#34: Creativity, Obsession & Building Products That Change the World
🤖 AI Summary
Overview
Guy Kawasaki reflects on his journey from working with Steve Jobs on the original Macintosh team to becoming a key evangelist for Canva. He shares insights on creativity, leadership, and building impactful products, emphasizing authenticity, grit, and purpose. The conversation explores mission-driven leadership, the importance of solving problems for oneself, and the value of empowering others.
Notable Quotes
- People should have higher aspirations than being the next anybody. They should be the first of themselves.
– Guy Kawasaki, on finding your own calling.
- Working for Steve Jobs was an honor and a privilege, but not a pleasure.
– Guy Kawasaki, on the challenges of working with visionary leaders.
- Grit is my secret sauce. I can just outwork most people.
– Guy Kawasaki, on the key to his success.
🌊 Surfing & Late-Life Learning
- Guy started surfing at 60, inspired by his daughter, and considers it the hardest thing he’s ever pursued.
- He humorously claims to be the best deaf surfer who started at 60, highlighting the importance of embracing challenges at any age.
- Surfing taught him resilience and the value of loving the process, not just the outcome.
🌺 Growing Up in Hawaii: Identity & Culture
- Guy reflects on his Japanese-American upbringing in Hawaii, shaped by a blend of Polynesian and Japanese cultures.
- He describes the Hawaiian concept of Ohana (family) and the outward-focused, community-driven spirit of the islands.
- His background instilled a sense of humility and the importance of giving back.
🔒 Privacy & Signal: Protecting Freedom
- Guy’s latest book, Everybody Has Something to Hide, advocates for using Signal as a tool to preserve democracy and privacy.
- He praises Signal’s minimal data retention and end-to-end encryption, contrasting it with platforms like Meta and Apple.
- He emphasizes that no technology can compensate for user errors, urging people to use tools responsibly.
🚀 Mission-Driven Leadership & Building for Yourself
- Guy contrasts mission-driven leaders like Steve Jobs, who focused on creating great products, with ego-driven leaders seeking personal glorification.
- He argues that the best products, like the Macintosh or Canva, are born from solving problems for oneself.
- Authenticity and passion for the craft resonate with users and drive success.
💡 Grit, Legacy & Empowering Others
- Guy attributes his success to grit and a relentless work ethic, rather than innate talent or vision.
- He measures his life by his ability to empower others, whether through writing, speaking, or mentoring.
- Inspired by figures like Jane Goodall, he believes in purpose-driven work and leaving a meaningful legacy.
AI-generated content may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon as a sole source of truth.
📋 Video Description
Before becoming one of the most influential evangelists in the history of technology, Guy Kawasaki was part of Apple’s original Macintosh team, working directly with Steve Jobs during the early days of personal computing. His career has been defined by independent thinking, deep curiosity, and a lifelong commitment to building and evangelizing products that truly matter.
In this conversation, Guy reflects on working with Steve Jobs, the difference between mission-driven and ego-driven leadership, and why the best products are built by people solving problems for themselves. He shares hard-earned lessons from Silicon Valley on creativity, obsession, grit, and what it really takes to build things that last.
Guy also discusses his role as Chief Evangelist of Canva, the global design platform democratizing creativity for millions worldwide, and how recognizing great products early shaped his journey. From writing 18 books to advising startups and founders, he explains why authenticity consistently outperforms imitation in entrepreneurship and product building.
The episode goes deeper into purpose and legacy, exploring learning later in life, embracing setbacks, redefining success, and measuring impact not by status or money, but by one simple idea: empowering people.
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Timestamps:
1:09 — Starting Surfing at 60: Obsession Beats Talent
3:49 — Growing Up in Hawaii: Identity, Culture & Perspective
6:44 — Everybody Has Something to Hide: Privacy, Signal & Freedom
12:44 — Writing 18 Books: Why Most People Shouldn’t Write One
16:57 — Build for Yourself: The Origin of Great Products
18:20 — Working With Steve Jobs: Mission Over Ego
19:40 — Mission-Driven vs Ego-Driven Leadership
22:35 — The Halo Effect: Why You Should Be Skeptical of Authority
27:22 — Steve Jobs vs Elon Musk: Focus vs Scale
30:51 — Don’t Be the Next Steve Jobs. Be the First You
33:08 — Finding Your Calling: Loving the Entire “Sandwich”
46:31 — Jane Goodall: Purpose Without Retirement
52:19 — Guy’s Golden Touch: Finding Gold Early
57:24 — Grit as the Real Advantage
58:25 — Family, Legacy & Measuring a Life
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