Guy Kawasaki - Hindsights: The Wisdom and Breakthroughs of Remarkable People

Warner Books Edition

Copyright 1993 by Guy Kawasaki

All rights reserved.

This Warner Books edition is published by arrangement with

Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.,

13950 NW Pumpkin Ridge Road, Hillsboro, OR 97124.

Warner Books, Inc.

Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

First eBook Edition: September 2009

ISBN: 978-0-446-56483-0

To my wife, Beth,
without whom all hindsights
would be regrets

The first draft of anything is shit.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

You may think that creating a book involves an author sitting on a veranda and gazing over a sun-bleached seashore as prose traces an idyllic path through his consciousness and onto a page. Guess again. Creating a book is work. It is also a team effort. This is the Hindsights team:

Thirty-three people appear in this book. They gave generously of their time to allow me to interview them. More importantly, they gave generously of their souls.

Julie Livingston, my editor at Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., and John Michel, friend, editor, and computer wimp, had the most influence on Hindsights. Without them, I might not have finished the bookand it certainly would not have been as good.

Jean Mickelson and Richard Theriault were subjected to the most painful tasks: reading early, numerous, and repeated drafts of interviews. They were judges, devils advocates, and coaches.

I interviewed many more people than those who appear in Hindsights. They merit acknowledgment because everyone I interviewed contributed to the book.

Neil Abercrombie, Robert Alvarado, Jonathan Arnold, Bill Ashby, Joel Belz, Mike Bessie, Jim Bouton, Nathaniel Brandon, Peggy Cartwright, Lanice Coleman, David Coon, LaDoris Cordell, Jonathan Crane, Stan Dale, Donald Dell, Peter Deuben, Indra Devi, Ed Dwight, Doug Engelbart, Margie Erickson, Dorothy Fadiman, Jackie Finnerty, Lazlo Fono, Scott Gilbert, Mimi Gina, William Goldberg, Doug Hall, Susan Hancock, Wendy Hoag, Cynthia Hoffman, Richie Horowitz, Rika Hoshizaki, William Hudnut III, Sandra Kurtzig, Gaelyn Larrick, Karyn Mashima, Thomas Mclnerney, John McMillan, Joyce Meskis, Joe Moglia, Gordon Moore, Gordon Nakagawa, James Opfer, Cleo Parker-Robinson, Michail Perelman, Sam Reeves, Anne Robinson, Bob Rogers, SARK, Lee Sarokin, Nicki Scully, Eric Sollee, Eric Stanton, Bob Stupack, Heng Sure, Y. A. Tittle, Norman Vaughan, Ken Veit, Marianne Weidlein, Hans Winiger, Hazel Wolf, Gordon Wright, Carl Yanagawa, and Carla Zizo.

Behind the scenes, dozens of people provided assistance including arranging for interviews, furnishing background information, and providing feedback. I apologize to anyone who Ive left out.

Tim Basham, Cliff Bernath, Richard Bolles, Greg Carlson, Dan Chun, Pam Chun, Mary Core, Joe Cosby, Marie DAmico, Michael Daughtery, Bert Decker, Jan Deprim, Julie Duffy, Paul Edwards, Ted Ewanciw, Rob Falk, Mike Franco, Dave Grabel, Karen Gustin, Bill Harkins, Kathryn Henkens, Lee Hinde, Craig Hirai, Joe Holiday, Ruth Holt, Linda Illsley, Leor Jacob, Bill James, Jennifer Johnston, Beth Kawasaki, Aaron Kirshner, Barry Landis, John Lanyi, Joe Marsella, Marty Mazner, Dale Minami, Jeff Mori, Sandy Mori, Norman Nason, Genny Nelson, Mark Neuenschwander, Paul OBrien, Randall Oxford, Nick Roberts, Adam Robinson, David Romm, Audrey Rust, Jack Schachtebeck, Dan Shafer, Alma Shepherd, Gerry Smedinghoff, Dwight Smith, Bob Soltis, Tassia Soodi, Will Spens, Linda Taft, Rick Taft, Laura Tucker, Stephanie Vardavas, Jane Walsh, Karen Whitehouse, and Jon Winokur.

Kim Alfano, John Fox, and Regina Lau transcribed inaudible tapes and made them into text. Inez Templeton provided research assistance. Jacqueline Kan, copyediting goddess, made things right and better. Marvin Moore provided the final touches.

Jon Olsen, Heidi Rickabaugh, Qiana Rickabaugh, and Robin Rickabaugh (the Flying Rickabaughs) of Principia Graphica designed and illustrated this book, and Barry Smith of Blue Sky Research set the type. Together, they produced a book that exceeded my expectationsand my expectations were very high.

Finally, my thanks to Cindy Black and Richard Cohn at Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., for believing in me and my vision for Hindsights. (Well show New York!)

Thats the Hindsights team. If you like this book, give them the credit. If you dont, its my fault. In either case, in hindsight, no author has worked with a finer group of people.

I have a friend whose favorite criticism of a movie is: I didnt like it. The characters never grew, never learned anything from their mistakes, just kept repeating the same old behavior. They were the same at the end of the movie as they were at the beginning.

In the movie called life, the same criticism may be made. Some people never grow, never learn from their mistakes, just keep repeating the same old behavior. While others, to the contrary, continue to grownot outwardly, but inwardlyas long as they draw mortal breath. In our best moments, we want to emulate them. We want to be people who grow, personally, all our lives.

The key is action and reflection. Action, reflection, action, reflection. That is the rhythm of those lives which continue always to grow. As the philosopher has said, The unexamined life is not worth living. Live your daily life, live it to its fullest, live it in the most impulsive way and richest way you can; but then find regular times to sit down and meditate upon what you have done. See what you can learn. I know a man who every night sits down opposite a blank white wall in his house and mentally replays the day, as though he were watching a movie of his lifeto see what he did right, what he did wrong, and what he can learn from his mistakes.

Hindsights is an alternative word to describe the fruits of such reflection. We look back. We tell our story. We see what we can learn from our story, what we can do differently in the future, how we can be more wise. That is our hindsight, which we then carry forward with us into the future.

The people my friend Guy has interviewed in this book are primarily people committed to personal growth. Here, in their conversations with Guy, they look back. They tell their story. And they summarize their learnings, their hindsights. Where they do not summarize their learnings, you are left to your own deduction as to what they were and are.

Guy, as interviewer, has done his work well. Now you, as reader, must do yours. Here you will be helped if, as you read each story, you reflect upon what there is in your life that is similar to the experiences they are recounting. For, no other mans story, no other womans story is ever boring so long as you can find some way to relate it to your own life. I hope that by the end of this book you will not be the same, but will have learned and will have grown, in this wonderful, fascinating movie called life.

Richard N. Bolles

author of What Color Is Your Parachute?

When you sell a man a book you dont sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glueyou sell him a whole new life.

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY

This book was born of pain. I began writing it as my wife and I reached a moment of truth in our marriage: Should we get divorced? When you face this kind of decision, you become enormously retrospective and contemplative. What could I have done to make a better marriage? Where did I go wrong? Why did this happen to us? These kinds of questions dominate your thinking.