The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
sylectra's review against another edition
5.0
Great advice in an often impersonal world
Guy Kawasaki provides actionable ideas and examples on how to truly connect with customers, readers, bosses, employees, and peers. He advises when to swear (yes, you should sometimes) and how to anticipate problems (the premortem).
Guy Kawasaki provides actionable ideas and examples on how to truly connect with customers, readers, bosses, employees, and peers. He advises when to swear (yes, you should sometimes) and how to anticipate problems (the premortem).
ktcarlston's review against another edition
2.0
Bleehh. It was all over the place without much connection. And the stories at the end of each chapter often failed to illustrate the point of his chapter. The one thing I did learn? It costs nothing to smile but it costs everything if you don't. But really - I wasn't impressed with this one.
vzee_sochin's review against another edition
4.0
Nice book, very easy to read. Will use as a reference book to prepare to crucial meetings and during normal life. The hook of the book is Guy, he is impressive and curious.
nrajanala's review against another edition
3.0
A good book overall and possibly a little too oriented towards self-flattery. The author has shared wonderful sound bites on what enchantment is all about. inspirational....but doesn't sound original possibly by design as the author had time over a year to read several books and pick the best that matter. a good self help reference book.
laurenpressley's review against another edition
4.0
At times it was a bit cliched, or punny, but this is a very good book. Lots of practical advice and lists to get you started. Guy Kawasaki is a gifted enchanter (as anyone following him online would know) so this is an opportunity to hear straight from an expert.
Quick, recommended read.
Quick, recommended read.
raviwarrier's review against another edition
3.0
I wasn't too excited about reading the book, but I had heard good reviews about the book and the author and so I decided to give it a try. I decided this one out of the other 2 books of Kawasaki that I have because I liked the title and it sounded interesting.
The book is not a quick fix, step-by-step guide to enchanting. So, if someone wanted a to-do list to enchant people around oneself, this book better be left on the shelf. However, this book goes deeper in to making readers understand the meaning, need and benefits of doing so. The book is full of examples from individuals to organizations that, according to Kawasaki, have enchanted others.
While most similar books would talk about enchanting, surprising, or even delighting customers, this is perhaps the only book I came across that had two unusual chapters - How to Enchant your Employees and How to Enchant your Boss. These two chapters were thought-provoking. Here's why. In my MBA program, we came across various sessions on Leadership and Motivation where professors introduced us to models, frameworks and other ideas to motivate the employees. They showed us the relation between happy employees and customer satisfaction and provided guidance on when, how and where to apply these ideas.
But the primary focus of these sessions remained in the domain of Employee Satisfaction. Enchanting employees takes those ideas a step further. Just like the business lexicon has seen "customer satisfaction" be replaced with "customer delight" with the latter implying deeper qualities of the notion of happiness of customers, it seems "employee satisfaction" will in the near future no longer be enough and companies or managers will need to do more towards employees.
No one in the MBA program even talked about the bosses. No satisfaction or delighting, and here is Kawasaki telling us what we can do to enchant our bosses. It was an eye-opener to retrospect of all the moments in my career when I could have applied the concepts in this chapter and made a tremendous difference to my work, results and even my personal brand.
Like I said, this book is no step-by-step guide, but it does give some clarity on how one can go about achieving such a status, but more most parts leaves it to the reader's creativity to figure out different ways she/he could enchant others. And it is about enchanting, not just customers. Kawasaki takes a more holistic approach and advises readers to enchant just about anyone a business or an individual comes in contact with.
It gets as close as a book can to being such a guide and I liked it a lot. It gave me just enough food for thought to have my graycells buzzing.
The book is not a quick fix, step-by-step guide to enchanting. So, if someone wanted a to-do list to enchant people around oneself, this book better be left on the shelf. However, this book goes deeper in to making readers understand the meaning, need and benefits of doing so. The book is full of examples from individuals to organizations that, according to Kawasaki, have enchanted others.
While most similar books would talk about enchanting, surprising, or even delighting customers, this is perhaps the only book I came across that had two unusual chapters - How to Enchant your Employees and How to Enchant your Boss. These two chapters were thought-provoking. Here's why. In my MBA program, we came across various sessions on Leadership and Motivation where professors introduced us to models, frameworks and other ideas to motivate the employees. They showed us the relation between happy employees and customer satisfaction and provided guidance on when, how and where to apply these ideas.
But the primary focus of these sessions remained in the domain of Employee Satisfaction. Enchanting employees takes those ideas a step further. Just like the business lexicon has seen "customer satisfaction" be replaced with "customer delight" with the latter implying deeper qualities of the notion of happiness of customers, it seems "employee satisfaction" will in the near future no longer be enough and companies or managers will need to do more towards employees.
No one in the MBA program even talked about the bosses. No satisfaction or delighting, and here is Kawasaki telling us what we can do to enchant our bosses. It was an eye-opener to retrospect of all the moments in my career when I could have applied the concepts in this chapter and made a tremendous difference to my work, results and even my personal brand.
Like I said, this book is no step-by-step guide, but it does give some clarity on how one can go about achieving such a status, but more most parts leaves it to the reader's creativity to figure out different ways she/he could enchant others. And it is about enchanting, not just customers. Kawasaki takes a more holistic approach and advises readers to enchant just about anyone a business or an individual comes in contact with.
It gets as close as a book can to being such a guide and I liked it a lot. It gave me just enough food for thought to have my graycells buzzing.
brandur's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining read that imparts general knowledge on a large variety of different topics all the way from executing a firm handshake to marketing yourself on Twitter. The use of the word "enchantment" in the book is heavily overloaded to mean a great deal of different things, but mostly often it can be translated fairly accurately to "manipulation" to varying degrees.
The strongest part of the book was the section on public speaking. It gives a few pieces of advice that interesting and not in the array of broadly distributed knowledge on the subject.
Near the end of a book built entirely on subjective advice and anecdote, Kawasaki's added a section on how to avoid being overly enchanted by anecdotes. The irony of this situation wasn't acknowledged, and unfortunately may have been lost.
It's a fast read that's pretty fun. If you came to read a book on building great products, look elsewhere.
The strongest part of the book was the section on public speaking. It gives a few pieces of advice that interesting and not in the array of broadly distributed knowledge on the subject.
Near the end of a book built entirely on subjective advice and anecdote, Kawasaki's added a section on how to avoid being overly enchanted by anecdotes. The irony of this situation wasn't acknowledged, and unfortunately may have been lost.
It's a fast read that's pretty fun. If you came to read a book on building great products, look elsewhere.
victoria_the_human's review against another edition
2.0
Read for grad school. Interesting book with some nice ideas to chew on. Not something I would read for fun but a worthwhile read.