Silicon Valley icon and bestselling author Guy Kawasaki shares the unlikely stories of his life and the lessons we can draw from them. Guy Kawasaki has been a fixture in the tech world since he was part of Apple’s original Macintosh team in the 1980s. He’s widely respected as a source of wisdom about entrepreneurship, venture capital, marketing, and business evangelism, which he’s shared in bestselling books such as The Art of the Start and Enchantment . But before all that, he was just a middle-class kid in Hawaii, a grandson of Japanese immigrants, who loved football and got a C+ in 9th grade English. Wise Guy , his most personal book, is about his surprising journey. It’s not a traditional memoir but a series of vignettes. He toyed with calling it Miso Soup for the Soul , because these stories (like those in the Chicken Soup series) reflect a wide range of experiences that have enlightened and inspired him. For instance, you’ll follow Guy as he . . . * Gets his first real job in the jewelry business–which turned out to be surprisingly useful training for the tech world. * Disparages one of Apple’s potential partners in front of that company’s CEO, at the sneaky instigation of Steve Jobs. * Blows up his Apple career with a single sentence, after Jobs withholds a pre-release copy of the Think Different ad campaign: “That’s okay, Steve, I don’t trust you either.” * Reevaluates his self-importance after being mistaken for Jackie Chan by four young women. * Takes up surfing at age 62–which teaches him that you can discover a new passion at any age, but younger is easier Guy covers everything from moral values to business skills to parenting. As he writes, “I hope my stories help you live a more joyous, productive, and meaningful life. If Wise Guy succeeds at this, then that’s the best story of all.”
