Do you enchant others…in your personal life and through your work? Have you ever considered the value of enchantment? Guy Kawasaki, author of the 
book “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions,” says that
“When you enchant people, your goal is not to make money from them or to get them to do what you want, but to fill them with great delight.”
Delight? How often do you come away from personal or business interactions feeling delighted? How often do you delight others? Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist and CEO of other companies, Silicon Valley venture capitalist, founder of Alltop.com, and the author of nine other books including “The Macintosh Way” (which was required reading when I was a software product manager several years ago), says that enchantment is absolutely necessary when we want to:
- “Convince people to dream the same dream that [we] do.” To do this, we have to “aspire to lofty, idealistic results.”
- Effect huge change
- “Overcome entrenched habits”
- “Defy a crowd” and create our own path…and get others to join us
- “Proceed despite delayed or nonexistent feedback”
Kawaski gives concrete and specific advice on how to be enchanting in the book, with chapters entitled:
- How to Achieve Likability
- How to Achieve Trustworthiness
- How to Prepare
- How to Launch
- How to Overcome Resistance
- How to Make Enchantment Endure
- How to Use Push Technology
- How to Use Pull Technology
- How to Enchant Your Employees
- How to Enchant Your Boss
- How to Resist Enchantment
Although “Enchantment” is primarily geared toward business, the principles are equally applicable to how to be personally enchanting. Kawasaki has 
mastered the art of enchantment. He is prolific on Twitter and posts about an incredibly wide array of topics. For someone so revered in the often nerdy high-tech world, he is personally charming, accessible, and humble.
His advice for how to achieve likability include things like finding out what the other person’s passions are; in other words, do your homework. Do they like to travel? Do they have kids? Do they enjoy fine wine? What’s their favorite sports team? Find out and meet them at that place of commonality. You will instantly enchant the other person if you care enough to do that.
The book gives many examples of businesses that enchant and how they enchant their customers. An example is REI, which was started in 1938 by 22 friends and now 3.7 million customers shop at 100 REI stores (and online.) 
People go there to shop, but also to socialize with other active people and to get advice from experienced cyclists, campers, or mountain climbers. Kawasaki says that the goal of enchantment is “long-lasting change,” which is “what happens when you change hearts, minds, and actions.” REI has built community and this community of enchanted customers is loyal and enduring.
“Enchantment” is an easy read and is filled with practical and enchanting tips. It’s worth a read and to keep on your bookshelf as a reference book (think new product introductions, starting a new venture, or captivating and signing a new customer). Want to keep abreast of what enchants the ubiquitous Guy Kawasaki? Join him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/enchantment or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/Alltop.
NOTE: The photos of Guy Kawasaki and the cover of “Enchantment” are printed with the permission of Guy Kawaski. The REI logo is from the REI.com website.
