Business Book Review: Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki

Eric Clapton didn't invent blues guitar. He and his contemporaries Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, learned and borrowed from an older generation of black American musicians like Albert King and transformed Chicago Blues into a new musical genre known as Progressive British Blues.

So it is with business guru Guy Kawasaki and his latest book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions.

Veteran sales executives will recognize a lot of Mr. Kawasaki's prose as reminiscent of the timeless "salesmen are made not born" advice shared by Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People and Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich.

It must be noted that both of these "required reading" books for sales professionals were originally published in 1937 and continue to sell today. Mr Kawasaki builds upon the basic tenets of these depression-era business bibles and gives them a complete 2.0 overhaul perfect for facing the economic challenges of the new millennium.

Whereas Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Hill focused on one-one-one relationships in a day where people actually conducted business face-to-face and shook hands on each deal, Mr. Kawasaki explains how we can best use social media, e-mail, etc. to win friends, influence people, or as he says, "Enchant".

To borrow a term from my enterprise software days, the principles outlined in Enchantment are "scalable" and can be used on a personal and organizational level to achieve the following goals:

• Encourage people to do business with you on a personal level
• Build a cult-like following for customers, prospects and fans (think Apple or the Grateful Dead)
• Attract the best talent to your company or organization
• Demonstrate your value to your supervisor
• Instill loyalty in your employees

Lest you think Enchantment is about slick schmoozing and phony smiles, Kawasaki makes it clear that building trust and being genuine is a prerequisite to Enchantment.

Sure it's common sense, but to be reminded of this in such a personable and all-encompassing manner and to be given  a clear blueprint on how to achieve Enchantment is extremely useful for just about anyone in any business or work environment.

There's also a helpful quiz at the end of the book which will prompt you to re-read certain sections so you can gain as much insight as possible. By the way, Enchantment would also be an excellent text book for a high school or business course.

Not only because of its breezy narrative style and current references to social media etc., but because reviewing each chapter would be sure to prompt some lively class discussions. Perhaps Mr. Kawasaki would consider developing a lesson plan to accompany his book.

Mr. Kawasaki also addresses the dark side of Enchantment when he explains how to resist the persuasion of those who may not have your best interest at heart. It's like Obi-Wan Kenobi teaching you how to defend yourself against Darth Vader. May the Enchantment be with you.

Take it from a business book junkie, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions is worth a read and keeping within arm's reach as a reference book. Available on http://www.amazon.com/.