Reality Check
The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition
Guy Kawasaki

Book Review

Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition by Guy Kawasaki

Reviewed by Marty Vanags, CEO

I don't do this myself, but I have it on good word from very reliable sources that people, mostly of the male persuasion (of which I am one), often bring reading material with them to the bathroom. I know; sounds crazy, doesn't it? I mean, really, you are there for a singular purpose; why would anyone want to linger? In my quest for verification, I have entered the lavatory (this was actually on the door of the bathroom of my kindergarten classroom) of many a home for the primary purpose of carrying out this important research, and there is strong empirical evidence that people are actually reading things whilst they do their business. Okay, I have never seen War and Peace or a Michener tome on Alaska or Texas, but sure enough, I have seen comic books, home and garden magazines and inspirational devotionals. Yes, devotionals! Of course, you won't ever find me reading in the bathroom.

Just in case I thought this was a good idea, and just in case there was some utility in the idea of providing input to your brain while providing output....ah, never mind. I would think one would read short articles, lists, joke books or quick-hit type of material and literature. The New Yorker would not be good; the authors published in that magazine can turn the observation of the life of a cabbage plant into a 15-page analysis of genetic mutations, variations of species, Egyptian usage and medieval sources of scourge and disease along with a recipe. Long books will only make your legs fall asleep; at least, that is what people have told me. Remember, this is observational research versus the experiential type.

Yes, you are reading this month's book review; please have some patience - we are getting there. Looking at the books we have covered in this book review feature should tell you that we have tried to have some variety. Should you read any of them, you will find that we have dealt with serious issues like sustainability, outliers, management and other business concepts. Last time, we talked about Steve Jobs and his ascension at Apple. So, what does toilet reading material have to do with this month's book review?

This month, we look at a book by Guy Kawasaki titled Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmananging and Outmarketing Your Competition. The amazing thing about this book is that it has 94 chapters packed into 460 pages, not including the index. Ninety-four chapters! You would expect a business book with this many chapters to be over 1,000 pages long. One would expect a book more akin to a historical novel developing a hypothesis and analyzing the triumphs and mistakes of Napoleon's march on Moscow in 1812 and their applications to business problems. No, instead Kawasaki has managed to crank out page after page of useful lists of do's and don'ts; the lies of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, engineers, partners and CEOs; the "art" of entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, commercialization, writing executive summaries, raising angel capital, financial projections, execution, bootstrapping, innovation, branding, selling, evangelism, blogging, customer service, firing people and the last one in the book, the art of surviving. Perhaps by the time you get to the last chapter, that is what this book is all about - surviving.

The book is divided into categories that make it easy to navigate. I started reading the book cover to cover and found that it was easy to lose focus. One can read a chapter or two and start losing concentration on the subject at hand. Concentrating on one section, such as the section titled "The Art of Raising Money," is probably easier. Sitting for short periods of time and getting a quick dose of material is the "art" of reading this book. Short chapters, with quick and easy-to-read lists, are one of the things that makes this book interesting. Are you beginning to understand how my important research is connected to this review? Short, easy to read and quick. (Note: Do you realize how easy it would be to launch into "potty" jokes and metaphors? I am saving myself, my reputation and everyone reading this from such cra-see, I'm doing it!)

So, who is Guy Kawasaki, and what makes him an expert on all these topics? According to the back flap, the author is founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures and a columnist for Entrepreneur. He is also founder of Alltop.com, an "online magazine rack" of popular topics on the Web. Kawasaki is most famous in many circles for being one of the first employees at Apple to be involved in the marketing of the Macintosh, the first commercially successful personal computer. One of Kawasaki's partners at Garage Technology Ventures is Richard Karlgaard, publisher and columnist at Forbes and author of Life 2.0, a previously-reviewed book on our website. Karlgaard was also the keynote speaker at our EDC annual Community Leaders Breakfast in 2008. Kawasaki has started and developed numerous companies and is the go-to guy on everything technology-related. In addition to the book being reviewed, he has written eight other books about business and technology. Born and raised in Hawaii, one would be surprised to learn that he is an avid hockey player.

I would treat Kawasaki's book as a desk reference for entrepreneurs. There are many chapters devoted to specific topics related to the start and survival of a business. To read it from cover to cover would be a mistake.  The content is fresh, irreverent and unabashedly truthful. The "liar" chapters are particularly interesting, for he doesn't hold back on anyone. Apparently, everyone lies. Or, at least they stretch the truth in the name of starting and growing a company. The trick is to not let whoever you are trying to impress figure it out, and, of course, there is a chapter on that as well.

This book is an easy read. Reading it in short bursts the first time around is the easiest and recommended thing to do. If you are business person, venture capitalist, angel investor, own a bakery, manufacturing facility, write software for a living or spend time dreaming of the next big Web 2.0 money-making scheme, this is a handy book to have and to consult.

Take this book in the short doses in which, I believe, it was made to be read. Read it when you have a few minutes to spend sitting, doing very little else. Read it one chapter at a time. The chapters are really short and easy to digest. Keep it handy. Everyone has a few minutes each day to read a book like this. If you don't think you do, please re-read the first couple paragraphs of this review. You will understand what I am talking about.