I’m delighted to present a new feature here on my site: a new podcast show called “Leadership Biz Cafe“. Through this new podcast, I plan on inviting business leaders and leadership experts to join me in conversations about their ideas and insights on the challenges and opportunities to be found in today’s increasingly competitive and global market.
For my first episode, I am pleased to welcome Guy Kawasaki, the best-selling author and former Chief Evangelist at Apple, to the guest chair. Guy is the co-founder of the popular online content aggregator Alltop.com, as well as one of the founding partners of Garage Technology Ventures. Earlier this year, he released his latest book called “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions” which recently made the New York Times bestseller list.
I had the opportunity to get an advance copy of Guy’s book and after reading it, I invited him to be the first guest on my new podcast series which he graciously accepted.
During the podcast, we discuss a number of topics including:
- What does enchantment mean and what’s the first step to take to become more enchanting
- How we can develop more trusting and beneficial relationships
- Why trying to be influential is not the best long-term strategy
- The 3 steps every leader can take to enchant their employees
- Why employees need to enchant their boss (one of the unspoken truths many of us don’t like to admit)
It’s a great interview and Guy and I even shared a few laughs along the way as we discuss what it takes to not just influence, but enchant those around us. So I’d like to invite you to check out this first episode of the “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast and please let me know what you think of the show by leaving a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new addition to my site and what topics you might be interested in hearing more about in some of upcoming shows for this new series.
Noteworthy links:
- Buy Guy Kawasaki’s book “Enchantment” on Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers).
- Visit Guy Kawasaki’s website to learn more about his book.
Tanveer, Nice kick off to your podcast series. Aside from inspiring us to expect more from each other, I laughed at the butt-head engager portion. Nicely done.
Shawn
Thanks Shawn. Guy's insights on butt-heads was certainly entertaining and I think really showed how down-to-Earth and approachable he was before, during and after our chat. It was great having his help in kick-starting this new series.
Thanks again, Shawn, for the kind words.
Tanveer, Loved the podcast AND the notion of enchantment being a higher goal than influence. I must admit that, in my mind anyway, influence was not as manipulative or coercive as Guy suggested, but I can see where it could easily get that way. That's why making a distinction by introducing the word "enchantment" is very smart.
Thank you for providing this learning opportunity. It is professional, informative and fun.
Thanks Gwyn. Guy's comments on influence were certainly very interesting, considering how much talk there is out there about how to make influence into a quantitative metric. That's probably why Guy prefers enchanting others over influencing them as the focus is not on measuring outcomes, but on fostering meaningful and long-lasting interactions.
In any case, I'm glad you enjoyed this podcast as I really do see it as being a great outlet to provide my readers with access to timely advice and insights into the world of leadership and business.
Thanks Tanveer. I really enjoyed this and it is a great start to your series. I'm fascinated by the idea of enchantment. Influence can have strong positive connotations though. Enchantment sounds lighter and more fun – a touch of delight perhaps!
Thanks Wendy; I appreciate that. I agree with you that influence can be considered a positive quality. I think Guy's take is that because it can be so easily manipulated – that is, the means by which one can become influential is by default neutral and consequently very easily veered toward something negative – it's not as desirable or useful as being enchanting where you have no choice but to be open and trusting to enchant those around you.
Thanks for commenting on this first podcast, Wendy. It certainly has been gratifying to see the positive response it's received here and elsewhere.
Your first podcast really looks great and having Mr.Kawasaki as your first guest makes it more interesting, I'm looking forward to more posts from you Tanveer.
Thanks Richard; glad you enjoyed this first episode in my new podcast series.
For Pete's sake…nothing like having Guy as your first podcast interview. Very impressive. And nice, inspiring (one might say enchanting) interview!
Great job.
Kathy
Thanks Kathy; glad you enjoyed it and found it enchanting. And yes, it was nice to have Guy help me kick-start this new series here on my blog.
Hi Benjamin,
I'm sure a transcript would be helpful. Unfortunately, given how this is a new series and not a single episode, the amount of time it would take to create transcripts for each episode would be too time consuming for me to undertake. Besides, listening to the actual interview, as opposed to reading it in a text-based format, allows readers to get a deeper and fuller impression of the conversation, both in the nuances of what's being shared as well as for the participants.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Benjamin; I'm glad to hear you'll be taking advantage of the upcoming episodes from my new podcast.
Congratulations on your new podcast series Tanveer!
Thanks Susan; appreciate it and thanks for sharing it in you Twitter stream.
Interesting interview !! Good Work
Thanks Shubham. Glad you enjoyed this interview with Guy.
Adding a podcast to your current mix of touch points is a great idea. I enjoy session #1. I like the concept of enchantment, but I truly believe that people need to learn how to engage first, which based on my experience and the circles I run in, is not really happening.
Jimmy
I agree with you, Jim, and I suspect that Guy would as well given his remarks about how a person just walking up to you and passing off their business card is far from an enchanting interaction. As Guy mentioned at the start of our talk, what he's hoping to accomplish with his book is to get people to not just settle for engaging, but to take it a step further and make the interaction truly meaningful and something that lasts past any notions of a simple transaction. Granted, people do have to learn how to truly engage with others – which I agree with you in some circles seems to be stuck in neutral – but once they do, they need to recognize that they're really only halfway there if they want to really have relationships that are durable and sustainable.
Thanks again, Jim, for sharing your thoughts on this and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this first podcast in my new series.
Jim Matorin passed this link onto me, and I'm glad he did. I am a big fan of Guy and his writings, and this interview manages his commentary as well as any I have have heard. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Tom; I'm glad you enjoyed this interview and I appreciate the kind words. Likewise, I'm glad Jim brought this podcast to your attention. Thanks again, Tom.
I love this! Excellent interview, full of personality. Got me smiling AND thinking a lot. Good job on the first podcast and I can't wait to hear more. Any chance you'll publish this on iTunes?
Thanks Nikki; I'm glad you enjoyed it and it's nice to hear it got you smiling and thinking. I am planning on publishing this podcast series on iTunes in the near future, once I have a few more episodes completed so as to offer a selection in the library.
Thanks again, Nikki, for the kind words.