[Biz] Reflections on Art of the Start

I just finished reading Guy Kawasaki's book Art of the Start. Guy Kawasaki, if you don't know, is a well-known technology entrepreneur in Silicon Valley that has has started and sold a number of high-value startups. Better yet, he writes articles and books to help others understand how to be successful as well. In other words, this guy has all three traits I admire in an individual: smart, sociable, and kind. In other words, he's a mensch.

Mensch in Yiddish apparently means a person that is ethical, decent, and admirable.  The last chapter in the book is entitled "On the Art of Being a Mensch" which caught my eye naturally. To summarize, the three foundations of menschhood are:

1. Help many people! The easiest people to help are those whom you think you'll need someday. The big point though is to help those that CANNOT help you. As Kawasaki puts it, you should derive intrinsic joy from helping your fellow man and not because it's for your own benefit down the line.


2. Do what's right! Lots of businesses are so short-sighted that they focus only on the immediate and try to get away with as much as possible. For instance, if you're a jewelry retailer and you ordered the 14-carat gold ones and received 18-carat ones, will you call the manufacturer and tell them the discrepancy? If you what's right, you should and others will respect you much more for your ethical business practices.


3. Pay back society! A mensch does not have to be wealthy to give back. Oftentimes, he pays back society through things that cannot be defined by money such as helpful advice, spiritual connections with individuals, helping out people, etc. And why shouldn't you pay back society? Even if you're not at the top of the world, you can always be grateful that you at least have some of these:
   
   
   
   • Family and friends
   • Spiritual fulfillment
   • Good health
   • Beautiful environment
   • Economic success
   • Hat trick once in a while

I think these are extremely wise observations from Kawasaki that anyone, entrepreneurs or not, ought to follow when conducting their life professionally and personally. The key is that you can have a good life without being a selfish bastard. By the way, go to a bookstore or buy the book at amazon.com and order yourself a copy if you have any interest in starting a business:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Start-Time-Tested-Battle-Hardened-Starting/dp/1591840562

I'll leave you with this awesome talk by Kawaski: