Guy Kawasaki: How to Enchant Your Boss and Employees

Now, we're going to talk about enchanting up, i.e. your boss.

How do you enchant a boss, someone who works above you?

I hate to tell you but the way to do it is

when your boss asks you to do something,

you drop everything and do what he or she asks. It is that simple.

Most important lesson I could tell you

right now as you enter the job market.

If your boss asks you to do something, do it. It might be stupid.

It might be sub-optimal.

You may think, "Well,

I'm working on the manual. If I don't finish the manual,

we can't ship the product."

Arguably, working on the manual is much more important

than making a PowerPoint presentation.

That's from your point of view.

That might not be his or her point of view. Drop everything.

Just do it.

Second thing is prototype fast.

Your boss gives you a project, says, "I need this in a week."

The next day, come back with a prototype.

You want to come back with a prototype for two reasons.

One, to show that you're really on top of things.

You really did drop everything.

Second thing is a prototype significantly increases

the probability you will do the right thing.

This is the prototype for what became this presentation.

This is the level of specificity that I had. I had the text.

I even had some sample pictures. And I sent it to a designer.

I said, "This is the prototype. Now, you make it beautiful."

Create a prototype.

And the third thing is you should always deliver bad news early.

You should tell people bad news, particularly people you work for,

something is going wrong.

If you want to be a world-class enchanter,

you not only tell people something is going wrong early,

you also tell it with some suggested ways to fix the problem.

And that will enchant your boss.

The next step is to enchant people who work for you

because as you go up the corporate chain,

you will have people working for you.

This is how to make them very happy. First of all, you provide MAP.

MAP stands for mastery and autonomy and purpose. Let me explain.

Mastery means if you work for me, if you work for this organization,

you will acquire new skills.

You will master social media. You will master video editing.

You will master programming. You will master writing, master selling.

Whatever it is. So, we offer you an opportunity to improve yourself.

You will be improving yourself autonomously.

We are not going to micromanage you.

And you're going to be doing these tasks. You'll be mastering things.

You'll be working autonomously and at a higher purpose.

This organization has a higher purpose.

Productivity, creativity,

peace of mind, ending pollution, whatever it is.

We have a high purpose at this organization.

If you do these three things,

you will enchant people who work for you.

The next thing, empower action.

Basically, you're saying to people,

"I trust you. I trust your judgment. I empower you to take action."

Part of autonomous. Empower people to do things.

And the third thing is you need to be willing to suck it up,

meaning that you never ask people who work for you

to do something that you yourself would not do.

If you're asking someone to fly to Mumbai coach,

you better be willing to fly to Mumbai coach, too.

This is a picture of Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs, enchanting person.

What makes him enchanting is if you watch Dirty Jobs,

he is willing to get into the sewer.

He is willing to get into the muck and the dirt and

the crap and do whatever that crew also does.

That's what makes Mike Rowe enchanting. He sucks it up.