Selling the Dream: How to Promote Your Product, Company or Ideas and Make a Difference Using Everyday Evangelism [Hardcover]

Unfortunately, what keeps it from being a great book is that it was written in the early 90s. It needs a Second Edition to look at what went wrong in the dot-com era, for instance, and whether more (or less) corporate evangelism could have made a difference. It also needs to analyze the Mac Product Introduction Plan and address what went wrong (or at least acknowledge that the document had some flaws in predicting the outcome of the Apple-IBM war). Some Twenty-First Century examples of how corporate evangelism still works would be helpful, too.

The book has a very light tone. If you're a fan of the Dilbert (anti)management books, you'll appreciate Kawasaki's approach. Occasionally the anti-IBM bias strikes the wrong chord (especially since very few of the jibes are directed at Bill Gates and Microsoft). Apple takes its lumps too, mainly in the area of their corportate structuring.

Coming from 1991's perspective, the examples in the book are showing their age. Should a new edition be published, including the suggestions noted above, expect it to be a four- or five-star book. As it is, it's a nice, relatively-inexpensive read that demonstrates there's still hope for the Davids of the world to overcome their own personal Goliaths.

The book is full of self-references and self-promotion, but this is exactly what the author is advocating: he is his own cause and this book is his instrument of evangelism. The book provides the motivation and basic principles you need to get started to figuring out what "cause" will occupy your life and give your life meaning. Once you figure out what you want to do, this book gives you no-nonsense real-world advice about how you should go about realizing your mission and your vision.

This book challenges you to make deep personal assessments as to what you want your life to look like and to stand for. It challenges you to find your cause and act.

Ten years later, some of the company case studies, especially the technology firms, seem dated. Still relevant for today's business leaders and marketers is the message that to make products, companies and ideas successful, you must sell the whole hog - not just the sizzle-by getting people to believe in your product, company, or idea and to share your dream. In the 2001 doom and gloom new-business reality, Kawasaki's ideas about building excitement for your product or service is a ray of hope.

Kawasaki researched and honed his innovative ideas in the 1980s as Apple Computer's chief evangelist and later as the founder of a startup software company. Kawasaki has a distinct sense of humor based primarily on good-natured sarcasm, and this makes the book an entertaining read.

The starting point for any evangelism project is a cause. Case studies on individuals, organizations and companies who have passionately evangelized a cause, including Windham Hill Productions, The Body Shop, and the Mazda manager who internally championed the development of the Miata make up the book's instructive core.

Inside you'll find a blueprint for planning and implementing an evangelism plan of your own. There are practical tips on everything you need to know, including creating a written evangelism plan, raising funds, hiring staff, creating promotion materials, and presenting your cause in public. As the ultimate how-to example, the book includes the original 105-page Macintosh Product Introduction Plan penned by Kawasaki and his Apple colleagues in 1983.

One look at Kawasaki's picture on the book cover - he's dressed in jeans and a blue work shirt sporting a toothy grin - and you could say that Kawasaki helped usher in the casual dress environment so prevalent in today's workplace. You also know that this is not an academic business book. It's more like a handbook version of the bible for evangelists everywhere who want to understand the new model for business success.