I’m a Guy Kawasaki fan, so this isn’t really a “review” as much as an appreciation for his new book Enchantment. I read it over this weekend, it’s the kind of book you could skim in an hour, or spend a lot of time with. I fell somewhere in the middle, stopping every so often to consider his advice and apply it to situations I find myself in all the time. (Disclosure: Guy works with my company FM in various ways, but I’m writing this mainly because Guy, in his enchanting way, asked me to blog my thoughts here.)
Enchantment is, in essence, a book of simple advice for succeeding in business, and I found myself agreeing with most of it. Guy is a folksy writer and he loves simple anecdotes, the book is full of them. I rolled my eyes when he encouraged us to “make a checklist,” or to smile when meeting someone, and smile with integrity at that. But he’s right, and I realized that every time I see Guy, or see pictures of him, he’s got the real deal smile working, and it really does work to put whoever he’s meeting into an open frame of mind.
Another little gem was his advice to get to know the public person you are about to meet with. I tell my sales team this all the time – nearly everyone in our business has a public face – flickr and twitter streams, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, etc. I’m always astounded when folks don’t take the time to get to know the people they’re trying to do business with. There’s almost always a shared story, passion, or anecdote buried in someone’s public lifestream, and taking the time to pay attention to that is always appreciated.
Guy wraps up all his advice in the concept of being “enchanting,” and I get the idea, but it seems to me it comes down to another simple rule: Be a good, highly engaged person, and expect those you work with to be the same. He ends the book with a warning about how not to become enchanted by those who seem to follow his advice, but are in reality just snake charmers. As we all know, there are plenty of those folks out there as well.
Many would benefit from reading Enchantment solely for Guy’s chapter on managing Twitter, he’s clearly a master at it. He follows that with advice on most of the other major platforms (Facebook, blogs, etc), and these alone would justify the purchase, to my mind. Get Guy’s book, it’s worth the investment.
I had the privelege of being sent an advance copy last month and read it over the course of an evening. I agree with your synopsis. The social media management advice alone would be worth purchasing this book. You are correct though in reference to ‘checklists’ and ‘smiling’. We all need to be reminded to do the simple things in life that help make life successful, and Guy has an amazing ability to convey that message. Every photo I see of him, he is grinning ear to ear.
a book of simple advice for succeeding in business, and I found myself agreeing with most of it.