I’m One of Many Seeds, and Happy To Be…

“My positioning statement is two words: “Empower people.” What’s your’s?” Guy Kawasaki, Enchantment

Bringing about change is a lot like swimming upstream.  Everything and everyone pushes you to run fast with them promising safer, faster, easier waters via alternative compass headings. But changemakers in the world not only swim against the current, they pull thousands upstream with them.

Motivating movement with the force of an idea.

Guy Kawasaki takes on this force in his latest book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. I’ve long enjoyed reading Kawasaki for his ability to present ideas that can help you move mountains in ways that are both motivating and realistically grounded.  So I was delighted to receive a pre-release copy from his publisher last month to review if I felt so inclined.

You have to enjoy a book that wraps up with a chapter on how to avoid being wrongly captivated by individuals who use the Enchantment techniques just outlined against your better interests.  Reminds you that in this world of ours there is always someone looking to sway and influence — You are the only gatekeeper who can wholly own the decisions of what is in your own self interest. An important item to remember so that you honestly evaluate the opportunities that come your way as well as avoid becoming cynical about techniques that used honestly can improve your ability to understand, communicate, and motivate.

Communicating passion is hard for many.  We fall into the trap of listing benefit and feature bullet points that don’t get at the heartbeat of why we believe in what we are doing. Kawasaki describes the idea of immersing people in your cause (chapter 5):

“When you captivate people this way, they lose track of time, suspend their cynicism and skepticism, and may also break into a sweat.” Guy Kawasaki, Enchantment

So much better than yawning through a powerpoint deck.

This is a book about embedding enchantment into your organization, whether start-up or existing. Kawasaki balances the need to be personally enchanting with the need for having an enchanting cause. In other words, it’s fine to be a likable, trustable person, but there has to be depth to what you want to do well beyond just, “trust me.”  This depth can provide an employer with tools to motivate with more than just money:

“Motivating people is not as simple as feeding money into employees and getting out results as if they were vending machines. Providing an opportunity for employees to achieve mastery, autonomy, and purpose (MAP) is more important than money.” Guy Kawasaki, Enchantment

Which brings up why I’m a seed. Hard to miss reviews of Enchantment around the web. Easy to see he has taken his own advice to plant many seeds:

“This is a strategy of big numbers: The more seeds, the more nobodies you’ll reach, and the more likely they turn into somebodies for your cause.” Guy Kawasaki, Enchantment

Of course, he means nobody in only the most positive way, 🙂

I enjoyed the read and can recommend it. It provides ideas and techniques in a comfortable context that makes you feel they can be integrated into what you are doing today. So in the best of worlds, it may just help you change your world and that’s a good thing.

Until midnight on the 7th you can get a copy of his previous book Reality Check free with the purchase of Enchantment. Details are here.