Breakfast With Guy Kawasaki

On Tuesday, I had breakfast with best-selling author ("Art of the Start") and venture capitalist  Guy Kawasaki at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, California. It was a delightful: Guy is quite affable and down to earth.

Surprisingly, this was the first time we had ever met each other. This is especially curious when you consider that we were both at Stanford in the early and mid 70s, we both live in Atherton (less than a mile apart!), and we have both written books and done a lot of public speaking.

[Below] Here's a photo of Guy having fun by giving me "A Whack on the Side of the Head" with the amazing Ball of Whacks.

Anyway, it was fun sharing stories with him about various clients, venture capitalists, speakers bureaus, publishers, personal sports (swimming for me, hockey for him), and balancing family life with being on the road. There are not many people who have had a lot of the same professional life experiences — and so it was really interesting to hear how he's managed his affairs and kept his priorities straight.

I especially enjoyed hearing about Guy's possible future projects. Exciting stuff!

Thanks for picking up the check, Guy!

Comments

[Daniel Scocco]

Guy is a really smart person, but in my opinion one of his best qualities is his sense of humor (I have not met him personally but I have watched a couple of his keynotes).

Once you said “there’s a close relationship between the “ha-ha” of humor and the “aha” of creative discovery!”, and I guess the rule applies for him.

[David Armano]

Ha! Great stuff! I love the photo.

Roger, you are such a natural—Seems like you've been blogging for years now.

Maybe you were, in a less traditional sense. :)

Thanks for sharing, you big shot you.

[Roger von Oech]

Daniel: I agree about the importance of a sense of humor. It certainly cuts down barriers -- whether it's between a speaker and an audience or just two people drinking coffee.

David: Yes, it was a fun morning.

[Paul McEnany]

I second DA. Roger is now officially a hot shot blogger. :)