— Here I am with enchanting author, Guy Kawasaki —

I am constantly amazed at how so many people I come in contact with in business are rude, pushy and self-centered, as if those are the only tools for achieving success. Obviously they have not read Guy Kawasaki’s new book, “Enchantment” but they should. In it, he teaches “the art of changing hearts, minds and actions” — something many business leaders and product developers would do well to learn. At Presto, we try hard to not only be enchanting in our business dealings, but to make our product and service enchanting to use. This is a bottoms-up philosophy that is embodied by all of the people who work at Presto. We endeavor to make product design decisions that provide surprise and delight to the users of Presto as they experience it.

I’m certain that we at Presto don’t always achieve our desired level enchanting experience in everything that we do, but we aspire to — and that’s the difference. We constantly think about this and how our actions will be perceived by our customers. There are countless examples of tech products in today's world that don’t seem to care about any level of enchantment in their use. And countless examples of companies whose business dealings are anything BUT enchanting.

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato said, “Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.” And he is right, enchantment is a tool that can be used for good, or evil. I’m certain that many evil people are enchanting, that’s how they get people to do their bidding. But it is also in our grasp to use enchantment for good. And if you run a company, or develop a product, don’t you want to enchant your customers? Moreover, don't you want to reward companies that make products that continually enchant you?

But enough of my philosophy, what do YOU think? Do you want to be “enchanted”? Do you care at all about the niceties of products that try to make you smile? Please comment below with your ideas or examples of enchanting products, or those that deserve to be on the un-enchanting wall of shame. And if you are interested in learning how to be more enchanting yourself, or to bring this ethos to your company’s products, be sure to read Guy’s book.

Cheers,

Peter Radsliff
CEO, Presto Services Inc.