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Defy the crowd. The crowd isn’t always wise. It can also lead you down a path of silliness, sub-optimal choices, and downright destruction. Enchantment is as necessary for people to diverge from a crowd as it is to get people to join one.
Guy Kawasaki
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of independent thinking over following the crowd, which can lead to poor decisions.

Guy Kawasaki's quote highlights the necessity of critical thinking and individuality in an age where groupthink can dominate decision-making. He suggests that while popularity might lure people to conform, true wisdom lies in the courage to defy the crowd, which can often mislead us towards lesser choices and harmful outcomes. The mention of 'enchantment' implies that inspiring and engaging ideas are essential not only to attract individuals to a collective but also to empower them to chart their own unique paths.

Themes

IndependenceCrowdWisdomDecision MakingIndividuality

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about pursuing your dreams despite societal pressure.

More from Guy Kawasaki

A crash is when your competitor's program dies. When your program dies, it is an 'idiosyncrasy'.
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Here's what you should say [to an investor]: 'this is what my company does' It's that simple. What you're trying to do is get potential investors to fantasize about how your product or service will make a boatload of money. They can't fantasize if they don't know what you do.
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Knowledge is great. Competence is great. But the combination of both encourages people to trust you and increases your powers of enchantment. And in this world, the combination is a breath of fresh air.
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At the end of my life, is it better to say that I empowered people to make great stuff, or that I died with a net worth of $10 billion? Obviously I'm picking the former, although I would not mind both.
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Enchantment is the purest form of sales. Enchantment is all about changing people's hearts, minds and actions because you provide them a vision or a way to do things better. The difference between enchantment and simple sales is that with enchantment you have the other person's best interests at heart, too.
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• People deserve a break. The stressed and unorganized person who doesn’t have the same priorities as you may be dealing with an autistic child, abusive spouse, fading parents, or cancer. Don’t judge people until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Give them a break instead.
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