Guy Kawasaki returns with a book about life lessons that is entertaining, fun and yes, wise.
Wise Guy is a very personal book since he uses personal stories to give context to his pearls of wisdom. From the beginning Kawasaki clearly states:
"Before you ask, or wonder, this is not my autobiography or memoir. It is a compilation of the most enlightening stories of my life. Think personal lessons, not personal history."Wise Guy is a collection of life lessons. We can learn from our own experience or vicariously from other people's experiences and this is what Guy has to offer: "my goal is to educate, not to awe you".
I'm not sure the order the author followed to write the book. He could have thought about a lesson to share and search for an anecdote to enhance or he could have remind a life event and search for lessons in it. Either way Wise Guy is a book loaded with nuggets of wisdom.
Some of the favorites ones are:
"Be a hard-ass if you are a teacher, manager, coach, or someone who influences people. You’re not doing anyone a favor by lowering your standards and expectations in an effort to be kind, gentle, or popular. The future cost of short-term kindness is great."The world is full of PC-ness and being blunt and clear can be a risk worth taking. None wins from hypocrisy.
"Don’t consider yourself a victim... If you believe you’re a victim, you’ll truly become one.Take responsibility for your fate. You still may not succeed, but at least you’ll try."This is a nugget consistent with other authors like Fred Kofman, Joseph Campbell and others. The victim has the benefit of not having to take responsibility but at a great cost, impotence and lack of freedom.
"Make your personal interests known. This provides “hooks” to develop additional and deeper relationships. These relationships have led to friendships, adventures, and financial rewards. My life would have been a lot less interesting if I had not “opened the kimono” and unveiled my personal interests."
"Cultivate relationships with people you would run to see. Anyone who doesn’t pass the Shopping Center Test may waste your time, and life is too short. Second, be the person other people run to see. This is a useful test for how you treat others."Living in a connected world is an opportunity to expand and grow. People are more than their jobs and sharing what you love can be a glue to support more and better relationships. But also the myriad of relationships can be overwhelming, Guy's advice is prioritize and spend your time wisely.
"If you provide value, you can ask for— and receive— reciprocation. This is the glue that holds society together. You may not care about reciprocation, but the important concept is to help people so much that they would gladly reciprocate."Adam Smith (and others before him) stressed the value of social cooperation. The division of labor works only in a cooperative environment. It is a mistake to think that competition is the opposite of cooperation, competition is the freedom to provide more value than others.You can't get value from society if you don't provide value, unless you are a parasite.
"Smile. The more you smile and laugh, the more you will smile and laugh. The more you smile and laugh, the easier life gets. You can never go wrong being nice, and there’s no such thing as being too nice."This is one of the best ones. People live such dull lives that being playful seems as a sin or a crime (as Bernie DeKoven used to say). Believe in humanity and enjoy life more.
I found one of the last chapters, Ohana, quite special. Guy was humble and brave enough to ask his family and close acquaintances to share a pearl of wisdom they acquire from interacting with him. They share nice personal stories and what they learned form them.
Everybody should take the time to do what Kawasaki did with Wise Guy. Reflect on your life and what you learned, thank the people who touch your life and gave you a lesson, and ask those around you how you have made their lives better.
