Ethos3 recently sat down with our dear friend, Wayne Hastings, Sr. Vice President and Group Publisher of Bibles, Reference and Curriculum at Thomas Nelson Publishers.
1. You work for one of the top publishing companies in the world, how do you find time to be an author, speaker, and business consultant?
First, I was blessed with a mother who taught me good time management and work ethics. Secondly, I don’t need a lot of sleep, six to seven hours is fine with me, so I start my day very early and work on writing and speaking during the early morning. I also have been able to create a work balance that allows me to do writing, speaking and consulting along with my normal executive duties.
2. You focus heavily on building and transforming great leaders, what do you think are some key assets leaders must have to be successful?
I think basically leaders need to be trusted and genuinely interested in the people whom hey lead. Great leaders begin with shaping themselves – they create a leadership style that people want to follow for the long term. The are humble, they develop people, they are persistent, they have tremendous focus and compassion, they understand how to make meaning for their people and they have flawless integrity.
3. On that same note, how do feel about leaders as professional storytellers? Is this a quality they need to have?
Absolutely, nothing communicates and resonates more to people than the power of story. Leaders have vision and the best way to communicate vision is to tell story – a story that communicates what will things be like when we whatever “this is” done.
4. What was the inspiration behind the your book, Trust Me?
A couple of things. First, my friend and co-author Ron Potter and I had similar ideas on what it takes to develop into a great leader and we felt we needed to share those ideas. Secondly, we see so many organizations that forget about focusing on leadership and how much they can improve if they had great leaders at the critical places. We also see a lot of people blaming circumstances or their teams for failue and in reality its the leader’s responsibility to lead, not blame. It’s the leader’s style that contributes to the success or failure, not the team.
5. We talk a lot about the different generations in the workforce today. Do you feel that great leaders are coming out of the Gen X & Y Generations?
Certainly and I so appreciate how the new leaders come at things in different ways. I think many Gen X or Y leaders create impressive cultures because they inherently have the team values so necessary to do that.
6. You are in the publishing industry, so I have to ask…favorite book?
The list is far too long for one favorite. I am an insatiable reader, especially leadership and good fiction. I would say the five books that have most affected me as a leader are (in random order): My Bible, In Search of Excellence, My Utmost for His Highest, The Experience Economy, and Leading Change. But there are hundreds of others and I know I’ve left something out.
7. It seems you have already accomplished so much, what is on the horizon for you now?
Plenty. I have two more leadership books outlines in my head and almost ready to start writing. I’m taking a shot at writing a fiction novel and just started it. I want to raise up great leaders at Thomas Nelson and mentor them to be effective. Plus, I can’t stop product development and I want to continue to develop products for Thomas Nelson that are attractive to people who may not be familiar with the Bible, but once they sample one of our products they want to dive into that experience. So, my head never stops.
