Summary
Highlights
Guy Kawasaki introduces his talk on the art of innovation, adopting a 'top ten' format to maintain audience engagement. He shares his diverse background in tech and venture capital, aiming to impart knowledge for changing the world.
The first point emphasizes the desire to 'make meaning' rather than solely focusing on 'making money.' Kawasaki argues that changing the world (making meaning) often naturally leads to financial success, whereas only pursuing money paradoxically leads to failure. He provides examples like Apple's democratization of computers, Google's democratization of information, eBay's democratization of commerce, and YouTube's enabling of video sharing, all of which successfully made meaning and money.
Instead of lengthy mission statements, innovators should create a concise two-to-three-word mantra. Kawasaki critiques Wendy's complex mission statement by proposing 'Healthy fast food' as a more effective mantra. He also offers examples for Nike ('Authentic athletic performance') and FedEx ('Peace of mind'), highlighting how mantras clearly articulate the 'why' behind an organization's existence.
Innovation means moving to the next curve, not just improving existing methods by small percentages. He illustrates this with the evolution of ice: from ice harvesting (Ice 1.0) to ice factories (Ice 2.0) and then to refrigerators (Ice 3.0). Companies often fail to jump curves because they define themselves by their current activities rather than the benefits they provide, such as transitioning from telephones to the internet or from daisy-wheel to 3D printers.
Great innovation embodies five qualities: Deep (many features/functionality, like a sandal that opens bottles), Intelligent (addresses user pain, like Ford's MyKey for controlling car speed), Complete (covers the entire ecosystem, not just the core product, e.g., software, documentation, community), Empowering (makes users more creative/productive, like a Macintosh), and Elegant (prioritizes user interface and design).
Kawasaki advises that when innovating and jumping to a new curve, it's acceptable for the initial version to have 'elements of crappiness.' He cites early Macintosh, laser printers, and refrigerators as examples of revolutionary products that were imperfect but shipped, emphasizing that waiting for perfection leads to never shipping. He clarifies this is not an endorsement of shipping genuinely bad products, but rather revolutionary ones with initial imperfections.
Innovators should be open to users utilizing their products in unforeseen ways. The true positioning and branding are ultimately defined by the consumer, not the creator. Macintosh's early success, for instance, came unexpectedly from desktop publishing with Aldus PageMaker, not its initially intended spreadsheet, database, or word processing capabilities. Ignoring this user-driven evolution would have led to Apple's demise.
Great products and innovations naturally polarize people; some will love them, others will hate them. He uses TiVo as an example: loved by users like him for time-shifting TV, but hated by advertising agencies. This polarization is a sign of a truly impactful product, contrasting with bland offerings that elicit no strong feelings.
Innovation requires an initial denial of naysayers, but after shipping, innovators must flip this mindset. They need to listen to feedback and continuously evolve their product through iterative improvements (e.g., from version 1 to 1.1, 1.2, etc.).
Kawasaki presents a 2x2 matrix for market positioning: Products should strive to be in the upper right quadrant, being both unique and valuable. He contrasts this with the 'Dell corner' (valuable but not unique, competing on price), and the 'dot-com corner' (neither valuable nor unique, like buying dog food online).
Innovators must master the art of pitching. Key elements include customizing the introduction to the specific audience (humorously exemplified by his own family interactions and international speaking experiences). He also advocates the '10, 20, 30 rule' for presentations: ten slides, delivered in 20 minutes, with a minimum 30-point font size.
Kawasaki warns against 'Bozos' who will try to discourage innovators. He differentiates between 'sloppy Bozos' (easy to ignore) and 'dangerous Bozos' (rich and famous individuals whose opinions might seem credible but are often misguided). He shares historical examples of famous Bozo predictions, such as Thomas Watson's belief in a market for only five computers and Western Union dismissing the telephone, illustrating the importance of not being swayed by those who cannot envision the next curve.