Tony Michalski's Master Key Coaching

I was browsing my copy of The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel, and found myself thinking about the idea of giving and receiving.

I sure do love to give! I get such pleasure from choosing a gift for someone.

But there is another part of the equation… I truly believe that one who enjoys giving should also enjoy receiving.

There cannot be one without another.

After all – in order to give, someone has to receive. And if you are to receive, someone has to give.

As much as I love to give, I also love to receive. If you want to give me a gift, and you are giving it with a glad heart, then bring it on! I absolutely love it!

Again, in order for there to be giving, someone must be able to receive.

In Part 4 of Charles Haanel’s The Master Key System, the idea of giving and receiving comes up in paragraph 20:

Here is the secret of power, of mastery. To overcome does not mean to go without things. Self-denial is not success. We cannot give unles we get; we cannot be helpful unless we are strong. The Infinite is not a bankrupt and we who are the representatives of Infinite power should not be bankrupts either, and if we wish to be of service to others we must have power and more power, but to get it we must give it; we must be of service.

And in the very next paragraph he states, “The more we give the more we shall get…”

Almost sounds a little like the conundrum of what came first, the chicken or the egg? That is, some might ask, “But how can I give what I don’t yet HAVE?”

I like what Mr. Haanel suggests in the passage above – he suggests that “…to get it we must give it; we must be of service.”

We can translate that to, “We must give value.”

It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to give money if we’re still working on receiving it – but we must give something. If you want your boss to write your paycheck next week, you need to do something in exchange. You need to give value.

Let’s say that there is a specific charity you really like – and they are fundraising.

Now, let’s say you have lost your job and you need to feed your family. You don’t have to send the charity a check from your food or rent budget. But you COULD do SOMETHING. You could volunteer a bit for them. You could post an appeal for them on your Facebook profile. You could Tweet their website to your Twitter followers. You could pray for them.

All those activities are giving activities. You are giving value. And you can be sure that if you give freely, and with an open heart, you WILL receive. You will receive the feeling of happiness for having helped another or for having brought joy to another.

Picture yourself giving a gift to a small child, and seeing his face when he opens it with wide eyes and eagerness.

If that in itself puts a smile on your face and in your heart, guess what? You have just received!

Now, go out there and give just for the joy of giving.

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About this article’s author:

Kathy Tremblay is an entrepreneur who has been on a path of self development
for more years than she can remember. She lives in New Hampshire in the
summer, and on the southeastern US coast in the winter with her husband
John. She writes personal development articles for her blog at
http://www.SelfDevelopmentAndGrowth.com.

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© Anthony R. Michalski/Master Key Coaching | Print This Article | (1) Comment

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki. Click on the cover to purchase at Amazon.com.

[tl;dr^*: Enchantment is the new book by Guy Kawasaki, so if you're a business person (or in the business world), then you simply must get this book. If you're not, then you may still want to get this book as Mr. Kawasaki's explication of the "new" social norms will potentially make your life better and easier.]

Enchantment “causes a voluntary change of hearts and minds and therefore actions. It is more than manipulating people to help you get your way. Enchantment transforms situations and relationships.”

That is Guy Kawasaki’s explanation of what enchantment is in the sense he uses it in his new book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.

I was privileged to receive a review copy of Mr. Kawasaki’s new book. I was also fortunate enough to interview Mr. Kawasaki about the book. These are my impressions of Enchantment and what it can potentially mean for you.

[Please note: You will not find in this review plays on the word "enchantment" nor any puns, jokes, or cute references. I have a feeling that when all is said and done, there will be no less than a few thousand tropes like that. I refuse to add to the bad "jokery."]

Who Is Guy Kawasaki?

Although he doesn’t like it, Guy Kawasaki is often referred to as a “legend.” He was one of Apple Computer‘s first “evangelists” — the people who were responsible for marketing the original Macintosh in 1984.

After Apple, Mr. Kawasaki started a software company and eventually became a venture capitalist. The list of the companies in which he used his “golden touch” is impressive, to say the least.

Mr. Kawasaki is also an author and a speaker. He has written ten books, including Enchantment.

The ten books Guy Kawasaki has written.

His most famous books, The Art of the Start and The Macintosh Way, are required reading for any person starting a business.

Mr. Kawasaki knows his stuff — and not from an “ivory tower,” theoretical perspective. He’s done it. He continues to do it.

That, in part, is what makes Enchantment so interesting…

The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

Enchantment is the culmination of Mr. Kawasaki’s life work. Between the covers of the book you will find the methods he used to help market the Macintosh. You will find what helps him launch new companies. You’ll see how ideas are taken from a person’s head into the “collective consciousness.”

You’ll find the heart and soul of Guy Kawasaki.

From achieving “likability” to using technology to how to enchant your boss, Mr. Kawasaki leaves no stone unturned as he details for you how, as Steve Wozniak is quoted on the cover of the book, “to create a company as enchanting as Apple.”

In Enchantment, Mr. Kawasaki makes frequent reference to two books: Influence by Robert Cialdini and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The latter is about making and keeping relationships with people and the former is about persuading people so that you get what you want.

By using those two “ingredients” and adding his own special flavoring, Mr. Kawasaki creates “enchantment” — that state of having people interested in you, your company, and what you’re doing. It’s more than winning a friend and it’s not as immediate as persuasion. It’s a long-term relationship built on trust.

In short, it’s marketing in an age when just one dissatisfied customer can use the power of the Internet to air grievances and voice complaints — and those will echo far and wide (and perhaps forever) in the online world.

That very same power can make a company great. It can also give the “little guy” an opportunity to go head-to-head with the “big guys.” The act of enchanting oftentimes goes beyond the product or service because, when done properly, it hits the heart and mind simultaneously. Thus, a computer is not merely a computer; it’s a “Mac.” An airline flight is more than a mode of transportation; in the hands of Virgin (Sir Richard Branson‘s company), it’s an “experience.” A simple bed and breakfast when practicing enchantment becomes someone’s “romantic weekend getaway.”

In our digital world when businesses either “churn and burn” or “coddle and caress” in their marketing methods, Mr. Kawasaki extolls the virtues of creating magic by what can be best summarized as being “nice.” It’s not a one-way push in either direction; it’s a delicate balance of listening to what your customers want and delivering what you have in a way that they not only understand, but embrace.

More Than Marketing

Enchantment is a business book. It’s a book about getting new clients and/or customers and keeping the ones you have. It will more than likely be labeled as a marketing book.

That’s unfortunate.

It’s unfortunate because overall, Enchantment is more than that.

More than the marketing methods and greater than the business ideas is the overarching meaning of Enchantment. In some ways it’s a modern day, business world version of Emily Post’s Etiquette. It explains how we should act toward each other as we reach for business connections and present our ideas and products and services to the world.

That’s only scratching the surface, though.

Yes, the methods and actions and ideas are important, but it’s the “soul” underlying them that is more important. It’s about being nice; looking for and striving for the win-win; it’s about making the world a better place.

Those things don’t come from mere actions. Like good manners, when done hollowly, they come off as cold, distant, and fake.

Therein is the reason many will fail as they try to enchant their market. Instead of using Mr. Kawasaki’s methods like a well-stated compliment or an endearing politeness, some will wield these methods like a club and come off like a smarmy huckster.

Luckily, Mr. Kawasaki provides many real-world examples of enchantment in action throughout the book and even has a chapter about how one can resist enchantment, that is how to see through fake attempts at enchantment.

This “soul” is also what makes Enchantment timeless. Because it’s a book about getting your message to your audience, Mr. Kawasaki discusses the technology and services that we are using now, such as Facebook and Twitter. Will these technologies be around in five years? Ten years? Who knows?

It doesn’t matter, though, because the ideas in Enchantment transcend them. No matter what is coming around the corner, the technical details may vary but the ideology will remain the same. It’s not the tools that are important, but the person using them.

A Gift and a Curse

One of the charms of Enchantment is that it contains the ideology and the methods of Mr. Kawasaki. It’s as if the contents of his brain were dumped onto the printed page.

That is, as Adrian Monk from the television show “Monk” would say, a gift and a curse.

It’s a gift because a person can literally turn to any page in Enchantment randomly and find a useful idea or method that he or she can, more often than not, apply immediately. For example, while writing this I opened the book and it fell to page 151. That is the first page of Chapter 10, “How to Enchant Employees.” On that page is the idea “Provide a MAP.”

Providing an opportunity for employees to achieve mastery, autonomy, and purpose (MAP) is more important than money.

Whether you’re in business or not, that’s a good piece of information to know. It makes sense. A person can use that both in the boardroom and on Main Street. It works.

Enchantment is chock full of information like that.

That’s also it’s curse.

There is an awful lot of information in this book. There are also an awful lot of methods. I think that there needed to be a section in the book that tied them all together into some sort of action plan that one could follow.

What should a small business do first to begin creating enchantment? Is there a way to enact these methods systematically?

It’s a minor quibble, but I think this addition to the book would have proven invaluable to many readers.

A Few Words to the Publisher

The publisher of Enchantment is Portfolio/Penguin Group. As a fellow publisher, I must say that they did an excellent job on the book. The design and layout of the interior is beautiful. While the size of the text is small (there is, after all, a lot of information in the book), it’s still very readable.

I also love the size of the book. It’s smaller than the usual trade hardcover size and that makes it very easy to hold when reading while laying in bed or lounging on a hammock.

My kudos to the publishing team that edited and designed the book. Great job! Keep up the good work!

Should You Become Enchanting?

Should you buy this book? More precisely, if you buy Enchantment, will the ideas and methods outlined in the book be of service to you?

The short answer is a resounding YES.

If you’re a person who wants to make a change in the world — whether through a business or through a personal mission — then Mr. Kawasaki’s information and lessons will help you to accomplish that. Think of it this way: If it helped Guy Kawasaki achieve what he did, then it most certainly will help you.

As an addition to a businessperson’s library, this will be a well-thumbed tome. No one will be able to implement everything after just one reading. Over time, though, you can take what you need from the book and use it when you’re ready. Over time, Enchantment will change the way you do some — perhaps most — of your marketing. It may even change the way you approach and do business.

Start today to make the move from persuading your customers to enchanting the world. You’ll be glad that you did!

Click here to order Enchantment now!

Enchanting Links

Web quiz. Online test so that you can determine how enchanting you are — most people score in the low teens. http://great.guykawasaki.com/ or Facebook version: http://www.facebook.com/enchantment?v=app_6009294086

Facebook fan page. Upload your photos, videos, and commentary about  Enchantment. http://www.facebook.com/enchantment#!/enchantment?sk=app_4949752878

Enchantment infographic. One simple diagram that explains the basics of enchantment. http://www.guykawasaki.com/enchantment/infographic/

Enchantment wallpaper. Wallpapers for computers, tablets, and phones. http://www.guykawasaki.com/enchantment/wallpaper/

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^* Too Long; Didn’t Read. From UrbanDicitonary.com: “Said whenever a nerd makes a post that is too long to bother reading.”

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© Anthony R. Michalski/Master Key Coaching | Print This Article | (1) Comment