Q: How many Macintosh Division employees does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: One. He holds the light bulb up and lets the universe revolve around him.
And so Guy Kawasaki begins his history of the Macintosh and the cult it created. Guy confirms that every story you ever heard about the excesses of Steve Jobs’ Macintosh Division employees during the Mac’s development is true. Whether this is, indeed, the case, or whether it just adds fuel to the Macintosh Way’s marketing fire is irrelevant; it makes good copy in either case, and really does provide some insight into the minds of the creative powers of Apple. Jean-Louis, Burrell, Steve, Bill, John, Del — they’re all here, adding spice to an already flavorful potpourie of anecdotes, philosophy, practical marketing techniques, and sage advice from one of the young-in-years greybeards of the microcomputer industry.
Guy divides his book into three sections:
• An analysis of the meaning of the Macintosh phenomenon.
• “Doing the Right Thing”—products, marketing, work environment, and customer support.
• “Doing Things Right”—running a business, evangelism, distribution, PR, and even dating & marraige.
Do not think that this book only applies to the Mac or even Mac-users. There is much upon which to reflect about how to create and foster an environment in which employees see the results of their labors, management attains its goals (increased sales & profits), and customers benefit from improved products by responding to company-solicited development advice (bug reports, “wish” lists, etc.).
The Macintosh Way is a tremendously entertaining book by one of the driving forces of the industry who could have another career as a full-time writer if he so chose.
Guy Kawasaki recently left ACIUS, the company founded to market and develop the Silver Surfer relational database that Apple owned the rights to, felt was a conflict with its developers, and gave up those rights. Silver Surfer was renamed 4th Dimension and is one of the big three databases that is available for the Macintosh; some say that it is, indeed, the most powerful.
Read Guy’s book; pass it on to your boss. Hope that it “takes” but don’t be too disappointed if it does not. After all, most companies still do business The IBM Way.
Hey, Guy! When you decide to start another business, gimme a call. The Macintosh Way sounds like my way, too!
