There are many things that are enjoyable in this book, not only Kawasaki's ideas and excellent practical tips, but his loose and easy writing style and his lack of pretentiousness and willingness to call us or anyone who overuses words, or as he says so succinctly, "Find unique language or offer scientific proof points, and don't be tempted to think that you have the only product described with such over-familiar adjectives as intuitive, secure, fast, and scalable." God, is he right. I remember being in meetings and hearing the words "actionables" and "scalable" and "vertical market" and playing bullshit bingo for hours on end; problem was, one could reach Bingo! within a few short minutes, alas.
Practical advice runs the gamut from Make Meaning, with a lovely quote from Beethoven ("I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out: that is the reason why I compose.") which brings to this writer's mind another and similar, I think, quote by Van Gogh who once said that when he felt taken with seizures (most know that Van Gogh, like many great artists, including some have speculated Beethoven was epileptic). Van Gogh said that (and I paraphrase), when he feels that fire there is nothing left to do but "take my revenge by painting the stars." If you do not know what it is that your company adds to the world or to the market, then essentially, you have nothing. Make Meaning does not have to mean change the world, though certainly it could mean that, but however big or small it is, you want to know what that meaning is and believe in it. More, you need every single person who works for you to believe in that meaning and this is where Kawasaki says you must create a Mantra - an expresssion, thought, idea that is not public, but is known by all involved in the company and that motivates and helps them want to make that meaning every day. Kawasaki provides excellent examples of various Mantras and has tables of Mantras versus Taglines - all of which are a valuable resource for anyone interested in business but also and perhaps more importantly, that serves as a kind of guide for the person starting up so that they really understand the difference between the two.
Article comments
1 - TDavid
I'm currently working my way through this book. I'm impressed so far.