Harvey Mackay is the founder, chairman of the
board and chief executive officer of Mackay Envelope Corporation.
He is an
internationally sought after public speaker who was named
one of the top five speakers in the world by Toastmasters
International.
His weekly column of inspirational career
advice is distributed to newspapers in the Uk and Ireland
by Knight Features.
Mackay's fourth book of business advice,
Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty: The Only Networking
Book You'll
Ever
Need
(Currency/Doubleday) made The New York Times best seller
list 12 days after its release.
His Swim With the Sharks
Without Being Eaten Alive was a New York Times No.
1 best seller for 54 weeks and was named the No. 1 business
book
in America in 1988.
Mackay also wrote the best sellers
Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt and Sharkproof.
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His books have sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
An active civic leader, Mackay led the $6 million ticket
buyout to keep the Minnesota Twins in Minnesota, was a catalyst
for getting the Metrodome stadium built and was instrumental
in bringing the Super Bowl to Minneapolis in 1992. He is a
graduate of the University of Minnesota and the Stanford University
Business School Advanced Management Program.
Mackay's business insights have been featured in The Harvard
Business Review, Inc., Reader's Digest and many other publications.
Mackay is a member of numerous boards of directors including
Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. Mackay and his wife have
three children, five grandchildren, and reside near Minneapolis. |
RECENT SAMPLES:
March 2nd, 2009
Truth or consequences
By Harvey Mackay
About a year ago, I wrote a column on the ABCs of selling. When
I came to the letter T, there was no doubt what that word would
be: trust. It's the most important word in business. Trust is central
to doing business with anyone. Without it, you have another word
that begins with T: trouble.
Unfortunately, trust in business plummeted worldwide last year,
according to an Edelman survey released in late January. The public-relations
firm discovered that just 38 percent of respondents aged 35 to
64 said they trusted business, down from 58 percent a year earlier
-- the lowest rating in the survey's 10-year history. It's interesting
that U.S. respondents ranked third. People in Ireland and Japan
were even more suspicious.
As a lifelong businessman, I find this especially troubling. In
my business, there is nothing more important than trust, although
I would list lik ...
February 23rd, 2009
Put your memory to work for you
By Harvey Mackay
Little Johnny, a sixth-grader, came home with a report card that
was all D's and F's. His father asked for an explanation. "I
can never remember anything," answered Johnny.
His father said, "Well, you're not going to any more basketball
games until you get your grades up. That starts now. You can forget
about going to tonight's game."
"
Now wait a minute," said Johnny. "You can't do that to
me. The Cleveland Cavaliers are in town. LeBron James has his team
on another 10-game winning streak. He's averaging 27.8 points a
game, and 1.3 blocks, two steals, seven assists and 7.5 rebounds."
Can't remember?
You can remember anything -- if you put your mind to it and have
a deep-down burning desire to remember it. A man I know can remember
the name of every Beatles song, yet he can't remember his wedding
anniversary.
How many times have I preached: Pal ...
February 16th, 2009
The second Ten Commandments
By Harvey Mackay
We all know about the original Ten Commandments, but have you ever
heard of "The Second Ten Commandments"? I don't remember
who sent them to me -- these pearls of wisdom have been often attributed
to one Elodie Armstrong -- but I sure would like to thank him or
her for sharing this wisdom.
Here they are with my spin on them:
I. Thou shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of
all human activities.
You can't saw sawdust. A day of worry is more exhausting than a
day of work. People get so busy worrying about yesterday or tomorrow,
they forget about today. And today is what you have to work with.
II. Thou shall not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never
come to pass.
Every crisis we face is multiplied when we act out of fear. Fear
is a self-fulfilling emotion. When we fear something, we empower
it. If we refuse to concede to our ..
February 9th, 2009
The best business books of all time
By Harvey Mackay
Peoples' lives change in two ways: the people they meet and the
books they read.
The late Charles "Tremendous" Jones, an inspirational
and motivational speaker and author whom I have long admired, shared
that important bit of wisdom with me many years ago. I've taken
it to heart and passed it on in most of my speeches.
The natural result of preaching that philosophy has put me in a
bit of a dilemma: I'm often asked to list my top 10 favorite business
books (apart from my own, of course!). But when there are 11,000
business books published in the United States each year, it's tough
to find a gem that will unlock the solution to your specific business
situation.
Believe me when I tell you that I have tried to compile such a
list.
Happily, I have found a new book that has delivered the goods. "The
100 Best Business Books of All Time" highligh ...
February
2nd, 2009
Do your homework after the interview, too
By Harvey Mackay
After a job interview, do you know what happens in the office of
the recruiter, personnel manager or boss you just visited? They
close the door and take out an evaluation form or a recording device
and pass judgment on your future. In other words, they do their
homework.
I'm astonished at how few job candidates take their own futures
seriously enough to record or organize their notes on interviews
that potentially have such an impact on their lives.
If you're going to put your future and your fate in someone's hands,
it should be your own. You have your own evaluation to make, impressions
about your performance and about the company.
Those of you who have read my first two books, "Swim With
the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive" and "Beware the
Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt," probably know what's
coming next. First, there was the Macka ...
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