Guy Kawasaki
Social media allows me to pick my times for social interaction.
Create something, sell it, make it better, sell it some more and then create something that obsoletes what you used to make.
I merely consider myself a father, and one role of a father is to provide financial resources for his family.
I do have a peripatetic and active intellectual curiosity.
Not many people agree with what I do.
I don't want to make more friends. I have four kids, I have plenty of friends, and all the personal relationships I need.
If you look at my Twitter feed it is 99% links, but 1% is me responding and 1% of a big number is a big number.
I'm a lousy predictor of the future.
I have developed a Zen-like approach to the operating systems that people use: 'When you're ready, the right operating system will appear in your life.'
When I was getting my education, I fell in love with the writings of Peter Drucker. He was my hero. I had a naive belief that when I became a manager, it was going to be like Peter Drucker's books. That is, I was going to be the effective executive. I was going to talk to people about their goals. I was going to help them actualize.
The most important thing is that you hire people who complement you and are better than you in specific areas. Good people hire people better than themselves. So A players hire A+ players.
A company should search for every instance of the use of its name and zoom in when there are issues - both good and bad.
If you provide enough value, then you earn the right to promote your company in order to recruit new customers. The key is to always provide value.
I don't take myself that seriously. I'm a pragmatist.
It's hard to name a person who is unpopular who has influence.
Every day, I get five pieces of hate mail: Tweets or hate emails.
People are forgiving of v 1.0 of a product if it's truly innovative and useful. Then you can get away with a lot. But if you're merely marginally improving the status quo, then you better be rock solid.
My perspective is this: my allegiance is to the best product for my needs. For a computer, this means Macintosh. For phone and tablet, this means Android.
Many Android users aren't aware of some the things that Android can already do such as supporting the enforcement of companywide security policies, encrypting phone data and providing e-mail and calendar widgets that update in real-time. Our job is to help people and businesses discover and use these features.
My mother taught me not to take any crap from anyone and to stand up for my rights. You might not believe this lesson came from a tiny Japanese woman, but it's true.
I would like my kids to inherit a world where people succeed because of merit and hard work, not entitlement, and where people accept others for what they are and not try to change them.
Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.Collection: Business
You have to sit by the side of a river a very long time before a roast duck will fly into your mouth.Collection: Rivers
If you don't toot your own horn, don't complain that there's no music.Collection: Enchantment
If you make meaning, you'll make money.Collection: Making Money
Revolutionary leaders have to care more about what they think of themselves than what the world thinks of them.Collection: Leadership
Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant.Collection: Elephants
Entrepreneur is not a job title. It is a state of mind of people who want to alter the future.Collection: Jobs
The best reason to start an organization is to make meaning; to create a product or service to make the world a better place.Collection: Inspirational
Better to fail at doing the right thing than to succeed at doing the wrong thing.Collection: Leadership
The Future belongs to those who can spread ideas.Collection: Ideas
The hardest thing about getting started, is getting started.Collection: Getting Started
Pursuing your passions makes you more interesting, and interesting people are enchanting.Collection: Inspirational
You know in a startup, you only need three people. You need someone who can make something. You need someone who can sell it. And you need someone to collect the money. That's the only three roles in a startup. So which one are you?Collection: People
In giving presentations, use the 10/20/30 rule....use only 10 slides, take 20 minutes maximum, and use at least 30-point fonts.Collection: Giving
If you want to make a good first impression, smile at people. What does it cost to smile? Nothing. What does it cost not to smile? Everything, if not smiling prevents you from enchanting people.Collection: People
Customers can tell you how to evolve a product, but they can't show you how to make a leap.Collection: Leap
Greatness is won, not awarded.Collection: Motivation
Everyone is passionate about something. It's your job to find out what it is.Collection: Jobs
The goal is to provide inspiring information that moves people to action.Collection: Moving
Just be nice, take genuine interest in the people you meet, and keep in touch with people you like. This will create a group of people who are invested in helping you because they know you and appreciate you.Collection: Nice
Best way to succeed is to do things for the customer, not to the competition. Very few people buy a product in order to help you hurt the competition. To think otherwise is lunacy.Collection: Hurt
Provide good content and you’ll earn the right to promote your product.Collection: Products
"(Big name research firm) says our market will be $50 billion in 2010." Every entrepreneur has a few slides about how the market potential for his segment is tens of billions. It doesn't matter if the product is bar mitzah planning software or 802.11 chip sets. Venture capitalists don't believe this type of forecast because it's the fifth one of this magnitude that they've heard that day. Entrepreneurs would do themselves a favor by simply removing any reference to market size estimates from consulting firms.Collection: Business
A magnificent cause can overcome a prickly personality, but your ability to enchant people increases if they like you, so you should aspire to both. You’ll know that you’re likeable when you can communicate freely, casually, and comfortably with people.Collection: People
Go APE: Author a great book, Publish it quickly, and Entrepreneur your way to success. Self-publishing isn’t easy, but it’s fun and sometimes even lucrative. Plus, your book could change the world.Collection: Fun
If you truly don't have competition, then zoom out until you can define some. Competition can be as simple as the reliance on the status quo, Microsoft (since at some point Microsoft will compete with everyone for everything), or researchers in universities. Pick something, because saying you have no competition at all is a nonstarter.Collection: Simple
Pursue joy, not happiness. This is probably the hardest lesson of all to learn. It probably seems to you that the goal in life is to be happy. Oh, you maybe have to sacrifice and study and work hard, but, by and large, happiness should be predictable.Collection: Hard Work
Inoculate yourself from dangerous bozos.Collection: Dangerous