Grabbing someone’s attention is increasingly difficult in this era of information overload. Often, catching their eye is not enough. If you want to set up shop in your audience’s mind, then Guy Kawasaki’s advice is that you enchant them. His book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions suggests ways to do exactly that. Though published back in 2011, Kawasaki’s goals, if not his methods, are still relevant today.
After a brief discussion on what enchantment really means, we learn it begins with the enchanter. Early chapters offer ways to build rapport with your audience, by monitoring both your verbal and non-verbal behavior. From there, the reader learns how to grow and propose a new idea to a cynical crowd (“Chapter 6, How to Overcome Resistance”).
Chapters 8 and 9 examine ways to spread your message, including how to craft effective social media messages and posts. Later chapters include methods for enchanting employees and management. The final chapter even proposes tactics for resisting enchantment by others, with the ‘added benefit’ of teaching the reader how to be a more effective persuader.
The end of each chapter provides testimonials from various ranking CEOs and managers regarding their experiences with enchanting products, services, and people. While there are plenty of examples from multiple companies peppered throughout the book, Kawasaki’s clearly proud of his background as an Apple employee, here. His candor and humor prevent that from being overbearing or annoying.
This book should appeal not only to managers and large organizations, but to individuals looking to bolster the effect of their product, message, or art.