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PORTFOLIO/PENGUIN
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Copyright 2019 by Guy Kawasaki
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ISBN 9780525538615 (hardcover)
ISBN 9780525538622 (ebook)
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To my wife, Beth, my greatest source of wisdom
What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.
Pericles
Contents
Preface
People think that stories are shaped by people. In fact, its the other way around.
Terry Pratchett
Before you ask, or wonder, this is not my autobiography or memoir. It is a compilation of the most enlightening stories of my life. Think personal lessons, not personal history.
My stories do not depict epic, tragic, or heroic occurrences, because that hasnt been the trajectory of my life. They do not depict a rapid, meteoric rise, either. One decision. One failure. Hard work. One success. My goal is to educate, not awe, you.
From the bottom of my heart, I hope my stories help you to live a more joyous, productive, and meaningful life. If Wise Guy succeeds at this, then thats the best story of all.
Guy Kawasaki
Silicon Valley, California, 2018
How This Book Is Organized
Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.
Aldous Huxley
The flow of this book is a combination of chronological and topical. Its not purely chronological because acquiring wisdom isnt a quick or linear process.
The format for most of the book is a story followed by the wisdom it represents. I diverge from this format in a few places, and its important to me that you know that neither sloppy writing nor careless editing caused the inconsistency.
Each nugget of wisdom is marked with the shaka symbol, which looks like this: . Shaka is a Hawaiian/surfing hand symbol that loosely translates to aloha, right on, or mahalo, depending on the context.
Lastly, I hate bugs, and after fifteen books, I know that no matter how meticulous an author and publisher are, a few might sneak through. Please send me an email at to report errors that you find, as well aseven betterprovide your feedback about the book.
Mahalo
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
William Arthur Ward
Jennifer Barr, Courtney Colwell, David Deal, Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, Moira Gunn, Bruna Martinuzzi, Terri Mayall, Will Mayall, Craig Big Wave Stein, Kirsten Tanner, and Shawn Welch helped with the initial conceptualization of the book.
Rick Kot provided the deft touch that guided me editorially. Rainer Hosch and Marc Silber took the great photos that adorn the dust jacket. Christopher Sergio then created a great dust jacket with them. Norma Barksdale made everything work together.
Cathy Chong, Lori Couderc, and Suzan Liggett provided irreplaceable assistance with background information and fact-checking. Theres nothing like writing a book to discover how little you know!
These people volunteered to read and comment on early drafts. They found more than a thousand ways to make the book better:
Michael Bomhoff
Beth Kawasaki
Kris Bondi
Nic Kawasaki
Susan Bouvette
Dori Kemker
Bukanla Boyd
Swati Khurana
Stephen Brand
Ruth Lund
Buzz Bruggeman
Todd Lyden
S. Chowdhary
Svetlana Maklakova
Karen Coppock
Chuck Marecic
Jerry Crisci
Howard Miller
Tom Curtis
Donna Mills
Benot H. Dicaire
Kimberly Moore
Glendalynn Dixon
Leslie Morgan Nakajima
Papasavvas Elias
Randee Napp
Andres Elizalde
Ryan OMara
Doug Erickson
Cory Ondrejka
Teresa Esola
Anitha Pai
Hendrik Eybers
Santino Pasutto
Rob Ferguson
Klemen Peternel
Daniel Fryda
Emily-Anne Pillari
Cailey Gibson
Matthias Rnsberg
Roger Haller
Srgio Rosa
Prez Herrera
Jadeep Shah
Abdul Jaleel
Parker Sipes
Jennifer J. Johnson
Patrick Slattery
Naga Subramanya
Prez Herrera Walevska
Maja Vujovic
Lisa Westby
Dan Waite
Bill Whiteside
Stacks Menlo Park, Stacks Redwood City, Coffeebar Menlo Park, Cat and Cloud, Cliff Caf, Verve, Kaito, Harbor Caf, East Side Eatery, and The Buttery provided crucial places to eat, drink, and work.
A big MAHALO to you all.
01
Immigration
Yes, we can. It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Barack Obama
I come from a long line of dreamers. My story starts with my grandparents emigration from Japan to Hawaii in order to pursue a better life for themselves and their children. I need to spend a few pages on this history because everything flows from their decision.
My Fathers Side
My great-grandparents on my fathers side immigrated to Hawaii from Hiroshima between 1890 and 1900. This was near the end of the Meiji period, when there were two major conflicts: the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. At the time, young Japanese men were required to serve in the military.