This book failed to enchant me. Perhaps I have a high bar, prose-wise, for enchantment. Perhaps I am not the target audience. Or perhaps the book rides on Kawasaki's reputation rather than its content. The book is a loosely organized series of maxims with supporting explanations and stories.
Throughout all of his advice, I can't help but think about the greasy-palmed corporate hacks on the other side of his advice: "Give for Intrinsic Reasons", "Bake a Bigger Pie", and "Default to Yes". This is good advice, and I am certain that some who read the book may follow this advice and find deeper meaning in life.
But that's just it. Enchantment is the domain of magic; magic is the domain of religion. When a book whose motive is to teach people how to win in the marketplace and rake in profits veers into moral territory, it's suspect to me. I do believe that being good is profitable--but not always. And that's the failure of the profit motive. Guy Kawasaki of Apple: pay your foreign workers a better wage, let them unionize, and give them more breaks and remove the frantic production schedules. Then talk to me about how corporate managers should treat other corporate managers so they can get ahead in life. Can meaning be found in this realm? Or are the gains of such shallow morality ultimately self serving? Or, wait--isn't that the point?
I am not really the target audience of this book. Sure, I'm an author/publisher/entrepreneur. But much of the book is not applicable to me, oversimplified, or boring.
Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
