Meet Jay Papasan
Executive Coach. CEO. Author.
I help business owners and senior leaders get clear on what matters most — and build the discipline to act on it.
As CEO of Produktive (The ONE Thing company) and co-author of The ONE Thing — a #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller with over 4 million copies sold — I've spent two decades studying what separates extraordinary results from everything else. Today, I coach founders and business owners who want to stop doing everything and start doing the right thing.
Core Values
Impact. I choose to work on things that matter to me and to others. I'd rather do one thing that changes someone's trajectory than ten things that look impressive on a résumé. Exponential over incremental. Always.
Family. I don't invest time in strangers at the expense of my family, friends, and partners. Family rituals are sacred. Milestone moments are not to be missed. Relationships don’t fit around my work. They're the reason for the work.
Abundance. I believe money is good for the good it can do. My choose work that creates opportunities and wealth for others — not just for me. Give, give, give. Invest in the growth of partners. Avoid zero-sum games. The leaders I admire most build tables with more chairs.
I describe myself as a "Nerdpreneur" — a nerdy kid from Memphis who escaped into books and somehow turned that obsession into a career.
It started in fourth grade. A teacher read The Hobbit aloud to our class, and something clicked. I lived in our small school library after that. By college, I was working at David-Kidd, a renowned independent bookstore in Memphis — not for the paycheck (I waited tables for that), but because I couldn't stop reading.
I majored in English and French at the University of Memphis with absolutely no clue what I wanted to do with my life. So I did what any confused bookworm would do: I moved to Paris.
For three years, I worked as a translator for a medical company and spent weekends with my friend Bryan renovating an olive farm in a tiny Tuscan village called Metato. Those years taught me something I still believe — that life should be lived fully, not deferred.
Eventually, I landed at NYU, where I earned my MA with a creative writing dissertation, studying under E.L. Doctorow and other literary masters. I taught an 8am undergraduate creative writing class (tough crowd) and served as a volunteer teacher at a hospital Randall's Island.
From there, I became an editor at HarperCollins Publishers in New York, starting as an editorial assistant and working my way up.
My biggest win there was Bill Phillips' Body-for-Life, which went on to sell over 6 million copies. I also worked with Mia Hamm on Go for the Goal. I earned my stripes in traditional publishing before I ever set foot in Austin.
When Wendy and I got married, we quit our jobs and backpacked Europe and North Africa for five months. It was the best decision we ever made.
We landed in Austin, Texas, and in 2000, I joined a small real estate company called Keller Williams as a newsletter writer. At the time, there were 27 employees and about 6,500 agents. I had no idea what was coming.
Over the next 25+ years, I partnered with founder Gary Keller to co-author 12 books — six of them bestsellers — selling nearly 7 million copies. The ONE Thing alone has sold over 4 million copies in 40+ languages and spent more than 500 weeks on national bestseller lists.
I also led the company's education department during the period when Training Magazine inducted Keller Williams into their Hall of Fame as the #1 training company in America. And along the way, I launched my first solo title, Rookie Real Estate Agent, in 2025.
But the work I'm most proud of isn't on a bestseller list.
Today, I coach business owners and senior leaders — people running companies generating $3 million or more who are trying to figure out how to grow without losing themselves in the process. I've been where they are. I know what it's like to juggle too many roles, to say yes to too many things, and to confuse being busy with making progress. My job is to help them see what they can't see on their own, get honest about what matters, and build a plan that actually moves the needle.
I'm also CEO of Produktive, the training and coaching company behind The ONE Thing methodology. I host The ONE Thing podcast. And every Friday, I write The TwentyPercenter — a newsletter of actionable ideas for growing your business, optimizing your time, and expanding your mindset.
Wendy and I still live in Austin with our sons, Gus and Edward. We co-own Papasan Properties Group. I still read constantly — 595 books between 2013 and 2025, roughly half fiction, half nonfiction. I've visited all 50 states and five of seven continents. I once had an ostrich for a pet. I pick locks as a hobby. And I ran my first and only marathon dressed in an Elvis getup.
I learned how I wanted to lead by watching my dad. He rose from engineer to CEO, but what I remember most is that he handwrote holiday cards to all 2,000 of his employees every year — and seemed to know every one of them. At his memorial, people who hadn't worked with him in 25 years still showed up. That's the kind of impact I'm working toward.
If you're a business owner looking for a thinking partner who's been in the trenches — someone who can help you find clarity in the chaos — I'd love to talk.
Let's Connect
Here's a brief secondary textHave a question, booking inquiry, or just want to say hello?
My team and I review every message. We’d love to hear from you.