Harvey Mackay is an American businessman, author and syndicated columnist with Universal Uclick. His weekly column gives career and inspirational advice and is featured in over 100 newspapers. Mackay has authored seven New York Times bestselling books, including three number one bestsellers. He is also a member of the National Speakers Association Council of Peers Award for Excellence Hall of Fame.
Early life
Harvey Mackay was born in 1932 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Jack and Myrtle Mackay and is the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants. His father, an Associated Press correspondent, headed AP's Saint Paul office for 35 years. His mother was a substitute schoolteacher. Mackay held jobs from an early age, including selling magazines door-to-door, delivering papers, shoveling snow, and cutting grass. While in high school, Mackay clerked in a men's store during the week and worked as a golf caddy on the weekends. Mackay graduated from Central High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1950. In 1954, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where he also lettered in golf. He graduated from the Stanford University Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1968.
Career
Following his graduation from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Mackay became an envelope salesperson for Quality Park Envelop Company. He also joined Minneapolis’ Oak Ridge Country Club, where he played golf with area businessmen. Mackay became the number one salesperson at Quality Park utilizing the connections he made at the country club. In 1959, he used the proceeds from Quality Park to purchase an insolvent envelope manufacturer with 12 employees. From 1977–1981, Mackay chaired Minnesota's Stadium Task Force, which lobbied for the building of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. In 1984, Mackay and other Twin Cities business leaders purchased thousands of Minnesota Twins tickets to block owner Calvin Griffiths from selling the team to outside investors and relocating it. In 1985, the Mackay Envelope Company introduced the Photopak, an envelope that holds processed photo prints, and became an industry leader for this product. The company created the MackayMitchell Photopak division, privately owned by Harvey Mackay and Scott Mitchell, and today is the largest North American supplier of photo envelopes. In 2002, MackayMitchell Photopak purchased the photopackaging division of Mailwell Envelope. MackayMitchell Envelope Company employs 500 employees, produces 25 million envelopes a day with sales of $100 million. In 1988, Mackay wrote his first book, Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive. It was on the New York Times bestsellers list for 54 weeks and has sold over 5 million copies. Mackay began his public speaking career following the release of Swim with the Sharks. Mackay's second book, Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt, was published in 1990 and reprinted in August 1996. It reached number one on the New York Times bestsellers list on February 25, 1990. The New York Times listed both books in its top 15 most motivational books of all time in August 1996. In 1993, Toastmasters International named Mackay one of its top five speakers in the world. His third book, Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, was published in April 1997 and was a New York Times bestseller for five months. The following year, in December 1998, Ballantine Books published Pushing the Envelope, his fourth New York Times bestseller. In 2000, Mackay sold Mackay Envelope Company to a management group. He remains an equal partner and chairman of the company. In 2007 the company changed its name to MackayMitchell Envelope Company LLC. Later that year, Ballantine Books released Mackay's fifth New York Times bestseller, We Got Fired!... And It’s the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Us. It was Mackay's third book to reach number one on that list. Portfolio Penguin released his next book, Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door, his sixth New York Times bestseller, in February 2010. The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World, his seventh New York Times bestseller, was released in November 2011 by Portfolio Penguin.
Civic experience
Mackay has been active on 20 boards of directors. Mackay started volunteering with the American Cancer Society in Minnesota, after his mother died from cancer. Eventually, he became the Society's state chairman. Other boards he served on include the Minnesota Orchestra, the Guthrie Theater, the Allina Health Systems, and the Minnesota chapter of the American Heart Association. He was also president of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce and the University of Minnesota National Alumni Association. He served for twelve years on the board of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute.
Awards
Mackay received the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraising Award in 1982 from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Minnesota Chapter. In 1989, he was awarded the Minnesota Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He was inducted into the Sales and Marketing Executives International Academy of Achievement in 1990. In 2002, Mackay was elected to the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame by Twin Cities Business. He received the Horatio Alger award in 2004, and the University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award in 2008. He was named Director Emeritus of the Minnesota Orchestral Association in December 2013.
Personal life
Mackay resides in the Twin Cities and Paradise Valley, Arizona with his wife Carol Ann. They have three children, David Mackay, Miriam Mackay Bartimer, and Joanne Herzig, and 11 grandchildren.
