the enchanting Guy Kawasaki

I recently attended a seminar in which Guy Kawasaki provided insight on his theory of ‘enchantment,’ which is a step up from the social media buzz word, ‘engagement.’ He implores us to “up the standard” from engagement to enchantment. Next year, if not sooner, someone will be trying to persuade us to take take enchantment up a notch to… what’s greater than being enchanting? Omniscient? Splendiferous? Who knows? For now at least, we’re dealing with enchantment. I thoroughly enjoyed this event and left with valuable information. I took copious notes, but I’ll share with you a few key points.

1. Achieve likeability. Likeability is achieved through genuine smiles, equal (not over or under) dressing and a perfect handshake.

2. Achieve trustworthiness. Trustworthiness is achieved by trusting others, having a “bake, don’t eat” mentality and by defaulting to “yes.”

3. Perfect your product. Kawasaki recommends that your product/service be DICEE – Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Empowering and Elegant.

4. Launch your product. When it comes to launching your product: tell a story, plant many seeds and use salient points.

5. Overcome resistance. Provide social proof of what makes your product standout. Find a bright spot to highlight. Last, but certainly not least, enchant ALL of the influencers. Don’t assume who the decision makers are.

6. Endure. Build an ecosystem of conferences, blogs, products, users, etc. Invoke reciprocation. Don’t rely on money as the core reason for people to do things.

7. Present. (This is the one with which I struggle the most. I have a MAJOR fear of public speaking!) Kawasaki offered this advice: Customize the presentation. Sell your dream. He uses a 10-20-30 rule of Powerpoint- 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 pt font.

8. Use technology. Remove the speed bumps (ex. captcha.) When it comes to engagement, be fast, touch many people, be consistent.

9. Enchant up. When your supervisor asks you to do something, drop everything. Prototype fast. Deliver bad news early.

10. Enchant down. Provide employees with a MAP – mastery, autonomy, purpose. Empower people to make decisions and be willing to do the dirty jobs.

Of course the main purpose of this presentation was to promote Kawasaki’s book, Enchantment, but his presentation was more than mere marketing. It was entertaining and chock full of useful information. I shall now go forth and be enchanting. More importantly, I’m prepared to help YOU be enchanting as well.

Check out the presentation slides. There are more than 10, but as Kawasaki said, we can’t all be him.