Guy Kawasaki Keynote - PubCon 2006
I think that this was the first chance I have ever had to hear Guy Kawasaki speak (an obligatory link to help his quest for the technorati top-10). He was very entertaining to listen to and, unlike many keynote speakers, very humble. At the end of talk he warned people to disregard “bozo statements” - he gave some examples (such as the CEO of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, predicting that the world market for computers was about 5). He also included a bozo statement that he made - he was offered an opportunity to interview for a job in the 90’s and told the recruiter that it was too far away (he lived in San Francisco, the job was in San Jose), and he didn’t think the business would go anywhere. The company was Yahoo and he estimates that decision cost him $2B.
He talked about innovators and what makes a good innovator. He explained that the hard part of being an innovator is that in the beginning you have to have a vision and basically not listen to everybody telling you that you’re crazy, but after you invent a new product or service you have to start listening to these same people to refine your invention and create more value for the end-user. This transition can be difficult and some people never successfully make it.
The other thing he talked about that really stuck with me was the concept of “going for the next curve.” He explained that a lot of people are content with making marginal improvements to their business or product. What people like Guy Kawasaki look for, however, is something that is going to raise customer’s expectations exponentially rather than just marginally. His example was that Western Union should have become what PayPal is today, but they were just marginally improving their business rather than looking for industry-changing events. To their credit it is really difficult to anticipate these changes, but the best companies seem to do it.
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Guy Kawasaki’s words sound more to me like post game commentary genius than really beneficial insight. There will always be niches that will be filled by a faster and younger company, whereas moderate growth for an already sizeable company is also really impressive. In Jim Collins Book, Good to Great, the concept of the consistency and reliability of excellent product is number 1. Wallgreen’s versus Pharmacy.com is a great example. Now wallgreen’s implements online sales into everything, but retained the integrity of branding and customer loyalty.– The younger newer guys take the risk and the bigger fish acquires them.
Comment by john — November 29, 2006 @ 3:57 pm