Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition (Hardcover)

~ Guy Kawasaki (Author)
Key Phrases: entrepreneurial quotient, nonprofit world, thirteen questions, Reality Check, Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

More uncommon common sense from the bestselling author of The Art of the Start.

In Silicon Valley slang, a “bozo explosion” is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, “If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partner has become a verb, and strategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don’t make sense” . . . it’s time for a reality check.

For nearly three decades, Kawasaki has earned a stellar reputation as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and irreverent pundit. His 2004 bestseller, The Art of the Start, has become the most acclaimed bible for small business. And his blog is consistently one of the fifty most popular in the world.

Now, Kawasaki has compiled his best wit, wisdom, and contrarian opinions in handy book form. From competition to customer service, innovation to marketing, he shows readers how to ignore fads and foolishness while sticking to commonsense practices. He explains, for instance:

• How to get a standing ovation
• The art of schmoozing
• How to create a community
• The top ten lies of entrepreneurs
• Everything you wanted to know about getting a job in Silicon Valley but didn’t know who to ask

Provocative, useful, and very funny, this “no bull shiitake” book will show you why readers around the world love Guy Kawasaki.

About the Author

Guy Kawasaki has written nine books, including The Art of the Start (a BusinessWeek bestseller), Rules for Revolutionaries, and How to Drive Your Competition Crazy. He writes one of the most popular blogs in the world. He is also a cofounder of Garage Technology Ventures (an early-stage venture capital firm).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (October 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842239
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842231
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Old fluff put in an entertaining format., December 27, 2008

By	Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

Guy Kawasaki is a genuinely warm, engaging, intelligent and articulate man. I've had the pleasure of meeting him several times at MacWorld trade shows.

However, Guy Kawasaki is a career self-promoter. He has made a living for many years repackaging standard business advice in an entertaining format and peddling it as new to the legions of people seeking a business success formula.

More power to Guy for making a living at it, but it doesn't alter the nature of what is between the covers here: old advice, with a lot of it being nothing more than commensense.

Two irritating things about Guy's otherwise excellent writing style. He has a real problem with gender pronouns. Even in academic writing that tends to be excruciatingly politically correct, I've never seen anyone go to such extremes in using "she", "her" and other feminine pronouns. It's creepy, weird and utterly unnecessary. Certainly She would understand if Guy backed off a bit. Then there is Guy's cuteness with a couple of euphemisms: for example, he takes the common expletive for bull manure and adds "-takke" to it. Once may cute, especially among your 4th grade classmates. A couple of dozen times and it is truly annoying and leads you to believe the author may be a fourth grader.

As for Guy's advice . . . well, there's a reason why so many self-help and business success books are perennial bestsellers: people want guidance and advice And guy provides it in a witty, entertaining manner.

But virtually all of it has been served up hundreds, if not thousands, of times before by other authors. Some of what Guy offers up is pure nonsense without a shred of evidence to support it: it is just politically correct, like his overuse of the feminine. For example, he directs that companies "diversify" in their hiring, implying that if your workforce isn't statistically proportionate, you are doomed to an early end in a "Bozo Explosion". While it may be politically correct, the proposition is not supported by evidence.

Straining for material, Kawasaki resorts to interviews with other authors and academics, not a few of whom are cranks. One parses a conspiracy theory that would give a tinfoil hat wearer a run for their money.

Finally, Kawasaki tries to cover the waterfront with his advice. And the plains. And the mountains too. And the oceans. Everything. If you're looking for millions to start your company, Kawasaki has advice. If you're looking for a job, Kawasaki has advice. If you're the boss of a successful company, Kawasaki has advice.

The quality of the advice in every area, however, is suspect. First, much of it is common sense. If you have to buy as book to learn common sense, you have a problem. A lot of what Guy writes has been written about a zillion times before.

Take, for example, some of his advice about getting a job in Silicon Valley. Show up early, Guy says. "Get to your interview at least thirty minutes early because (a) you might hit traffic . . ." Actually, I think Guy means to say leave for your interview early because you might hit traffic, if She is not watching over you. Point is, who needs to buy a book to learn this? I love this line: "Answer the first question "How are you?" with a great response. For example, a great response is, "I feel great. I'm really anxious to learn more about this job and tell you about myself, so that we can determine if we're a good match". Very impressive: I'm sure the interviewer will be bowled over by your sincerity.

As one of his later chapters, Guy has one entitled "Are You an Egomaniac?" I think Guy is - and he appears to make a good living from it.

On the whole, 'Reality Check" is no worse than then some advice books and perhaps is valuable to simply reassure people that common sense is still a valuable commodity. But for business success tips, Guy doesn't offer anything you haven't seen before. I'd suggest holding off on this one until it is remaindered or just get it from the library.

Jerry

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Authentic Tretise on the World of Work and Business, November 5, 2008

By	Ivana S. Taylor "Ivana Taylor" (Medina, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Guy Kawasaki is an evangelist. He can't help himself. Thank God.

I, too, was one of the Twitter people who got a preview of the book in digital form and literally laughed out loud -- at the local coffee shop - yeah, I looked stupid. But it was worth it.

I thought it was going to be a short book. At least it seemed that way because I flew through the digital version fairly quickly. So when I saw how big it was (460 pages, 94 Chapters - each one is just a couple pages long - so don't freak out) I thought I'd never get through it. But can I just tell you that it is BY FAR the most entertaining, informative, true-to-life rant on what's good and bad about the world of entrepreneurship, business, presentations - and more.

All the things everyone of us has wanted to say out loud - but has never had he guts is in there. I have so many favorite chapters I don't know where to begin.

Since I have this rule about NOT working with A-holes, I'll start with that one. (That would be Chapter 87, pg. 401) First he describes an A-hole (so you can test to see if you are one), then he goes on to outline some quick and easy strategies of dealing with A-Holes - and so on.

Other favorite chapters are the one's I've themed as "Lies." Throughout the book Guy outlines the Lies different groups tell each other: Lies CEO's tell, Lies Venture Caps Tell, Lies Entrepreneurs tell. These are rants to be sure - but what makes this book so utterly wonderful is that Kawasaki tells you how to avoid them and how to set yourself up for success -- please, for everyone's sake (I can almost hear him say)

In the preview version (I'm not sure where it is in the big book - perhaps it was edited) he basically says that VC's are sick of people asking for money when they haven't already gotten customers (just promises). The quote went something like "Just once I'd love to have someone ask for money so they can expand and grow because they have too many customers and are out of capacity."

See what I mean? The language is so simple. The message so true and so real, that even I can remember something I glanced over MONTHS ago.

To me, that's the sign of a great book.

And now, a confession. I didn't want to like Guy Kawasaki - or his book. I don't go for all this web and book celebrity stuff. Everything is so automated and fake anymore, I guess I'm getting cynical. But Guy Kawasaki practices what he preaches. He connects, he participates and he is good at what he does - and doesn't see why the rest of us can't be good as well.

Like I said Guy Kawasaki is an evangelist -- and a good one too.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Useful and Magical Book, October 30, 2008

By	Robert I. Sutton "Stanford Professor and Author" (Stanford University, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As I wrote on my blog: "If you love Guy's smarts and irreverent charm, you've got to read this book. If you have never read his blog or books -- or seen him speak -- this is the place to start if you want to understand why Guy has such a huge and loyal army of fans."

The other reviewers are right, this is the best stuff from one of the smartest and most charming business writers on the planet. One of the secrets of his success is that Guy somehow manages to talk about serious ideas, give great advice, while not taking himself very seriously in the process.