Your reflections/learning's/thoughts on the video clip of Guy Kawasaki: MAKE Meaning (at least 2000 words)
Last meeting, our facilitator let us watched a short video clip of a certain guy who was a former Apple employee, he talked about how start up company should aim and how to stay successful. His name was Guy Kawasaki; he was the founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures. In the video clip, Guy Kawasaki spoke to Stanford University students in October, 2004. He believed that those companies who set out to make a positive change in the world are the companies that will ultimately be the most successful. After I watched the video clip, I found out that for start up companies to succeed, they should build their foundation on making their company’s meaning. Making meaning means that this start up companies should not aim to make money and more money alone, and neglecting the client’s welfare and satisfaction. Instead, start up companies should do their best to leave a mark and a brand for their client’s welfare. Start up companies should keep in mind that by establishing a meaning to their brand based on the costumer’s general welfare they are making money out of it. By doing that, this start up companies will eventually succeed in the business because their foundation was to uplifting their client’s welfare, status and lastly, their trust to the company.
Guy Kawasaki cited 3 keys on how to make meaning. And here it goes.
IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE
Guy Kawasaki wanted that start up companies to shift from the traditional “making money” mindset to “making meaning and then money” mindset. The traditional mindset of start up companies was to earn and earn money without thinking the welfare of the general public – this mindset is a poison to the start up company – why? Because with that mind set, starts up companies are just merely thinking of their profits alone, they do not care of the clients and customer’s concerns. By changing the mind set of start up companies to make a meaning, they embrace the general public’s concerns and their clients. They gave meaning to their products and creations – and these products are of great help to their target clients. This kind of start up companies can be considered as innovators of the world. They constantly think of ways on how to improve further the quality of life with the products that they create. For example, people overlook the advent of touch screen mobile phones, but when Apple Inc., released the very first Iphone, the world craves to have one even though it costs an arm and a leg to acquire one. Iphone set the standard, rather, innovated the touch screen mobile phone, and the rest of the world followed. Before the Iphone revolutionized the way touch screen mobile phones interacted, the current ones were of an average status. Iphone brought along the very intuitive and responsive touch screen experience on their creation. Truly, Iphone outclassed the phones in the touch screen class. And after that innovation, different mobile phone companies tried to dethrone Iphone’s innovative approach, claiming they have the best blah blah blah technologies, that they have this features blah blah blah. Since then, mobile phone companies always tried to outdo Apple’s creation. This only proves that Apple looked for better way to help improve the lives of their clients and customers. Furthermore, Apple increased the quality of their lives by giving their money a value through Apple’s innovative products and services. Guy Kawasaki cited 3 key points on how starts up companies make a meaning on their existence. First was to improve the quality of life, second was right a wrong and third was prevent the end of something new. First was to improve the quality of life – it is very important to consider start up companies to look for ways to improving the quality of life of their customers as well as the people and also not to destroy Mother Nature. Take for example of Apple’s innovation on Iphone, this little device once crazed the world. Moreover, a very good example of improving the quality of life. In addition, one can also improve his or her quality of life by taking some of this tips I found over the web:
• CREATING YOUR VISION. We do have vision in our life. So it matters a lot when we set those visions and making it to happen.
• KNOW YOURSELF. Of course, we need to know ourselves deeply. So that we can utilize our potential to its maximum output.
• MAKE SIMPLE SWITCHES. How hard is it to be an employee all day? One should take some break and do other things in your task list. So that, your mind can rest and prepared for another tiring job the very next day.
• REWARD RIGHTEOUSNESS. Santa has his naughty or nice list, children are rewarded if they done a good job at school. Moreover, we also need to pay in return the righteousness that we have done in our life by simply treating yourself to a fancy restaurant or see a good movie.
• BLISS OUT. After a tiring work, you should also need to unwind. Free yourself from stress and depression. This helps a lot.
Also, in improving the quality of life even at work:
• Create a flexible personal vision.
• Don't confuse your real identity with the roles you play at work
• Develop healthy personal habits.
• Be a compassionate worker
• Turn relationships into partnerships
• Be responsive to situations, not reactive.
• Be a good citizen and create a healthy community around you.
• Listen to and learn from the lessons of life.
RIGHT A WRONG
Most companies want to make you happy so you’ll come back and recommend them to your friends. But when you find a company that’s not making the grade, how do you resolve the problem? That questions the integrity of such companies. Even though, the companies itself knows that they at the wrong ones, they still commit the same mistakes all over again. Take for example Kellog’s company, sounds familiar? – yes, a multinational cereal company, its headquarters is located in Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S. the issue? – Kellog’s shipped boxes of children’s' breakfast cereal with Spiderman toys containing mercury batteries. You read it right, they included a heavy and toxic element onto a children’s food. They shipped this product to Maine. We already know the harmful effects of mercury in our body. Even in small amounts, mercury is toxic and poses a significant health and environmental hazard also mercury is a well-known neurological poison that causes all the symptoms of ADHD, such as hyperactivity and poor concentration. And Kellog’s continue to ship their products instead of recalling it. Do you know why? Because at Maine, there was no law that prevents this kind of stuffs. But even if that’s the case, the Kellog’s company should know better the harmful effects of adding mercury contained battery on their products!. Double thumbs down for Kellog’s. They failed to see the negative impacts of their doing on the society and nature. They were very wrong. Immediately, New York has made it illegal. A new law, signed by Gov. Pataki, goes into effect January 1, 2005, banning mercury from kids' cereal boxes, righting the wrong doing of Kellog’s and preventing the further spread of the unhealthy cereal food. Another example is the hacking of Google by the Chinese people. China’s Politburo directed the intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country. The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002. The report said that the hackers wanted to get the addresses of activist.
PREVENT THE END OF SOMETHING GOOD
Companies nowadays often fails to see what makes their clients fulfilled and satisfied. They kept on making products in a linear manner. They keep on the evolution way rather than on the revolution.
This was the transcript of Guy Kawasaki during his speech at Stanford University: “ The first things I figured out, and learned, sometimes the hard way about entrepreneurship is that the core, the essence of entrepreneurships is about making meaning. Many, many people start companies to make money, the quick flip, the dotcom phenomena, and I have noticed in both the companies that I have started, and founded and being associated with that those companies that are fundamentally founded to change the world, to make the world a better place to make meaning, are the companies that make a difference, they are the companies to succeed. My naive or romantic belief is that, if you make meaning you probably make money, but if you set out to make money, you would probably not make meaning and you won’t make money. So my first thought is you need to make meaning that should be the core of why you start a company. There are three ways to make meaning. First is to increase the quality of life. My background is the Macintosh division of Apple Computer, and I can tell you with total certainty that we were not motivated by making money, we were motivated by changing the world, to make people more creative and more productive, we were trying to increase the quality of life for the Mac users. And that was a great motivation that kept us going through many difficult periods. We were waking up in the morning thinking how we could change people’s lives. A second way to make meaning is to right a wrong, you know this fish is going to die after jumping out, But to right a wrong means that you find something that is wrong and you want to fix that. This is particularly applicable to non for profits, there is pollution, crime, abuse, they just... They very core is to end up wrong. And the third way to make meaning is to prevent the end of something good. You see something beautiful, something wonderful and you just can stand the fact that that is being changed ruined. So I asked you as you start your companies, your non for profits, your churches, your schools whatever you are starting, please have one of those three motivations, one or more of those motivations. If you don’t have any of those motivations, I suggest that you rethink what you are doing. ”
Truly, Guy Kawasaki is an incredible man.
Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/001325.html
http://borntoexplore.org/mercury_poisoning_and_adhd.htm
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2009/09/20/eight-ways-to-improve-your-quality-of-life-at-work/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4551198_improve-quality-life-today.html
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