How one man and two books changed my heart, my mind, and my actions.

Exactly three hundred fifty days ago I had a problem. I was watching TV and wanted to chat with other people watching the same show, but I couldn't find a way to do it that was easy and fun. So I decided to start a company to solve the problem.

Of course, I had no idea how to do it. I'd started a few companies before, but they were just convenient business entities set up to help manage work I was doing anyway. I'd never before created a curve-jumping paradigm-shifting startup destined to change the world. In fact, I still haven't done that. But I'm a lot closer, thanks to Guy Kawasaki.

As I tried to learn how to go about creating a new paradigm in social TV, Guy's The Art of the Start, a simple, concise, well-written explanation about what to do when you are trying to start something new, became my bible. I read it and re-read it constantly. I made my co-founders read it. I recommended it to everyone I new who was trying to start anything - even friends who were starting a family. (I quickly discovered that there are some "starts" outside the book's purview, but not many.) For months, as I started my new company, I referred back to The Art of the Start almost daily. WatchParty is far from successful, but it is more successful than I could have imagined at that point. (You can buy the book on Amazon using the link below, and see Guy's fantastic presentation about it here.)

Guy became something of a hero to me, and I followed his tweets and his blog closely. So, when during the summer he asked his readers to help him by providing stories about how we've been "enchanted" by a product or service for his new book, I leapt at the chance. I'll tell you how that worked out in a moment.

I've recently finished reading an advanced copy of the new book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. It has already become the "New Testament" of my bible; together with The Art of the Start it tells me exactly what I need to know to start and grow a cause, which Guy defines as "your product, service, company, or idea". (Disclaimer: My story about being enchanted worked out pretty well. I'm in the book, but I'd love it even if I weren't. More on this below.)

All of us, no matter what we do for a living, how poor or wealthy we may be, or what we want to accomplish, will at some point need to influence another person's heart, mind or action. In Enchantment, Guy takes the same simple, concise, well-written approach to influence he took to entrepreneurship in Art of the Start. The brilliance of his writing is its directness; there are no philosophies or mental gymnastics to understand what he's saying. It just, "Do this and good things happen. Don't do that or bad things happen. Here are examples."

Every chapter begins with "How to..." How much simpler can you get? Here's a great example of how I've used Guy's insights and advice to be better: As I write this, I'm preparing for a trip to Austin, Texas to attend the South by SouthWest Interactive Conference (SXSWi). For the few of you reading this blog who don't know, it's the single greatest assembly of technology and Internet geeks in the world. It represents a huge opportunity for me to introduce WatchParty to potential users, partners, investors and the media. So, how am I preparing?

I am studying Chapter 4 of Enchantment: "How to Prepare". Sure, the chapter is really about preparing to launch a successful cause, but its lessons work equally well for preparing to wow conference attendees. Advice like "Conduct a 'Premortem'" and "Make it Short, Simple, and Swallowable" is already helping me to feel more confident and certain of what I will accomplish in the six days I'm there.

As I've said, my story about being enchanted made it into the book. What is amazing to me about that is how I got into the book. I literally enchanted Guy Kawasaki into including me (he doesn't know this, of course). I can think of a thousand different ways I've been enchanted, but to make it into the book I knew I'd have to choose one that would be meaningful to Guy. I knew his father was an elected official, so I decided to use a story from my days as a political consultant. I chose one that involved a product I had seen him tweet about a few weeks earlier. In other words, I followed Guy's recommendations for enchanting someone to enchant Guy himself, long before I had read the book. (You have to get the book to read about my story, on page 93.)

That's how powerful enchantment can be, and how outstanding Enchantment is. Get it.