Holy Kaw! I’m in Deep Shiitake! – The Guy Kawasaki Revelation

The joining of Twitter and the subsequent purchase of Guy Kawasaki’s new book Reality Check has led me to find out something about myself that I was not consciously aware of previously. I am hoping that saying it out loud and thereby publicly revealing the “problem” will also cure me of what can only be described as some sort of a disease, virus or maybe affliction. But I am getting ahead of myself.

One of the first signs came in the form of a simple conversation between @kaizenhawaii and myself about this new service he just joined called Twitter. He was trying to convince me to check it out and that it was great and like almost every other person you hear speak about their pre-Twitter experiences I was like”Why would I want to do that?” and “That is just weird.”. Then he said the words that would immediately change my mind and I signed up. What he said was “Guy Kawasaki is on there.”

The second sign came somewhere in the following of almost 800 people and almost 5000 updates (not quite there yet but close). There was a tweet that Guy Kawasaki made, which he frequently does to some people’s chagrin, but not mine because after all I signed on for this. I’m not even sure what it was that he twittered but I sent a @reply off into the twitterstream and much to my surprise I actually received a DM (direct message) from him! This immediately caused me to send a message off to @KaizenHawaii telling him of the unexpected direct response. I still have that DM and the email notification saved too.

The next sign was a little more subtle, it came when @neenz, the Chief Evangelist for Alltop and all around local girl, and I were talking about the Alltop Twitter feed.Guy was offering a free copy of his new book for those that are publishing the feed in their twitterstream and have over 100 followers. Neenz asked me if I sent her my mailing address yet and I told her that I wasn’t doing the Twitter feed thing because I almost exclusively follow Hawaii people and there are a number already doing it so it results in redundant tweets to people following me.

Well I didn’t say all of that because I only have 140 characters, but that was what I meant the 140 characters that I did send to mean. I did say that I am using their widgets on some of my websites but probably wouldn’t be doing the twitterfeed thing. Besides, I told her I wanted an autographed copy and I would buy my own with the hopes of one day getting it signed. And Neenz being the incredibly friendly and helpful person that she is, said she would keep that in mind should an opportunity to have a local tweetup with Guy in the future. With that in mind, I went to the local Barnes and Noble to pick up my copy of the book. After looking all over the place (I’m a man so I don’t like to ask for help) I finally found it on one of the book island things at the front of the store.

What the heck? Guy Kawasaki’s book in a little corner on the bottom shelf?! That is just wrong! Why? I don’t know, but it is!

It already had a huge discount sticker on it for 20% off with an additional 10% if you were part of their membership thingy which turns out to be a great price for a hardcover book that is almost a billion pages long. It is even better a price when you get your wife to pay for it like I did. Thanks Mel!

In any case, I was happy that I got my copy of the book, but not quite sure why I was so upset about its placement on the shelf. Upon returning home, I asked my wife to snap a picture of me and my new purchase so that I could send the pic to @neenz and show her that I got mine. With a not so approving look in her eye my wife, snapped a few pictures for me and then left the room shaking her head.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her disposition, but just brushed it off to it being late or something of that nature. No biggie. I’m happy. Got my book and my pic and am ready to twitpic this sucker and send it off to @neenz. But before I did that, I knew I had other GuyKawasaki books and I decided to look through them to find out if there was a more appropriate book for me to ask him to sign should I ever get the chance to do so. Little did I know that the decision to do so would draw me even closer to the revelation that would rock my world.

I found on my shelf this old and yellowing book, The Macintosh Way by Guy Kawasaki. Published in 1990 I remember it was the first”business book” I ever bought. And even though I cannot quote word for word what is in it, I know it had a profound effect on the way I looked at building a business just from its overarching message of “doing the right thing and doing things right”. Besides, I’m an Apple geek what else would guide me, right? Even though now I primarily use a PC with Windows on it, I still consider myself an Apple geek at heart and Guy is a big reason. Not directly, but indirectly through the way the Apple computer was marketed and what it represented to me. I guess in a way I’m a snobbish Apple geek because I consider some of the people who proclaim themselves to be Mac evangelists just wagon jumpers. They weren’t there when the “real wars” were fought. I know, it isn’t fair and I’m not talking about every Mac junky. Just the ones that are using the Macintosh to feel better about themselves but don’t really respect it. I’m not sure that even makes any sense. It is not something that I can put into words, it just is. The closest I can say is it is like growing up in Hawaii and living the Aloha spirit. You can’t know it unless you experience it, but I digress.

When I first went out on my own I knew from Day One what title it was that I wanted to put on my card. I was still relatively young then and didn’t want to have the President title on my cards and have to be questioned about my right to have it. After all, I wasn’t leaving to go out on my own for a title. I wanted to change the world. My world, the whole world, it didn’t matter, I just wanted to be a part of positive change in the world in whatever way I could. The title that I selected to put on my business cards was, “Tech Evangelist”, inspired by Guy’s Mac Evangelist title for sure.

These other books were pulled from the shelf as well and upon closer inspection I realized that I was missing a book. Rules for Revolutionaries! I purchased the book and had it but I think at the last office I was at someone borrowed it and I never got it back. I know there are a couple of other books of Guy’s that are not here, but that is one that I know I bought and read and now can’t find. So now I’m missing two of his books, that one and Rich Dad, Poor Dad. 🙂 There wasn’t much self-discovery in this as I am fully aware of the fact that I have purchased a number of his books. I just didn’t realize how many! But what it did become is the catalyst for this somewhat disturbing revelation.

Taking a deep breath…..I look around and proclaim….

I HAVE A MAN-CRUSH ON GUY KAWASAKI !!!!
(It should be noted that I say this with an unblemished record of staunch heterosexuality.)

Holy Kaw! I’m in deep shiitake mushrooms!

Ok, I said it…that’s it folks. Yeah for some of you, no big deal, whatevers, get over it. For others who don’t “get Guy” it is probably more like a death sentence. Myself, I have not yet completely figured out whether I want to be cured or not, but I do know this much.

I don’t really have a problem and I can quit any time I want to. =)

In the mean time, I’ll be reading my new Guy Kawasaki book and twittering away. Shaking my head as he steadfastly defends his position about people should pay to use Twitter. Laughing as he tries to have civil discussions with those that just don’t get that they can juststop following him if they don’t like how or what he tweets. And smiling as he tweets about a slow flushing toilet or locking his bike to a railing, knowing that he is a child of Hawaii and always will be. Only a local boy can do those things naturally and still maintain a level of respect. Kind of like a soon to be President who pauses in a news conference to ask a reporter with genuine concern “What happened to your arm?”. Imua Hawaii!

Epilogue:
I know that the revelation that I came to about myself must not be asecret around to everyone else in my house as I have had this board up with his pictures on it for 3 days now and have not gotten even one question from my wife or kids about who he is or why Ihave his pictures up there. Help me?! Please!?

Guy – if by chance you should ever read this, don’t worry. I’m not searching eBay for pieces of your underwear, nor have I ever intentionally stalked you. Heck I don’t even know where you live! Well not EXACTLY where you live. Buuwahahahahaha……

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