Mr. Guy Kawasaki’s video on making
meaning in one’s company is our assignment. It is for this purpose that I
am writing this reflection. Before I start, let me give some info on
Mr. Guy Kawasaki.
Kawasaki, who is Japanese-American,
was born in Honolulu in Hawaii on August 30, 1954. He is known as a
Silicon Valley venture capitalist, a Technology Evangelist, best-selling
author and an Apple Fellow.
He got a job in Apple Computers
through a roommate when he was studying in Stanford University (Mike
Boich). He became the company’s technology evangelist until he decided
to leave Apple and start his own company. In 1987, he was hired to lead
ACIUS, the US subsidiary of ACI, which published the popular Apple
database software system called 4th Dimension. He left ACIUS in 1989 to
further pursue his writing and speaking career.
He relates his experiences in this
video, especially his ideas on making meaning in one’s company. He
shared his three ways of making meaning: (1) Increase the quality of
life; (2) Right a wrong; and (3) Prevent the end of something good.
Aside from that, he said that the motivation of the companies that he
founded is not about making money but making meaning. It’s because he
has a (naïve according to him) belief that if you make meaning, you
probably make money and not the other way around because if you
prioritize making money than making the meaning, then the company will
not succeed and you will not be making money.
When he was still in Apple, Mr.
Kawasaki believed in his boss Steve Jobs’ vision of changing the world
and increasing the quality of life through the various gadgets that
Apple has invented and promoted over the years and he is still doing
that even though he’s out of Apple now. We all know that Apple Computers
has invented many gadgets that made the lives of people around the
world more comfortable and easy. It was all part of the vision of Steve
Jobs, and Mr. Kawasaki himself has helped in the realization of that
vision by being the technology evangelist of the company.
The second point that he shared is
to right a wrong. What he means is that whenever there is something
wrong or even notice if there is something wrong, then you have to find a
way to fix it. This is applied to particularly every aspect of our
lives, may it be personal, business-related, relationship-related,
environment-related or any other thing. In my whole life, I have tried
to right every wrong I make, and I was successful in dealing with some
and failed in others. Aside from personal, this can also be applied in
business, especially among aspiring technopreneurs and those who are
really successful. Even the best of the best make mistakes, but they
never back down and instead find every way to fix those wrongs they have
done. In short, they do not let those mistakes slow them down but
instead take them as lessons in righting every wrong. Also, this can be
applied in relationships. If a man or a woman made a mistake and wronged
his/her partner, he/she will try to right the wrong done and make the
relationship work like before. Aside from those mentioned, this can be
applied to the environment. Nowadays, Mother Nature has been facing many
problems and it’s because of us. We technopreneurs can help the
environment by righting the wrongs done by our fellowmen. How do we do
this? We design and build gadgets that are environment-friendly and also
design new technologies that will benefit instead of harm the
environment. There are many other things in which this particular point
is applied, and there are too many of them to mention here.
The third point he emphasized is
preventing the end of something good. If you have made something
wonderful or very good then you can’t stand it being ruined. It’s just
like creating something and maintaining it afterwards. The easy step is
the designing, planning and the implementation. The hard step is the
maintenance because it requires your utmost attention. This can also be
related to business. If you have a company and you have seen it doing
well, then you will do everything to maintain it that way, because you
know you did something great and profitable and you don’t want to lose
it. It can also be applied to our personal lives. When we know within
ourselves that we are doing very well in our life journey, then our
responsibility is to keep it that way and never let the good decline.
Instead of just preventing the end of the good, it’s time to make it the
beginning of the better. This can also be applied to our relationships
with other people, which is a crucial part of our being technopreneurs.
Our relationship with other people can determine if we are a capable
leader. If we have good relationships with other people, then we will
earn their trust and their loyalty, and it’s our responsibility to do
good things in order to maintain that trust.
The last thing he said is that “If
you haven’t got one of those motivations yet, you better re-think what
you’re doing because these things are the key to start an organization.”
He believes that an entrepreneur/technopreneur must have one of those
motivations that he stated because they have been proven to be a factor
in successful business ventures, especially when those business ventures
are beneficial to the people and to the world that we live in. He has
experienced them all and therefore he is sharing it with the world so
that every aspiring technopreneur/entrepreneur will be able to find
success through the three motivations he shared.
To me, Mr. Guy Kawasaki is one of
the role models that every aspiring technopreneur/entrepreneur should
follow because everything that he shared can be applied to every aspect
of our lives because they are proven and true.
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