talked a lot you and I about changing marketplace. How industries are changing? Medium is changing. And you being in the in the publication business, communication  business, we see what's going on with newspapers, what's happening to hard  copy books. Where's the market headed? What do you see it five and 10 years  now as a communicator?  

Michael Hyatt- Well, I think it's going to be increasingly digital. I mean, the trend  is obvious, and I don't see that slowing down. I think people want to get content  digitally, and even some of the most resistant people I know, like my parents,  now have digital devices and are using those. So I think the trend is pretty  certain.  

Dan Cathy - So as a communicator, if I'm communicating within my organization, thoughts, ideas, strategies, directions and so forth. What do I What are the new  skills that I'm going to have to have as a leader in order to communicate  effectively with the with the digital audience?  

Michael Hyatt - Well, you know, the interesting thing is, the audience is not that  different. All the things that we used to use in networking, if we went to a local  chamber meeting or a Kiwanis meeting, all that still stuff still applies in the digital world, and people have to lean into it and mostly engage. They can't see these  social media technologies as a way to broadcast a monologue, but they've got  to get involved in a conversation, listen to what people are saying and respond  to them.  

Dan Cathy - Yeah, when as you look forward into podcasts and the area of  Facebook, is there something else you see around the corner that's pretty  imminent that we should be mindful of?  

Michael Hyatt - You know, I wish, I wish I did. I don't know what's going to be the new technology, you know, over the next couple of years, but I think if we  embrace the technologies that exist, then we'll be well positioned to take  advantages of the ones that come. And one of the ones that I'm the most excited about is podcasting. I think it represents an unprecedented opportunity for  people to get out there with almost like an on demand radio show. You know,  there's 68 million blogs out there, so if you're starting as a blogger, a lot of  competition, only a half a million podcasts. So there's an opportunity, great  opportunity, to get noticed still today.  

Dan Cathy - One of the things that I've learned is everybody is a reporter today.  Everybody's Walter Cronkite. And when I mention that to some audiences, they 

say, who in the world is Walter Cronkite, but everybody with a smartphone,  they're a photographer, they're a videographer, they can capture. And we've  seen some examples in the political realm where there are some off handed  comments that were made, that were captured. And it really makes us on guard  as a leader, to be guarded in our conversation, and what we say  

Michael Hyatt - it does. We've got to recognize that we're always on, that those  crazy pictures or the sound bites that we didn't tend to get reported or recorded  could get recorded. And so I think we got to be circumspect. I think we still have  

to be authentic. We have to be real, but we have to realize that the camera's  always rolling, the microphone is always on, anything could get out there. And,  you know, it reflects not just on us, but the organizations we represent, the  associations we have. And I think in a way, it's a good thing. It creates some  accountability. That's not bad.  

Dan Cathy - Michael, I'm following you. I'd be interested. Who are you following? 

Michael Hyatt - Well, I follow guys like John Maxwell. Of course, Seth Godin is  one of the guys that I read, you know, over and over again every day with his  blog that comes out. And so thought leaders, you know, like that.  

Dan Cathy - We talk a lot about success, and we ask a lot of people about their  view of success, many perspectives on that, as a communicator, as a as a  seasoned veteran business person, as a true influencer and leader, influencing  a lot of folks. What would you say to those that would follow you as it relates to  this whole concept of what really is success?  

Michael Hyatt - Well, to me, success is all about what you're learning and how  you're learning, and if you're not learning, I don't care where you are in life,  you're not successful, at least from my perspective. So I measure my own  success in terms of my own personal growth. That's what gives me happiness,  you know, a sense of progress, a sense of forward movement. So I voraciously  do things like I tend to see the Chick fil A leader cast and try to download all this  content because I want to grow. And life is short and there's so much to learn.  

Dan Cathy - Michael, thank you so much. Honored to be your friend. Thanks,  Dan, honored to follow you. Thank you, sir. 



Last modified: Tuesday, September 16, 2025, 11:41 AM