Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions [Hardcover]

Marketing and leadership books are strange animals. Some are great and others make you want to stab yourself in the eye with a fork. Almost all, though, usually fall into one of two categories:

1. How to develop a large and successful business; and
2. Why all marketers are liars

Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki is neither of these; instead, it's a book about one thing:

Influence.

'How can I influence others without moral compromise?' is the question at the heart of Enchantment. And it's an important one. There are a number of easy cheats to convince people to follow your leadership (carrots and sticks) or to buy your product or join your cause (incentives), but eventually those things always fail.

Why? Because they're disingenuous. They don't tap into people's passions. They don't move the heart.

And without that happening, whatever impact you have is fleeting at best.

The 'pillars of enchantment' Kawasaki puts forward ones you'd be hard pressed to disagree with:

1. Be likeable
2. Be trustworthy
3. Have a great cause

In other words, be someone you'd actually want to spend time with and offer something that matters. These seem like concepts that should be met with a resounding, 'well, I should hope so.' I mean, this seems to be common sense, doesn't it? That's thing about common sense, though. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, it's not that common sense has been tried and found lacking, it's that it's been found difficult and left untried.

Unless you're likeable, it's extremely difficult to be found trustworthy. And unless you're trustworthy, no one will rally around your cause, no matter how good it is.

Whether you're in the for-profit or non-profit world, whether you're in some form of vocational ministry or working for a huge conglomerate, who you are impacts everything you're involved with. Our character can be the scent of life or the stench of death, and we would all do well to remember that.

The rest of the book tackles the implications of being enchanting, from launching your cause, overcoming resistance, using technology, how it plays out with employees and employers, how to make enchantment endure'and even how to resist it.

A key principle that resonated with me is that of endurance. Even if you have the greatest cause, it's essential to remember that 'enchantment is a process, not an event.' You're working to build a relationship, not just get a sale or get someone to do something for you. And relationships take effort. This is something that is not easy for many in marketing and even in leadership positions to remember. The truth is, though, for many of us, it's easier to try to squeeze whatever we can out of our market today, and not think about the long-term consequences (like having no market in the future).

This is where social media comes in handy, especially Facebook and Twitter (two resources that Kawasaki highly recommends). These two tools allow organizations and individuals to connect in ways that previously weren't possible. And used well, they can allow you to truly enchant your customer or supporter base by engaging on their terms. Dell, among other organizations, fields support questions via Twitter (I know because an associate contacted me once after I complained about my previous laptop). This gives people a great experience with the company, even if they don't like the product.

One of the challenges with social media, though, is finding the right mix of promotion vs. conversation. Kawasaki suggests that if around 5% of your content is promotional, you should be in good shape, but he's also quick to point out that if people aren't complaining, you're probably not promoting enough (p. 115).

(Does this mean my Twitter followers will be seeing a shift in my updates? Probably, and hopefully for the better.)

Principles aside, the thing that caught my attention about this book is that it brought to mind people I know who are naturally good at this. They just seem to 'get' that this is the kind of person you need to be in order to be successful. Take some time and look around your office, your school or whatever context you spend most of your day in, and I suspect you'll see at least one or two people who are naturally 'enchanting' as well.

So here's the big question: Will this book help you to be 'enchanting' in your sphere of influence?

Possibly. This isn't a book that guarantees that if you follow these 8 easy steps, you'll have more friends, better posture and piles of candy. What it does remind readers, though, is that the only way to really make a lasting impact on people is to act with integrity. That's a big deal and advice we would all do well to heed.

If you have a chance, do pick up a copy of Enchantment. It's definitely a worthwhile investment and just might challenge you in a few places where you won't expect it.

When I read a new book, I evaluate it on three dimensions: (1) Is it interesting? (Did I learn something new about something that interests me?), (2) Is it useful? (Did it teach me things that are relevant to my life?), and (3) Is it readable? (Did I enjoy reading it, and not get stuck on it for a month?) Well, Guy Kawasaki's new book scores highly on all three.

(1) Is it interesting? Did I learn something new about something that interests me?

Yes, Enchantment is interesting. Actually, it's fascinating, and absolutely packed with useful information. Think of this book as a cross between a manual to the soft skills of business, and a primer on how to apply key findings from behavioral economics and social psychology ' kind of a 'best of' tour of the works of Robert Cialdini, Richard Thaler, the Heath brothers, and others . Of course, there's a generous helping of Kawasaki thrown in there for good measure!

(2) Is it useful? Did it teach me things that are relevant to my life?

Yes, unequivocally. This information should be seen as business 101, and is arguably more important than a BComm degree. The book teaches how to achieve likeability, how to achieve trustworthiness, how to enchant people with your product or service, how to launch that product or service, how to overcome resistance (very important!), and how to make enchantment endure over time. The book also talks about enchantment in the workplace ' how to enchant your employees, and how to enchant your boss. Each section is direct and to the point, providing useful information that you can put into practice today to see results in your business and life.

(3) Is it readable? Did I enjoy reading it, and not get stuck on it for a month?

This is the area where Guy Kawasaki really shines. This book, like his other books, is a pleasure to read ' I read through the whole thing in two days, and it was designed for you to be able to get on a plane, and read through most of it before landing. The book is engaging, entertaining, and down to earth, which means it won't be a bottleneck in your reading list!

All in all, I'm very happy to recommend this book. For more insight into the book, check out an audio interview that I did with Guy Kawasaki about it on Firepole Marketing. You can either go to [...] and search for 'Guy Kawasaki', or just go straight to [...]

Danny @ Firepole Marketing
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Good seller, they have very good communication skills with customer. They take responsiblitits of what they do, they are good seller.