Along with countless others, I am a big fan of Guy Kawasaki. One of America’s leading marketing guru’s, who cut his teeth back in the 1980s with Apple, he has nearly 350,000 twitter followers and a wonderful set of web postings.

The first time I read his work was “How to drive your competition crazy“. It came to print over 15 years ago. Despite the onset of social media and other tech, it is still relevant today.

Kawasaki’s latest opus, “Enchantment“, is all about influencing people – customers, staff, bosses et al; not by ‘buying them out’ but through persuasion. If I had to sum up 200 pages in one sentence, it is a very obvious summary of how to be nice to others and then succeeding.

Very obvious? Well, why don’t we all do it?

I know of one hightech company, where a new management team has been brought. Letters of encouragement preceded firings, debt reduction, and more letters of platitudes. Kawasaki’s suggestion to allow employees to master skills, while gaining a sense of autonomy and purpose, has been thrown out of the window. Innovation soon found itself going the same path, and sales are now static.

Why? I am no shrink, but I understand that the bonuses of the board have not been cut too severely. What the execs fail to see is just how much extra they could have received if they had enchanted their workers.

If we think about it, we are all faced with such annoying examples every day. A couple of weeks back, a service company offered me a “special deal” to extend an insurance policy on household electrical items. They were trying to force me with sweet pressured talk into something good for them, but nothing brilliant for myself. Nope – I will not be going back to them.

How about politicians? We all notice how they suddenly up on our doorstep just before every election. Do they think we are that stupid? By the way, that is why groups like the Muslim Brotherhood are so successful, because they operate in poor neighbourhoods all year round.

At the end of the day, people probably ignore the basic rules of enchantment because they are too selfish or do not have the time. Some get away with it. Some make a fortune in the short term but then move on.

What the ethics of enchantment offers is a slow steady way to continued success. Kawasaki’s book is an excellent road map for that journey.