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 2 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,
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. Right?

So, 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.